Michele's Melodramatic Memoirs: Extreme Renovation: Porch and Patio Edition (Part 2)

So, once we had the porch done we still had no where to put our outdoor fire-pit, our grill, and the wood patio furniture we received for our wedding. We knew when we were doing the screened porch we would eventually add in a paver patio, but we decided to tackle the project much earlier on than we both expected. So, again, here is how the outdoor space originally appeared.

Looking out from the house

During the digging process

Rob using a rented mini-excavater

More views

Endless digging

They had a planter bed up against the house filled with pea gravel and monkey grass, an over-sized trampoline in the yard (inhibiting the grass from growing), and virtually no place to safely put the grill or fire-pit Rob read some instructions online and next thing I know, we're building a paver patio! Thanks in advance to Ken Rather and Joshua Landreth for all your help with this project. It was the most strenuous thing Rob and I have ever attempted. Ok, so first we had to dig down 7-9 inches to start our base. The clay was so compact in this area we decided to rent equipment for the weekend (THANK GOD!). It would have been near-impossible to do this by shovel. The mini-excavator was able to do the hard-core digging for us but we still had plenty of shovel work, and wheelbarrow towing to displace the dirt. We filled it with six-inches of gravel (lots of shoveling) followed by lots and lots of sand (more shoveling).

Gravel

Finished with sand on the first day

This creates a nice base for the paver patio and allows water to drain from it rather than to pool in areas. We saved alot of money by getting the sand and gravel from a nursery, rather than buying bags of it from Home Depot. Then, you level everything, compact it, start laying your border and lay your patio pavers. We chose to go with the half basket weave design and I LOVE IT! Finally, we filled the cracks with sand grout.

Viola!

Planter bed

Added hanging baskets off the porch and planted red petunias

Gorgeous zinnias!

We planted two pink dwarf azaleas and two flowering hostas surrounded by numerous orange zinnias in the bed up against the house. We arranged our patio furniture around the fire-pit in the center, placed the grill in the corner and set out some mosquito-fighting tiki torches (thanks Sean Ellis!). I got the awesome outdoor pillows covers, including pillows, from a garage sale this past weekend all for $6! Can't wait to host a barbecue!! What do you think of the outcome?