Palatine couple wins $7,000 backyard makeover

A Palatine family last month became the lucky winners of a $7,000 yard renovation through the Archadeck “Dream Backyard Makeover” contest.

The Hall family — Amanda, Jeremy and their son, Graham — won the makeover, which included a new patio with a patio wall seat, through the contest that asked residents across the country to submit letters explaining why their yard needed help.

The Halls were chosen as the second-place winner from more than 2,000 submissions to the contest. The first-place winners, a couple from Huxley, Iowa, received a $70,000 backyard makeover.

In their submission, the Hall’s explain that they moved into their Palatine home last summer, three days after the birth of their son, expecting it to be their “forever house.”

“It’s a great house, but it needs some TLC here and there,” the Halls wrote. “One of those places is the back yard. Our house is on a corner lot and the house is situated at such an angle that the back yard is very exposed to the street. This exposure makes the curb appeal for our back yard as important as our front yard!”

According to the Archadeck Facebook page, one of the most noticeable aspects of the Hall’s new patio design is its shape. Crews created a curved patio instead of the more common square or rectangular patio, allowing for more creative furnishing compared to the more common straight-line design.

A retaining wall was added to the design for a little privacy and to clearly define that side of the space, the site states.