Greenest grass ever

Background: the sprinkler system was broken when we moved into this house 3 years ago. At first, we would try to water and mow the yard, but we were fighting a losing battle and recently our yard has been more dirt than anything else. We really wanted grass for our kids to play in, so we got some landscaping quotes. 3 different companies came and gave us estimates for putting in a new sprinkler system and sod, so we could start the battle all over again. Then finally, we decided to see how much fake grass would cost. 

Low maintenance, never water, never mow, gorgeous all year round. 

We contacted a local company and had them come out to measure. The quote was over three times as much as the real grass. The more we thought about it, the more we liked the idea, so we asked them to remeasure and expand the rock edging to decrease the overall cost. 

For reference, there's a CAD drawing my husband made of the property. The little brown northwest corner is where we were considering having a sandbox, but decided against it. The light green is where the grass was to be installed. 

 

Here's the before and after pictures, in pairs. 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

And some panoramas of before, during, and after. 

 

 

 

 

 

Our first impressions of the grass:

Vibrant

Very green

Shorter than weeds

Uniform

Elevated mood by looking at it

Very hot in direct sunlight, but cooler in the shade

There's some loose strands of grass, which makes it looks more realistic