Also adding, we have two young kids under 2, and 3 big dogs.

Concrete. Paint it green.

After taking a second look at your photographs, looks like your fence is going to need some work as well. I'd start saving for those repairs as well. Maybe your neighbors would be willing to help if the fence is on the property line.

Thank you for your replies! I normally don’t have all the trash, tools and toys scattered about I promise!
I’d love to take the deck down completely and maybe do a platform deck or floating deck but money is obviously the issue and I’m more handy than my husband. The fence needs replaced but will be another $6k. My father used the wood to brace it and converted the posts so it’s actually sturdy now (eye sore yes). I wish the previous owner didn’t cut so many corners. Our deck is literally pulling away from the house and all the mismatched pavers etc! Our roof is also leaking but that’s another post. How much to just demolish the thing?

Sounds like you need to start small. Roof leak first!!!!

Do you still have the brick? If you do, I'd spend some time with Excel to come up with patterns incorporating both the brick and the pavers. Then I'd take down the deck and relay a patio in that space. IME, how the pros tell you to lay a patio is how *they* do it given that they want it done fast, and they want it done so they avoid callbacks. As a DIY project, you may or may not care about either of those criteria. I don't, so it isn't a bad job at all. You would need steps from the slider to the patio, but since I think pre-cut stringers exist, that may be a job within your father's capabilities.

If you are east coast, wood does not last. It is just how the world works.

Neaten it up, fix the tripping board at the door, turn the raised bed into a kid sandbox with some wood triangular seats in the corners. A leak in the roof has high priority.

With big dogs and kids, you may want to divide the yard into one dog yard and one kid yard.

6k for a fence? Go get $40 panels at home depot and 4x4x8 depending location concrete (florida yes concrete $3.5 a ba one bag for 2 4x4s) bam I bet it can be done for under $1k price it out. If you don't have a truck rent a uhaul truck

No to making a sand box unless you make a cover for it to keep cats from turning it into a litter box. I like torreykm's plan. Do you have any free labor to help build a deck or a paver patio? Definitely reuse your pavers and bricks.

I would suggest fixing your deck & using crushed shale as a patio with a 6 x 6 treated timber border. Crushed shale is a very easy walking surface. Probably under $1K DIY (assuming the deck understructure is sound).

If the deck is "pulling away from the house", that is not a 'fix' - that is a tear down and rebuild!! And sooner rather than later, as it is a safety hazard and could do damage to the house as well.

You know what sort of budget you can manage and exactly what your DIY skills are so you need to prioritize your projects based on that. I agree on getting the roof fixed ASAP (that would be priority #1 in my book!) and then look to doing something about redoing the deck. Eyesore or not, the fence can wait awhile :-)

Relaying the patio re-using the materials you have on hand is a pretty easy DIY project that should only require some expenditure of effort and some base material (relatively cheap).

And just clear out the dead plants from the raised bed. You might appreciate having an area where you can grow some plants that the dogs will not immediately rampage through and that the kids might enjoy. Until you get around to that, just cover it with a layer of mulch to keep the weeds down and have it look tidy.

I missed the leaking roof that needs to be fixed asap it will cause so many other issues

I'm a bit confused by picture number one and picture number 2...they must be different sides of the house? The deck on 2 looks to be in okay shape but you would have to decide that.

You must remove the steps by the backdoor yourself. If you have Waste Management, they sell "bagsters" that you fill and put out for them to pick up (I mean they're really huge. You can tear up the step area yourself and put them out to be picked up. In the meantime make your sliders the way in and out...

You can buy precast steps.

With small children, I would get rid of the planter. OR clean it up and give them some packages of seeds (it's late in the year, but they can see things grow that they have planted and that's always a good thing)

Get rid of the carpet and tidy up the stones. Rake them into the semblance of a rectangle. If you can swing it, go to Home Depot and look at their pavers/bricks to outline the area and stop the stones from travelling.

Why is the raised bed a graveyard for plants? Because the soil needs improvement? Because it's not deep with no drainage? Because you don't water enough? Because you picked plants that don't do well in your climate/conditions? Because your kids and dogs 'help' you garden? Because you have no time for it? The answer to those questions will help you figure out what to do with it.

My observation is that gardening success is a lot of figuring out what works for you. If it isn't working for you, move on to something else. If watering is an issue, figure out how to make it easy.

If you don't have much time, I'd recommend small fruits like strawberry, blueberries, currents or thornless rasp/black/tayberries.

Do the structural things first. If the fence fix is going to last, just plant shrubs between the supports and they will disappear into the landscape. Plant things that can become a hedge with more growth and then you won't need the fence later.

pennydesign There are two small decks, one in from of the blue singe regular door and one in front of the sliders, with a ground level bridge between them.

Since the house is well off the ground, I think the ideal solution would be to have one deck stretch between both sets of doors with a single step down to a patio. Consider this if you can't save the decks and the budget allows.

Regarding the fence, when doing the replacement, put a horizontal rot board at the bottom and put the slats above that. This will extend the life of the fence and make future repairs much easier.

Update! Growing some grass slowly but surely where rug was