In most everyone's thinking, no yard is complete without grass. So, we designed a small, tidy patch of turf. Just a single pallet of sod went into creating this half-circle lawn. If this looks too difficult, don't worry. Laying a small amount of sod yourself isn't that tough, and we teach you exactly what you need to know.

Soil preparation is the key to having a nice lawn. We installed this one in a couple of hours, but getting the soil ready took about twice as long. Never buy sod until your soil is prepared and weed free, because it should not be allowed to sit on the pallet for more than one to two days.

Three weeks prior to laying our sod, we sprayed the site with Roundup to kill any weeds. A few days before starting to lay the sod, we tilled a pickup truckload each of topsoil and coarse sand thoroughly into the existing soil. Adding the extra topsoil and sand allowed us to raise the center of the lawn to ensure excellent drainage.