Patio Get's a Makeover with Pavers

~ A labor of love! ~

In the springtime we get this thick lovely green moss growing between some of the pavers.

~ Concrete Patio ~
 Before and then after pictures:

It was a big project from start to finish. I'd rate it as 8 out of 10 on level of difficulty. It can be done by homeowners who are willing to take on a labor intensive task. We had a quote of $14,000. The estimate did not include the tree  removal. We built the patio for $2,500 + tree removal. of $1,200 for a grand total of $3,700.  A 'huge' savings with money still left in our pocket.

It took a few years to finish the patio. One reason was my husband wanted the tree in the middle of the patio to stay and I wanted it to go. Guess who won.  :-)

It's so much better without the tree! When the wind blew the branches would tap on the windows.

How do you like my window?

 I don't miss the old patio at all!

How many men does it take to take down one tree?????

* Nothing exciting about this yard.... Tree is finally gone!!!

 We had to start from square one to get our backyard sexy looking. It had no appeal what so ever!!! It was downright scary looking.

Behind the gray picket fence are our pets. Our trees keep breaking our sweet picket fence with all the storms we have had.

The gothic fence was installed when we moved in. We decided we needed a lush backdrop instead of looking at the fence. We added the lattice along with boston and english ivy.

 Now you’re thinking why would you cover the gothic fence. I completely understand your logic but we really needed to add some visual interest by our patio. Our backyard is part shade to shade. It's about 15 to 20 degrees cooler from the front. Certain plants and vines are just the ticket for a shade garden. The ivy was the best choice for our backyard and much needed color.

 Do you see how high my husband had to build the wall of the patio? We raised the patio height so there were no more stairs coming out of the kitchen.

Here we are deciding how to lay the pavers.

Back breaking work but so worth it! It's was very labor intensive. We added a lot of different elements to fill it in first. Then I carried the pavers back and forth from the driveway and stacked them while my husband hammered them in. It made the job go so much faster.

You see the kitchen window with wood. My husband has been putting new glass panes in all the windows. 100 year old homes take a lot of upkeep. I'd love to just decorate but there is so much more to do before that can happen.

Here is a picture of my husband's handy work. He still had pavers to cut on the sides of the patio.

Of course I had to decorate all the lower windows with planter boxes.

  My husband did not understand why I needed to decorate the back of the house.

Do you remember the window all boarded up? The windows did get a good washing after this picture.

I think our vision was a wonderful success!

 We had our work cut out for us! I'm so glad we did it!

Here you can see my husband taking down the pool that we then turned into a planter box. So many changes have been made since this picture.  

Thanks for stopping by.

xo,

Dee

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