Father Nature Landscapes · Tacoma
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Wood lounge chairs on the finished upper paver patio in golden evening light, with planted privacy screens and a cedar fence beyond
Puyallup, WA · 2026

Barrera Backyard Retreat

Two levels carved into a three-foot slope

Location
Puyallup, WA
Year
2026
Scope
retaining walls · paver patio · hot tub patio · bullnose stairs · aluminum railing · cedar privacy fence · synthetic turf · paver side yard

The Barreras had the backyard most new homes come with: a small concrete slab, a patch of grass giving up for lack of sun, and a yard that fell about three feet from the house to the back fence. It worked as a place to stand. It did not give them anywhere to spend an evening. They wanted room to entertain up top, a quiet spot to soak after work, and they wanted the grade change to stop being a problem.

So we took the slope and made it the plan. Belgard Weston Stone retaining walls in Rio hold the two levels apart and give the yard its shape, with Marina bullnosed coping capping the stair treads that step you down from one to the other. Up top sits the main space: roughly 700 square feet of Belgard Catalina Grana patio, also in Rio, laid in a three-piece pattern with enough room for a full table and still space to move around it.

Down on the lower level we built a private patio for the hot tub and coordinated with our electrician to run power out to the spa, so it was ready to fill and heat the day it arrived. A run of TimberTech aluminum railing in Charcoal Black lines the top of the wall, closing the lower soaking patio off from the entertaining space above without blocking the view across the yard. Around the whole property we set a custom six-foot cedar fence on top of the new retaining wall, giving back the height and privacy the ground had dropped away.

To keep the upkeep low, we traded the tired lawn for synthetic turf that stays green without a mower, and finished the side yard in Belgard plaza pavers, 24 by 24 inches in Dark Charcoal. What came as a builder’s afterthought is now two rooms in the open air: one to gather in, one to unwind in, both built to sit level and stay put on a lot that used to lean toward the fence.

From the build

Materials, hands, hours.

The upper entertaining patio in evening light, with a covered sitting area against the house and a wide Belgard paver floor
The upper level: roughly 700 square feet of Belgard Catalina Grana in Rio.
Paver steps with bullnosed coping treads climbing from the lower patio to the upper level, framed by black aluminum railing
Marina bullnosed coping caps every stair tread.
The upper paver patio under a bright sky, edged by a row of planters with privacy screens
Room to move, with planted screens softening the perimeter.
A wide view of the two-level backyard showing the Weston Stone retaining walls, connecting steps, and aluminum railing
Weston Stone walls in Rio hold the two levels apart.
Black rolling planters with young trees and slatted privacy screens lined along the paver patio
Planted screens for privacy along the back edge.
The lower patio with a covered hot tub, enclosed by stone retaining walls and a cedar fence
The lower level, built as a private spot for the spa.
Two wood lounge chairs on the upper paver patio in golden evening light, with the cedar fence and neighborhood beyond
Late sun on the upper patio.
A close view of the Charcoal Black TimberTech aluminum railing running along the top of a stone retaining wall
TimberTech aluminum railing in Charcoal Black tops the wall.
The hot tub on the lower paver patio, boxed in by grey stone retaining walls and a cedar fence
Stone on two sides, cedar on the third.
A full view of the back of the house looking across the finished upper patio, railing, and turf
The finished yard, read end to end.
Detail of the aluminum railing anchored to the capped top of a Weston Stone retaining wall, with turf behind
Railing meets the wall cap, turf just beyond.
A strip of synthetic turf running between the house and the aluminum railing along the upper level
Synthetic turf that stays green without a mower.
A covered lounge area with a sofa and chairs opening onto the patio and an open field view beyond the railing
The covered lounge, open to the view past the railing.
Paver stairs rising between retaining walls to a cedar gate, flanked by aluminum railing
Up the steps to the cedar gate.
A tidy side yard with a run of synthetic turf, a river-rock border along the foundation, and a cedar fence
The side yard, kept simple and low-maintenance.
Looking up the bullnose paver steps from the lower hot tub patio to the upper entertaining level
The steps up from the soaking patio.
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