The backyard counts as part of the house, right? We bought our 1300 sq ft castle in the Vegas Valley about 7 years ago. It was built in the early 2000's and was a bit of a fixer but in a good part of town in Seven Hills.
The backyard was like most in Vegas with gravel and a few plants sprinkled around. Weeds constantly grew through the rocks. The palm trees were a maintenance nightmare as they quickly grew too tall for me to trim myself and spread their seeds everywhere. Amazingly everything you don't want to grow here flourishes but things you want to are tough to keep alive!
We painted the exterior, had a slab and patio cover put in, and most recently put in artificial grass after 2 summers of struggling to keep real grass alive. The last update in the spring was to texture the block walls which made a huge difference. We kept the design simple and flat to maximize the space and utility for the kids. All in, we're loving the new space and it isn't an eyesore anymore!
I took a few random angles of the yard shortly after we bought the place and replicated them today.
2013:
Today:
2013:
Today:
The patio provides great shade, this is about 1pm.
A shot of our view which faces to the west. We can see the M Resort, Raiders Practice Facility, South Point, up to the Strip and Downtown:
Aside from giving the plants time to fill in, we're basically done. It isn't meant to be a forever house but we at least wanted to spruce things up a bit. Our goal was to make the space usable for us and the kids and not be an eyesore. Mission accomplished I'd say!