Saturday, February 5, 2011

Supersizing the New Patio

Looking for a house that comes with a well landscaped yard can be difficult, unless you're looking in a development that has every blade of grass planned out. Big home builders like Ryan Homes or KB Homes are examples of this type of manufactured landscaping.

We're happy enough, though, to do it ourselves and design our yard the way we want it.  We had a nice patio when we bought this house; however, it just wouldn't hold both our table and chairs and our firepit, so we needed to expand it.


Ok, the first step was figuring out what pavers were originally used.  Hmmm, yes, I found them (insert very happy face here!) BUT, they had been discontinued!  I called around to so many places.  We finally visited one landscape company that thought they might have some.  We went out to their very muddy yard and found a pallet of the correct ones.  We were told to be patient, that they'd go out and look for more and call me within a week.  Well, I'm not a very patient person, but was kind of at their mercy.  A week passed and no call.  When I called them I was told that the yard was still too wet and they'd call me in a week...  This went on and on for several weeks.  Finally when I called them one day I was told that yes, they had them.  Hmmm, I wonder how long they'd known that??  Anyway, I immediately drove up there and was thrilled that yes they did!  I set up a delivery time right then and there.

We had lots of work to do to prepare the new area.  

 Remove the sod


 Dig out everything 8"


Level the dirt, then add landscape fabric.


Add 4" of gravel


We added 2" of sand over the gravel.  Level, level, and level some more. 
We had to try to figure out a pattern for the pavers that matched the existing pattern. 
After all of the pavers were laid, we added a special polymeric sand.  We brushed that between the cracks, then went over the entire area with compactor.  The polymeric sand had to be meticulously cleaned off the pavers, so we used the blower very carefully to get it off the pavers, but allowed it to stay in the cracks.
We then lightly sprayed the area with water to seal in the polymeric sand.

We added sod around the edges because seed would take too long and would be a pain trying to keep the dog off of. 

The sod did eventually fill in (since this picture was taken) and now looks great.  We love the new space!

Thanks for coming by!

Pam

I am linking to: 


46 comments:

  1. I love your new space too! It looks fantastic.. how inspiring..
    hugs ~lynne~

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  2. What a job! But it looks amazing Pam. I am so glad you ventured into blogging too. I guess we were on RMS at different times....

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  3. Your patio is lovely. The pavers are very nice!

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  4. Pam , you are the winner of my giveaway. Congratulations!
    Please e-mail me at nielsuzanne@gmail.com to find out how to claim your prize before Feb.8th.
    Hope to hear from you soon..

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  5. Your new patio looks amazing! Great job!

    Lori : )

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  6. Nice job, love your new larger space !
    Kammy

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  7. What a great job. That must have been a lot of hard work, but well worth it! I found you at Debbiedoos!

    Melanie
    www.youmadethat.blogspot.com

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  8. thanks Pam for joining in..have fun!

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  9. Hey girl I had some glitches in my blog and had to recreate a new one will you please come follow me there its noplacelikehomeally.blogspot.com

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  10. You guys did a great job!!

    Love,
    Susan and Bentley
    xxoo

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  11. I love working outside...Can't wait till it warms up here to do that...Great job on the patio!

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  12. Wow! It looks great! You guys did an amazing job on that big project. I am a ne w follower. Thanks for stopping by my blog you found at Debbiedoos!

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  13. Thanks for stopping by my little blog. I love what uve done here. The patio looks great. Now ile be ya cant wait for spring. I sure yall will have many good times there. U were an RMSer? So was i, lol. Still get over there every now and again...............Bonnie

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  14. Pam that looks wonderful and kudos to y'all for doing it yourselves!!

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  15. It looks so nice! I would never have known it wasn't original to the first part of the patio. How lucky that they had enough!
    Thanks for visiting and commenting on my blog - I need all the help I can get!

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  16. Hi Pam!
    WOW! What a BIG job to take on, but the finished product looks fantastic!

    Thanks for stopping by my blog and becoming a follower.
    Your newest follower,
    ~Vicki~

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  17. That's quite a project! You did a fabulous job!

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  18. Really nice.....love the patio! Fabulous Job!! xoxo

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  19. Hi Pam I am a new follower. Looking forward to seeing what new project you will have next!

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  20. Hi Pam, I am a new follower. I love your new patio, it looks great!

    Theresa

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  21. Great transformation. You'll have many wonderful hours out there together and with others.

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  22. Looks FABULOUS Pam! You and Pat are soooo talented! Your whol yard it gorgeous!

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  23. Pam, thank you for swinging by to see the Bench Vignette, you are always so sweet.. hugs ~lynne~

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  24. That looks wonderful! I see many happy evenings spent there.

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  25. Very nice! Looks like you are ready for spring :)

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  26. wow. it looks like it was always there, a seamless addition, beautiful!


    I am hopping around through the newbie hop to welcome everyone to blogging. I love making new bloggy friends and i especially love helping new blogger grow their following.

    Stop by my blog when you have a chance. There are so many FUN things happening over on Dandelion Wishes!!!
    We are .....
    *Taking Back Monday, one Etsy giveaway at a time. Come enter to win something awesome EVERY Monday!
    *Airing our dirty little secrets with Friday Confessional. Confess, link up, feel better...I promise!
    *Keeping it positive every weekend with My Happy List. What's on YOUR Happy List this week? Post and link up...it’s a party y'all!
    *And there are crowning’s happening for Queen for the Day...finally, the royal recognition you deserve.

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  27. that looks fabulous-i love the two separate spaces. that's what i want to do, too! great job!

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  28. First, your weather is looking a lot better than ours here in Connecticut. I am jealous!

    Your paver patio looks gorgeous. The bricks you chose are perfect. A few years back we put in two paver sidewalks...Love the end result, but the work...UGH!

    Take care,
    Lisa

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  29. What an awesome transformation!

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  30. Hi Pam, I can appreciate your hard work on this, because we laid pavers and built a pergola over it:) I just love your added on space. I am visiting from the Newbie Party and am now a follower.

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  31. GREEN
    I want green!!!
    Nothing but white here!!!

    Looks great! I love being outside on my patio.....when it's not snowing that is!

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  32. Your patio was well worth the work. We do most of the work around our house and there is a sense of accomplishment by doing things on your own. You will undoubtly be spending lots of time enjoying this great space.

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  33. What a great addition to your outdoor space! You're really making me miss spring now! Hopefully it will be here soon :)

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  34. My goodness Pam! You guys did an amazing job! I love your new patio! I see many outdoor gatherings in your future!

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  35. Just gorgeous. Love the views from your place!

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  36. Great job! Your were so lucky to find the exact pavers. Looks so inviting.
    CAS

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  37. That patio is gorgeous and make e miss summer even more!

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  38. I love those pavers you used! (Is that what you call them?) It looks fantastic! You're lucky you have a helper who does such great work!

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  39. Hi Pam...

    Ohhh...you have such a nice patio! Wow...you and your hubby really did work for this beautiful patio addition but I'm sure that it was worth every back breaking minute! It looks gorgeous and you can't even tell where the new addition begins...great job, my friend! BRAVO!!! I certainly would enjoy spending some time here...starting with my morning cup of coffee! Love all that sunshine...it's sooo cold here at our place! Thank you for sharing your new project with us!

    I also wanted to thank you for stopping by and taking a peek at my
    Valentine table! I really enjoyed your visit and sweet note, my friend!

    Warmest Valentine wishes,
    Chari @Happy To Design

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  40. Pam, your patio looks fantastic! I love what you did with it. We recently redid our entire back yard as well, and I love the difference it makes! So glad I came across your blog. I'm a new follower.

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  41. Wow that is a lot of work (although you make it sound easy). I have been thinking about doing this in my backyard (and my front entrance), but my steps would include removing concrete (yikes). Great job!

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  42. Wow! What a ton of work! Great job! I love landscaping improvements but they are not an afternoon project usually! Greaty job!

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  43. I am in love with how great it looks! I am LOVING your blog! I would be so happy if you would check out my blog, and if you like what you see ...become my newest follower!

    Have a great day!
    Kirsten

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  44. Pam,

    You were so lucky to have found more of the pavers. You both did an awesome job!

    Dee

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Thanks so much for leaving a comment.