Big and Beautiful Backyard For Entertaining

Jeff and Marguerite Blackman live in the historic city of Vancouver, Wash., located just across the Columbia River from Portland, Ore. Vancouver combines the excitement of a major metropolitan area with a small town feel and plenty of outdoor recreation. They love their casual, elegant home, perfect for entertaining family and friends, but now they're hoping to move the party outside by revamping their backyard.

Jeff and Marguerite love the location of their home because of the beautiful environment and peaceful nature of the town. They spent six months renovating the inside of the home to showcase its clean lines, amazing views of the wetlands and Mount Saint Helens. In addition, they created an open airy kitchen for Jeff who loves to play chef outside of his engineering job. The only area they haven't gotten to is the outside. The backyard is an enormous rectangle that butts onto the wetlands and dwarfs current landscaping.