The Sunset Scene

After purchasing their waterfront home, these homeowners devoted an entire summer to reconfiguring the backyard of their home, located on a serene branch of the Arkansas River. They headed up the work themselves, designing the overall layout of the backyard and even taking care of some of the labor, including installing the steel piers under the deck and pouring the foundation for the family's prayer bench. “I really enjoy the work,” he says. “I even made the stone tables with the lifting power of five of my friends. I picked out the large slabs of stone, cut them to size and shaved them down.”

With the original space only affording overgrown bushes and a sand burr-filled yard, they focused on making the backyard family friendly, which included adding a fence, a deck, a pool with a patio and a fireplace. “Landscape Specialists installed new sod for us, and Tim Sutterfield of Leslie created all the stonework from the pool surround to the fireplace,” he says. “I sketched what I wanted for the fireplace and he made it happen.” The fireplace doubles as a pizza oven and offers built-in log holders for easy use. “It all turned out great,” he says. “We really enjoy being outside, and with the fireplace, we can be comfortable almost year round. The kids love roasting marshmallows and hot dogs, and we chose comfortable furniture so we can really relax.”

After the months of hard work, the family is now able to enjoy their piece of nature. “The location is perfect,” he says. “We feel like we live in a vacation home, but we're in town. The kids can fish from the dock, we can easily take our boat out, and we see all kinds of wildlife from deer to bald eagles. One of our favorite things is the sunsets. They are so incredible over the water. It's a great place to raise a family.”