This morning we continue our fall makeover with contest winner, D.R. Chaffin of Sherman. Watch as Jonathan Castro shows makes over an ordinary yard into a personal paradise.

Kati Ray interviewed the contest winner, D.R. Chaffin.

D. R. Chaffin Interview
By Kati Ray
For Texoma Landscapes

Ms. Chaffin has lived in Grayson County since 1968. She is an admitted “Air Force Brat” and graduated high school as a young girl while living with her family on the Ft. Worth Army Air Field.

D.R.’s first husband served 22 years in the Air Force and did his final tour of duty at Perrin Air Force Base before it closed. They were married 33 years before he passed with cancer. They had 4 children, 1 daughter and 3 sons. She now has 15 grandchildren and 10 great grandchildren.

She married her second husband on 10/7/1989, and he passed from cancer nearly 6 years ago. She now lives alone at her home in Sherman, Texas, and has resided there for 19 years.

D.R. is 75 years old and is as sharp as a tack. Her goal is to read 100 books in 1 year. The most she has read in one year is 96. She has the newest gadget from Amazon called AmazonKindle, which holds up to 200 books electronically downloaded. She was so excited and delighted to show me her newest gadget. She loves browsing on the computer and urging her friends to do the same, as I witnessed when she took a call from one of her friends while I was there.

However, D.R. is afflicted with fibromyalgia which prevents her from getting down and working in the yard and flower beds. She loves the outdoors but says her back yard is depressing. She is so looking forward to her new back yard where she will be able to sit under the Pergola with her book(s) and read. She longs for the peace and quiet, serenity, and tranquility of her own Garden of Eden.

Another of D.R.’s personal pleasures is painting. She has numerous pieces hanging on her walls and is good enough to take commissions on her work. Her greatest love is to teach others how to paint. I can only imagine the inspirations she will be able to instill in others after being inspired herself in her own Garden of Eden.

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For Ms. Chaffin, we had a list of objectives in mind when we started the makeover process.

Better curb appeal : We wanted to give Ms. Chaffin’s home a better look from the street and make it more welcoming to guests.

Ease of maintenance : Maximum appeal with minimal upkeep

Added shade : Trees and foliage are scarce in the yard, so we set out to create additional shade

More color (year round): One of the first observations we had was that there was not a lot of color in the yard. We’ll show you tips for year-round color

Improve drainage : Steps to irrigate evenly without over saturating

Parking area

General cleanup

There are also additional steps necessary to accomplish these objectives:

-Clean up and dispose of excess trash waste material or recyclable materials

-Lay out and mark boundaries of new beds, drainage, irrigation, and parking. Follow landscape plan.

-Do, in this order:

(1) drainage and irrigation
(2) bed preparation
(3) pergola
(4) plant flora
(5) mulch
(6) clean!