Build it and they will come..and eat smores!

PATIO, PART 1.    My husband came up with the idea that he wanted to build a patio in our backyard.  I didn’t really know if he knew exactly how to build a patio, but it sounded good to me.  He can build and fix just about anything that we want to do.  So off to Lowe’s Home Improvement we go.   We decide what shape, size and what patio stones we will use.  Now the work begins.

Here is a picture of us in the first stages of shaping the spot where the patio will go.  Smoothing out the dirt, adding sand, smoothing out the dirt again, leveling, and smoothing out the dirt again!!

Notice the small workers, those are our children helping out.  We’ve promised them fun times ahead on the new patio!

The whole family pitched in laying out the stones.  They got started and moved so fast I missed taking pictures of the first stages.  We decided on several levels so there would be interest and design.

Making sure the walls and the floor are level is very important!

Looks like they’re having fun.  Sorry for the quality of these pictures, a new camera could be in my future!

It’s great to see the progress happening.  This is a very hard job.  The stones are heavy and they are rough on your hands, gloves are a must!

We used different stones on the wall and the floor sections.  The circle was originally going to have these puzzle shaped stones but we decided to change that.  Notice in the next picture that the circle section floor has changed.

I like this look much better.  We created a circle in the center of the large section so we can put a fire pit in the center.  Love this!  My husband uses a soft bristle broom to smooth out the sand he added.  It’s very important for the sand to be smooth and level.

A few of the stones will have to be cut so the edges can be filled in with stones.  We used the puzzle piece stones to create a walk way around to the side of our home.

Plants and shrubs will dress this area up.  Here’s the fire pit added!  We finished the walk way with the puzzle piece stones filling around them with white pebbles.  We are now planning out the landscaping that will be added.

Here 2 of our children and 2 grandchildren are really loving the fire pit.  We look a little tired!

We love to come out to the patio and cook hot dogs and…

SMORES…..

We are working on ideas for the landscaping around the patio .  For now we have added a few pots with plants in them.  We can move the fire pit around if we like.

If you have a fire pit at your home you know the most important thing is starting a great fire.  We have learned as we go that the easiest way is to gather pine cones from our yard in grocery bags.  We place the grocery bag in the center, surround that with wood and whala!

We have a beautiful fire!  Smores anyone??

So it’s really been a lot of fun, the kids have eaten mountains of chocolate, marshmallows, & graham crackers!  Life’s good!

In my next patio post I’ll show you the landscaping update, great pots I painted, new umbrella, outdoor furniture we restored.

 PATIO PART 2! coming soon, don’t miss it!

Living Happily ever After,

Cindy

cmiller@blisswindowdesigns.com

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