Building a Patio - Part Three

Alright, so lets pick up where we left off with the patio.  It seems strange to be writing a blog post for something we completed so long ago (do a few months count as long ago? I guess it does in my mind.)  From the beginning this patio was a team effort.  We have had so many great people give us a hand or two in the building of this thing.  I was blown away that so many came by to help out and so thankful for amazing friends.  Its been so fun to be able to host lots of cook outs and hang out nights here with them on the patio this summer.  We almost feel like we have added an entire new room or living space to our house, we love it.

Ok, now lets get down to the technical - or not so technical things.  Way back when, we first talked about choosing pavers, then we began with our first step of digging out the area (and let me add in again that when I say we here - I'm really talking about everyone else...I made the food and finalized plans), and that was followed by the prep work of adding gravel, screening and tamping down the surface.  So we were all primed and ready to put in a patio.

Pavers - they must somehow find their way to the location you want them to lie.  Pavers - are not light. Pavers - it takes a long time to move from front yard to back.  Did you like my salute to Pavers?  We all took many trips back and forth.  I think I could do one paver at a time, maybe two if I channeled my inner hulk.

Ok, next thing was to determine our paver pattern.  We bought both square pavers and bricks and wanted to use the bricks to break up the plainness of the squares.  We settled with this and liked it.

Now it was just the tedious task of laying them all down, keeping them level, even and precise as possible.  The technical part of this includes the fancy tools we used.  Like a paint stirrer.  We used them to sweep across the screening layer a time or two just to make sure everything was as even as possible.  It worked like a charm.  Also a level is useful for a final check.

I need to add in here that early on we decided we needed a slight incline in the patio - mainly to help with drainage during heavy rain storms.  You can't even tell in its completeness that there is a slight slope at all and it has drained beautifully since its completion.  I think it was a smart move.  I would have hated to have puddles and mess to deal with every time it rained.

Oh, also for tools a rubber mallet came in handy for keeping the pavers tight and crisp.

Silas and Mike had the task of double checking for any loose or wobbly pavers.  We had a few that just didn't meet our standards of levelness so they walked and jumped around and smoothed out anything that felt wobbly or uneven.

And it seems Mark had to do some of that too.

This is a staged shot, I know seems so "real life" right?  This is the moment of the final paver placement - a wonderful feeling for everyone.

Victory run.

But wait, there is more!  Something has to hold all of this together and that's when Paver Set comes in. 

 According to its package Paver set is:

Polymeric Sand Paver Set is specially formulated for the filling of paver joints. It is specially mixed with polymers to harden yet remain flexible. It reduces weed growth but will not crack with weather-related ground movement.

We quickly began dumping it on, then felt like we didn't have enough and then ran to the store and bought way too much.  I guess its better to have too much then not enough?  Luckily it was returnable.  So we just used a broom to sweep and fill the paver set into all of the little cracks.  By the way, have you been to the hardware store to buy a broom lately?  I was totally on broom overload and had no idea which one to get.  Luckily Justin knew.

There was a lot of sweeping involved.

Final thing to do - lightly spray the surface to seal everything in.  It starting bubbling like crazy and we got a little nervous about the bubbles.  There was a warning on the label about the bubbles leaving a stain (that we of course noticed after we started) so this turned into a two person job of spraying and sweeping.  In the end, there was no way to get every little bubble thankfully and it did not stain or mark the pavers in any way that we could tell.  We were relieved.

Whew, we couldn't wait to get our furniture on the patio and start relaxing.

Its all old stuff we already had but I still like it. I feel like the new patio makes everything look pretty anyway.

Ok, so now we need a quick reminder of how this backyard used to look...

I can't end on that picture.  I think we have come a long way...

So final thoughts... It was a lot of work, took a lot of help, was a lot of fun to do and completely worth it.  We have enjoyed so many great hours out here already.  

Tomorrow I'll try to get in some detailed shots and also fill you in on some more backyard updates we have been working on plus some future plans.  Sometimes its the little things that really bring it all together.

Have a wonderful day!

Walkway Progress

Who is so happy that this ugly walkway no longer exists in our front yard? Don't everyone shout at once, I'm sure I'm the most excited so just settle down....Our yard is getting a major overhaul, which we are so happy about and we have finished our exterior painting (which I will share with you soon) plus some other little things going on.  But, today we are talking about walkways.  So here is a little flashback of what our front walkway looked like when we first moved in and then continued to look like until about a week ago.

Things I didn't like about it - ugly, rotten wood, ugly, white gravel that was so worn down that the plastic was poking through, ugly - we can all agree that it was a mess.  So we decided it was finally time for this mess to go and we began the process of scraping and shoveling up all of that gravel.  (PS -This is where we left off last week).  If you are wondering what we did with all of the gravel we actually relocated it to our backyard, next to our shed where our lawnmower lives.  It's a perfect little spot for it to live and provide a much needed mud and weed free parking spot - so that was perfect.

We then ended up with a nice smooth surface, which I felt like was a vast improvement from the old yucky walkway.  We also received the gift of a million fallen leaves in our front yard.  I love our big tree but boy does it have a lot of leaves.  I've heard that raking is one of the best exercises you can do - I will have the buffest arms on our street after this fall.

Then we were left with what to do.  We pretty much have a blank slate in our front yard when it comes to the landscaping - which is both exciting and overwhelming.  Personally, I have no idea what to do when it comes to landscaping but, I do happen to be married to a former landscaper (little known facts) so Justin went into full on landscaping mode and began drawing out a plan. He used the water hose to envision a yard map and help give me an idea of what he was talking about.

We decided we wanted a stepping stone type walkway and found the perfect ones at Home Depot.  I love the cottage feel they have.  Justin also marked out the area that we are going to mulch this week.  We want a more natural looking walkway instead of concrete or gravel.  I just think it suits this house, this stone walkway was a match made in heaven or maybe a match made at Home Depot.

So that's pretty much the weekend walkway progress.  This week we plan on finishing the walkway, mulching and start adding some new plants - so I can't wait to share!  

Hope you guys had a wonderful fall weekend! Any outdoor projects going on??  Thanks for stopping by today!

Exterior House Tour

It's such a beautiful day today so why not spend some time outside enjoying the beautiful day God has made and the outdated exterior of our house that someone built in the early 60's?  I don't think our house has seen an update to the outside since the 60's, it's in major need of some updated curb appeal.  So here is a tour of everything we plan on changing (and a few keeps).

The color - gross.  Probably the number one thing I can't stand about this house.  The house will be painted in the very near future, that has been a plan since day one.  One of our students aptly remarked that our house color was the same as Dwight Schrute's shirt, need I say more?  Except maybe that "I am faster than 80% of all snakes" (Dwight Schrute).

Here is our lovely pebbled walkway with half the pebbles missing. 

The next stop on the tour is the thing that ranks a very close second in what I can't stand most about the outside, these plants.  Since when did NC become a tropical or desert location?  That's all I can think of when I look at these plants and it just doesn't fit.  For those of you who might like these, you are more than welcome to come dig them up for us and take them away.  Something that is surprising to me is that there is not one flower planted in our yard.  This house has been living here for 50 years and no one has planted one flower - odd.

This is Justin's favorite thing, the screen door.  Ok, just kidding.  He hates it.  We do however have plans one day to replace the door and build some kind of porch out front, I'm excited about that.

Ooooh, our lighting -it  even came equipped with a yellow bulb - our house just oozes modern.

More Dwight Schrute shutters.

The right side of the house is actually an addition and it has a different kind of siding.  Notice the bubbled up paint, yeah that didn't happen until we moved in and had monsoon rain.

Yay! Something I love, the beautiful tree in our front yard.  I love looking out the front and seeing this tree.  It also creates wonderful shade.  I can imagine Silas climbing this tree one day.  This one is a keeper.

Our little backyard, it's fenced which is a plus and has a little shed - two things we also like.

So there you have it, you now have seen where all of our free time this summer/fall will go.  In the meantime Silas is working hard on choosing the right exterior paint color.  We will let you know what he chooses soon.  Have a great weekend!

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