Patio Reveal

The patio is done and we had our first bbq on Memorial Day!!

 It is my pleasure to share with you the offical after pictures of the patio! Woo Hoo!!! It might not be as exciting since I bored you with all the details along the way, but it is still exciting!

Remember the plan?

Well here is the reality!!! 

Scrub a Dub Dub

SO scrubbing mold off your sliding wasn't the part of the 'dream of homeownership' I have longed for! haha BUT it had to be done, along with a few other cleaning and scrubbing tasks. 

We worked out butts off memorial day weekend! Seriously worked our butts off!!!!  They finished the patio the weekend before memorial day so we set our sights on getting the yard in shape over the 3 days weekend!

On the agenda:

-Scrub mold off sliding

-Wash front and back door

-Prep and paint the foundation

-Power wash (or at least hard hose) house to remove all the construction dirt

-Landscape around the patio- Even if we don't get all the plants, get some

-MULCH!!! The dirt around the patio was driving me crazy since it was getting everywhere and I was longing for mulch to keep the yard tidy.

-I also wanted to tend to the perennial border in front of the arborvitaes, even thought I am not sure that was on Colin's radar! ha!

I guys who did the patio had power washed some of the house, so the mold was much better but still not gone.  So saturday I put on my rubber gloves and my mask and got scrubbing!  Per my father's recommendation, I did half bleach (thank you to the old owners for leaving bleach under the sink!) and half water.  I felt like Nicole Curtis scrubbing way, that girl has patience! 

IT worked like a charm and half hour later, the house was mold free! yay!

Next step was dumping out my bleach solution and making a dish soap solution for washing the doors.  They were already dirty and got really dirty during patio construction.  I didn't scrub every nook and cranny, but the looks SO much better! I also bought some goop off/goop gone to get those stickers off the back door, but left the actual task of getting the stickers off the back door for another weekend!

Next up was the foundation.  Previous owners had painted it gray, but it was all chippy and peely.  I hadn't really noticed it until we got the new patio and then I did notice it and it looked BAD!  We didn't go crazy prepping it, but we did a decent job of ready-ing it for painting.  Colin borrowed a metal sander (aka an electric wire brush) to get the worst of it cleaned up, then we used a regular wire brush to clean it up a little more.  Colin got waterproof indoor/outdoor paint in 'basement gray' which is what we used to give everything a nice clean coat.  He did a good job of matching the exiting color, which worked out well, since we only painted half the foundation.  The front and one side we didn't tackle this time around, we just tackled the back and side you see from that patio and yard.  The house looks so much nicer and so much cleaner with a fresh coat of paints.

 

 

I'll leave the landscaping aspects of our list for another post.....(yay landscaping)

step 4

I kind of want to skip right ahead to the after pictures since I finally took them, BUT I have posted the whole process so I am going to go ahead with the previously scheduled step 4 : )

 

Step 4

We last left off with them doing most of the brick work, and we had a delivery of bluestone.

 (my bonus for spring overtime)    : )

So that weekend they finished up all the brick and had most of the bluestone done! woo hoo! 

That bluestone is HEAVY! I don't know how those strong men lift and place those stones!

 

 

 

 

All they had left was a little bit more bluestone by the curve, then put an edge on the brick, and sweep stone dust in the joints.  Instead of a metal or plastic edge they poured a small concrete wedge around the edge of the brick, then the grass or mulch just goes right over it like it isn't even there! yay!

 

 

 

 

The patio pattern and material is Random Rectangular Bluestone, more specifically, Full Range, Natural Cleft.  Full Range means the colors vary and are not all a uniform gray (uniform gray is available if you desire it) and Natural Cleft means the surface is a little rough and varied (a smooth surface is available if you desire it).  If you want to know more (Like anyone really wants to know more! ha! ) This website explains the difference well. : )   (link to be posted soon)

The patio was close to getting done, but the house and yard were still in rough shape, so that was on our to do list for memorial day weekend!

 

 

 

Next patio post will be official after pictures! Are you as excited as I am????? Do you want to come over for wine and dinner??????? YAY!

Patio - I see more brick

Step 3

So we last left off with just a tiny square of brick on one corner..... So step 3 was finishing up most of the brick work, which the guys came back to do the next day.  They got the entire walkway laid out and the brick border for the eating area.  I decided on a double brick border since I like the way it looks AND since the brick was free so I was trying to use as much as I could (but still maintain a nice bluestone/brick balance of course).

And guess what else...Pallets of Bluestone in my yard!  Isn't that every girls dream?  No? : )

Keep staying tuned, I have more progress photos AND this weekend once we get the yard a bit more tidy I will be taking AFTER pictures!!! Yep! They finished last weekend and we have been enjoying it every night it has not been raining!!!! YAY!!!!!!

A new bunny

Not only did I take lots of pictures at my last 2 nursery trips, I got a few things too. : ) 

I brought home 2 ferns (Sadly one of them has already died!), a cute pot to put the fern that lived in for my kitchen and a sweet little bunny. 

My nice new pot and fern found a home with my silver pitcher. : )

I think I must have had my eye on that pot for a while, since I took a picture of it this winter! haha

How could I walk past a bunny like that and not bring her home!!!

Patio Progress

The patio is almost done!!! Each weekend a little more gets done and it is so exciting to watch it happen! Please enjoy 'progress' photos!  Can't quite post the 'afters' yet, but we are getting close!

(For 'before' photos and the plan, click here)

Step 1

Step 1 was ripping out the concrete slab and excavating the soil out to make room for the gravel and stone dust base. The first day of work was when we were away for an out of town wedding, and we got back really late at night.

 It was an awesome sight to come home to a bobcat in your back yard! haha

 

 

 

Yes over the winter we kept our trash cans on the back stoop.  Classy, I know! haha But don't worry, they will not be there over the spring summer and fall when we are haning out in the yard. (But I bet they will be back up there next winter haha Don't judge me!)

 

 

This next pictures serves double duty.  1) just to see the sight of the bobcat and progress and 2) the before pictures for  the plants.  See the plants along the side and back of the house...we took them out...See below...the house is looking bare and moldy! haha

 

I wanted those plants out since they were a little overgrown for a cape cod, but we had not planned on taking them out just yet...since that means money needs to be spend to replace them.  BUT when there were 4 strong men and machine at my house, I figured might as well take advantage!  AND out they all came!!!  Now I need to figure out what to put back, and I am struggling.  I love so many plants it is hard to narrow it down! HA! CRAZY PLANT LADY!!!

 

 

 

p.s. Yes we wll scrub off that mold!  Hopefully it comes off easy since the siding is vinyl. : )

 

Step 2

Step 2 was laying the base and they got a tiny square of brick done, which was awesome since you could see a bit of the patio shaping up!

If you have not been to the house yet, this shot gives you a good overview of the back yard, that fact we have no back yard! haha







There are a number of ways to lay brick, but I decided on a herringbone since that is my favorite.  With a border of course, all masonry needs a border!





 

Stay tuned, more to come! : )

Summer Urns

Since Mother's day is the unoffical start of summer annual season, my Dad and I took a trip to the nursery last weekend for some annuals (and a fancy watering can for me!).  I didn't know what I wanted to do in the backyard yet so I just got annuals for my cast iron urns that I got this spring.

 

 

 

I had a client that would buy hanging baskets to put in her pots so right away they look lush and full and were spilling over!  So I gave it a try this year!  I don't plan on doing this for all my pots, but I think it worked well for the front urns. 

 

I wasn't sure what type of plants and what colors I wanted, I figured I would just wander around the nursery and see what they had.  I decided on petunias and verbena in shades of yellow and purple.  Maybe not my first choice, but a nice summer combo which will hopefully look fab until fall when it is time for mums! (With tons of water since those urns, as lovely as they are, don't hold a lot of soil!)

 

 

Patio Time!

Patio time is my favorite time! : )

We don't have much of a back yard, since our garage and driveway are IN our back yard.  And when we bought the house there was no outdoor entertaining space to speak of.  No deck, no patio.  Just a large concrete walk between the house and the driveway, which wasn't really big enough to act as patio space.

Here is a plan of the existing conditions of our back yard:
(green is lawn)

 

 

And here are some before pictures for reference

 

 

 

So this winter I got to work designing us a new back yard. : )  I have been designing other people's patios for about a decade now, and it is so awesome to finally be designing our own!  I was so excited when I got my hands on the computerized version of our site survey!

Granted there wasn't too much "designing" to do since the shape and size of the patio space was primarily dictated by the location of the house, garage and driveway, but I could still make some variations.

 

Here is a plan of the plan!!!! : )
(Brown is Brick, Gray is Bluestone, Dark Green is Planting Beds and Light Green is Lawn)

 

Hopefully the quality is ok, I have not found my scanner since we moved so I took a picture with my phone! ha!

 

We decided on a eating patio tucked between the house and garage since it is the most private location on our very unprivate lot AND that is where the gas line is for the grill. A nice new wide walk where the concrete was and another patio space on the other side. I figure this one can be more of a living/lounge space, or be areas for additional tables for larger gatherings. I also wanted to widen the driveway. As you can see from the before plan, the driveway is not perpendicular to the garage, so when we do the patio, I want to widen the driveway a bit so it comes perpendicular from the garage all the way to the street, which you can see in the proposed plan.

 

Here is the before picture again with some notes of what we need to do.

 

 

We weren't sure if we were going to install the entire plan at once, or just do part of it, but our main contractors at work gave us an amazing deal so we were able to install the entire thing!

Next up was choosing the materials.  Even though my heart swoons for bluestone, I figured we would do concrete pavers since that is more affordable than stone.  But the contractors said if there was extra materials in the yard left over from other jobs we could have it.  And there just so happened to be a few pallets of pretty pretty brick!  Then it got even better...my boss offered to buy us bluestone for whatever sq.ft. the brick wouldn't cover as my spring bonus!  It is good to be in the business!!!!  So brick and bluestone it is!!! A lovely classic combo which I think works well with our older white cape cod.

And do you know what the most exciting part about all of this is???? They already started!!!!!!! YAY! In progress pictures to be posted soon!  Stay tuned!

 

Bright Pink

Hello friends and family that actually read my blog!  I have so much I want to share with you and no time to do it!  I have been working crazy overtime and basically come home and crash, leaving no time for hobbies such as blogging (or cleaning or cooking for that matter! ha!)  I am hoping to find some time this weekend to give you a few updates on the house and patio! Yes Patio! Woo Hoo!

 

In the mean time, please enjoy some flowers. : )

 

I normally don't blog about your typical supermarket flowers, but look at that color! I don't think I have even seen a pink like that is a simple long lasting flower!