Article: Build your dream backyard; How one couple picked up their power tools and created a magical outdoor dining room.(Before & after)

BLAME IT ON THE BARBECUE--a supersize stainless steel number that caught Jordan Rubin's eye. It needed a place to park outside the Seattle home Jordan shares with his wife, Leanne. The only question was where; the Rubins' sole outdoor space was a lifeless rectangular parking pad of concrete, gravel, and asphalt next to their busy street. There was no fence for privacy, and no plants to soften the landscape. So the couple--first-time homeowners with only the scantiest experience in construction, design, and gardening--decided to convert part of that parking pad into a courtyard for summer dining and entertaining.

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They drew ...

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