When I moved in, the deck area looked like this:

On the report for the house, it said the deck supports were rotten so we knew the deck would eventually have to come out. I hired a local contractor to come rip out the deck, and I’m very glad I did because it was really rotten underneath. I was then left with a pile of rotten deck:

And a giant sink hole that was once a deck:

I obviously now have several problems to address. First off, there’s obviously a lot of dirt that needs to be added to this area. Those poor tree roots are hanging out of the ground for lack of organic material! Secondly, what am I going to do with this area? I’d rather not have another deck here, and I definitely don’t want a plain concrete patio. So my idea is to build a sort of “country garden patio” with a mix of stone, urbanite and brick, spaced a bit apart, with sedum and moss growing between the rocks and some built up planters on the sides. Sort of like this in terms of feel, and without the steps: