If you follow me on Instagram, you know that it’s been quite the journey watching everything unfold at our unique property, but nearly a year after getting the keys, we’re finally ready to restore this century old homestead back to its former glory!

Hey, friend! My name is Macy Gilson and I am so excited you’re here. We are raising our family and building our dream home on a century old homestead in California. My husband and I recently filmed a TV show for Chip and Joanna Gaines’ Magnolia Network, where we got to share a little piece of our home with you! Here you can expect to read about all things home and motherhood and I am honored that you’re here!

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Our BACQYARD Review

Before we can talk about our new space, we have to address the old. When we first laid eyes on this property, we could see its potential, but it just felt so far out of reach. We learned that the previous owner was a nanny for the royal family in Saudi Arabia. While living at the palace, and traveling throughout Asia, Africa and the Middle East, she developed an affinity for rare and exotic plants. When she moved to California decades later, she imported many of those same plants to her new property (now ours!). Over the next 30 years, her plant collection grew and matured, leaving us a botanical wonder that felt more like an arboretum and less like a backyard.

Unfortunately for us, the plants weren’t safe for our young family, and we decided to find new homes. What we thought would be a massive undertaking turned into business cards at our door, phone calls from foreign numbers and shouts over the fence requesting tours. From Disneyland, to Hollywood’s exclusive, to the most elite of the plant industry, we began connecting with buyers and selling the plants.

The entire operation took months of continuous digging, transplanting, boxing, craning and backfilling hundreds of plants before we were left with a blank slate and could see that hidden potential slowly coming more and more into reach.  One day, our paths crossed with BACQYARD and now, just over a year from when we purchased - for all intents and purposes - an arboretum, we are staring at stunning 3D renderings that have perfectly captured our vision and plans to bring this property back to its roots in the shape of a modern homestead.

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The BACQYARD Process

I came across a jaw-dropping 3D rendering of a landscape on Instagram and immediately sent it to my husband. It had everything we were looking for - a place to entertain family and friends, but also a place with a lush garden and animals and a modern homestead. Upon looking further into the account, we discovered BACQYARD, an online landscape design company service that provides beautiful 3D renderings to help homeowners envision their yard’s full potential, all at an affordable price. Their mission is

“to make stunning outdoor spaces accessible to everyone through a simple, affordable and personalized design process”

They seamlessly integrate landscape design with top of the line technology, which results in not only beautiful renderings, but CAD plans ready to hand over to a contractor. Perhaps my favorite part of BACQYARD’s process is the up front pricing and affordable package options, which allows homeowners to pay only for their needs - front yard, back yard, or entire yard.

After selecting a package, homeowners are connected with a talented principal designer, who acts as a point of contact and a guide throughout the process. There are many designers to choose from, and homeowners have the option to read about each designer’s unique style and review their past portfolios before selecting a designer.

Once selecting a designer, homeowners will schedule a time to meet virtually, via video call. In the meantime, homeowners will answer a detailed questionnaire about the details of their space, their style and preferences, as well as their wishlist of things to be included in the design. There is also the option to add inspiration images or attach a Pinterest board of ideas that the homeowner may have already saved.

Homeowners will also submit photos of their property according to guidelines provided by BACQYARD. These photos will help the designers properly size and mock-up the house, the property dimensions and any other existing structures.  

During the video call, homeowners can expect to review their questionnaire with the designer and answer any follow up questions the designer may have. This is also a great time for homeowners to share anything about the property or their wishlist that was difficult to convey on the questionnaire. For us, this meant discussing some city restrictions, as well as sharing some of the property’s history that we wanted to see integrated in the new design.

After the meeting, the BACQYARD team will get to work on the initial draft. Homeowners can expect this to take between 3-4 weeks, depending on the size and scale of the project. BACQYARD has a client portal that allows homeowners to log on and check in on the progress as well as ask any questions that may arise during this phase.

The homeowners will be notified once their first draft is ready for review. It is at this stage that homeowners can share what they like and dislike about the design, submit requests for changes and ask any questions. The BACQYARD team will refine and address concerns to ensure it is perfect before submitting the final design.

BACQYARD provides a software that allows homeowners to easily review the images and submit feedback. One of our main concerns after receiving our first draft of renderings was a pool fence. We have a very curious two year old and a labrador that LOVES to swim, so safety was a top priority when it came to the pool. Below is an overview of how the review software works. I was easily able to add my comments and upload some additional inspiration photos for the designers to review.

Some of the features we edited were large changes, like the location of the pool slide and adding a pool fence. Other changes were small, aesthetic tweaks that better fit our vision. No change was too large or too small for the design team. They listened to our concerns (as well as our many praises!) and even offered a follow-up video call to discuss the revisions. Below are some examples of the changes we requested:

• Switching the color of the pergola from black to white and adding hanging lights

• Exchanging the metal ornamental gate for a solid wood gate near the front door for privacy

• Selecting a new pool fence that was all glass instead of black metal, as well as adding entry gates

In addition to the final design renderings, BACQYARD also provides a plant list, based on the homeowners’ USDA planting zone, links to lighting and furniture for the homeowner to purchase, a 360- walkthrough of the space and CAD plans ready to hand over to a contractor. BACQYARD also has a list of vetted contractors and can connect homeowners with local professionals to help bring the designs to life. 

Our Experience with BACQYARD

From the first meeting with our designer to the delivery of the final renderings, our experience with BACQYARD was nothing but FUN! We know all too well that it’s rare to hear someone describe a renovation or design process as “fun,” but we truly feel it was! It was so exciting to answer the questionnaire and put thoughts into words as we tried to convey our wishes for the property. We were so thrilled to finally meet with our designer and share more about the history of the property, the exotic plants, the previous owner and our plans to restore the property to a modern homestead. We knew from the moment our call ended that we were in good hands and that what we envisioned for the property was understood and possible. It was also important to us to extend creative freedom to our designer because, after all, she is far more talented and experienced than we are!

Even though we’ve taken on our fair share of home renovation and design projects, and even filmed it for the world to see, we were so overwhelmed when it came to designing an outdoor space. We knew what we wanted, but we had no idea how to make it happen. Our main wishes were a large outdoor kitchen and entertaining area, a space for kids to run around and be kids, and a large garden and orchard with room for vegetables and animals. We needed help mapping it all out within our space to create a welcoming flow and a layout that made sense. Our property is a unique shape and we didn’t want to cut off any areas from other areas. It was important to us to embrace that indoor/outdoor California style of living and we wanted the outdoor space to be an extension of the indoor space.  We are amazed at the final renderings we received and feel that every aspect was thought out and perfectly executed to meet our needs.

We are so excited to have plans in hand and have already begun work on transforming parts of our property into a new entertaining space for our family, while also restoring other parts to bring back the original homestead. We are so thankful for our experience with BACQYARD and are excited for family and friends to get started transforming their spaces with BACQYARD.

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We knew that with the size and history of this property, we would need professionals to bring its potential to life. BACQYARD provided us with a seamless process, incorporated all of our wishes, and delivered it to us within a timeframe and budget we were comfortable with. They have an extensive list of local, vetted contractors to help keep the ball rolling on our project, as well as plant lists, links to all of the lighting and furniture, and CAD plans that we could hand over to our contractor to ensure the project was completed according to plan. We could have only dreamed of a space like the one BACQYARD created and thanks to an affordable, transparent, professional process, that dream is now a reality! 

For more information or to get started on your dream yard, visit  www.bacqyard.com!