Hi Martha, I’m so sorry I mnissed your comment a couple weeks ago! We haven’t done the patio extension yet, but you can see an update on the backyard situation here: https://www.polishedhabitat.com/outdoor-living-room-ideas/ The flowerbeds are in and the patio is now an outdoor living room!

OH man, I had that you had to do it twice! We’re in a little of the same boat because the builder came back to install a pop-up drain for us a couple years ago, but it didn’t even begin to help. We were glad we hadn’t paid for it! The good news is that the drainage guy came after I published that post and gave me the go ahead to do all three raised beds and said everything else I wanted to do is doable. He alluded to a price that wasn’t cheap, but wasn’t AS scary as my nightmares. We’re still waiting on the written quote though, so fingers crossed!