Every year we like to take a video camera and walk around the property to capture what’s been done outdoors and what still needs attention. It’s a tradition that helps document progress and keeps our outdoor to-do list honest. You can find our previous annual tours linked in the original posts for reference. For this year’s walk-through, John handled the camera work (I’m banned from filming since I tend to Blair Witch any handheld footage), so the video below gives a clear, steady view of the yard and lot layout.

This short video should answer a lot of the “what’s going on outside?” questions and give you a practical feel for the property: the driveway, the orientation of the house on the lot, the surrounding trees, and the areas we’ve prioritized so far. It’s also a quick way to see the scale of the space and where future landscaping and outdoor projects will likely fall.

We’ve started assembling a list of outdoor plans and ideas to tackle over time. That list includes practical items like defining garden beds, planning a patio or deck, improving drainage in low spots, and mapping out planting zones for shade and sun. We’re sharing that evolving plan publicly so we can research each item, consider priorities, and update the sequence as we make decisions and complete projects.

Another small tradition of ours is sketching a basic, not-to-scale lot diagram to help visualize how the yard relates to the house and the street. This lot sketch is a simple tool to plan outdoor improvements, place structures, and think about sight lines, privacy, and sun exposure. It’s especially useful when the lot has a unique shape or orientation.

This house sits at the end of a cul-de-sac, so we often describe the lot like a little baseball diamond. That orientation affects how light moves across the property, how we approach landscaping, and where we’ll place future outdoor living areas. One of the interesting things to us is how similar the lot sizes have been across the three houses we’ve lived in — all “almost an acre” — yet each yard feels very different because of shape, topography, and how the house sits on the land.

For example, our first lot was long and narrow, which encouraged a different layout for gardens and driveway access. Our second lot was more square and tucked into the woods, so the house blended into the landscape and a less visible addition hid off the back. Our current house sits higher and has a visible second floor from the street, which changes the curb appeal and the way the yard feels compared with those earlier homes.

Even though the square footage of our last house and this one are almost identical (within about 60 square feet), the new house reads larger from the street because the second floor is clearly visible. That higher elevation and the more prominent façade make the house stand out more against the lot and surrounding trees, which is something we’re adjusting to as we plan outdoor improvements.

One feature we’re excited about is the double garage. We had a two-car garage at our first house, a carport at the last one, and now we’ve returned to a double garage layout. It’s not just about parking — it makes it convenient to have John’s workshop directly accessible from the house, which is far more practical than having to walk around the outside and descend into a separate basement entry. That connection will streamline projects and tool access, and it also gives us useful storage and workspace options for outdoor and indoor renovations.

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Psst — starting on Fridays we’re trying a small added feature: four interesting forum threads or projects to check out. If you’re not quite ready to get back to your day, these are a fun way to keep browsing ideas and get inspired.