The weather has been beautiful lately and it has afforded us the opportunity to work in the yard. It couldn't come at a better time since we just barely cleared up the schedule enough to get to working in the yard. Previously we worked on the front yard flower bed.
There is still more work to be done here - we are going to lay down some yard fabric and then put down wood chips and river rock - we are also putting in a a walkway and a small patio the we are making from repurposed pavers.
This was our starting point - my wife wanted to put a small patio off the porch - This area always gets muddy when it rains and we thought it would be nice to have a small patio to put in front of the porch to make a nicer entry way than it currently is. As you can see - we have three large pavers set down - we just put those there when we cleaned up the front yard a few days ago .. and decided to keep them there.
My wife put down the bricks to define the area that would be the patio. Once that was done we poured sand into it and began to level it. We just used a 1x6 board to screet the sand and I used my level to make sure we were level with a slight slope away from the house. This part took awhile and required two bags of sand to cover it about 2 inches deep. Can you find the dog in this picture?
Once leveled, I sprayed it down with some water to tamp down the sand and provide a good surface to put the pavers down on.
Now we have a nice flat surface to work from.
We put the three large pavers back and start to lay down the broken pavers. There were these pavers all over the yard when we moved in - many of them were buried and most of them were broken. We have made pathways before using broken bricks and we thought this would be a great opportunity to do it again. It's a great way to save on materials and to repurpose items on hand so we don't waste anything. So we busted up all the pavers and started laying them down randomly with the flat edges towards the wall.
Meanwhile.....
I got started on the walkway that we plan to fill in with pavers and pea gravel - before I can do that, I need to clear out the grass and lay the bricks down. We already laid out the pavers where we want them to be and we are going with an alternating pattern of round and square. I will try not to disturb them too much as I clear the areas around them.
I start it off with carving out the lines in the grass so I have a pattern to follow
After clearing away the grass, you can see the path starting to take shape
Even the pavers need the grass underneath them the be cleared out
Laying down the bricks - not level yet - just getting roughed in
Back at the patio
Back at the patio - my wife has got most of the pavers filled in -simply using a bunch of used pavers that were cracked and broken, she laid out a sort of mosaic type design of random pieces fit together - when there was an odd space that was hard to fill- she would simply rearrange a few of them or find/break up the pieces into smaller ones and make them fit.
Filled all the way - it's starting to look really good. I'm proud of what a great job she did.
I Love this part!
We dump a bag of sand onto it so we can fill in all the spaces between the pavers - this is when this is really going to come together. This is my favorite part - I get to sweep the sand into all the nooks and crannies as it transforms right before my eyes.
Swept into all the cracks and crevices - it starts to become like one solid piece
A quick spray down with some water and the beauty shines through.
Thank you all for checking out my blog and following up with my landscaping efforts
Click here to see what updates we did next!!
Please be sure to check out my others articles on real estate, investing , and cryptocurrency ( and some other random dog stuff)
I always upvote comments to my blog posts
Greetings, jorlauski
I saw your man tutorial. I do not understand anything related to gardens and how one mounts.
As well as being very well crafted and very well built, I imagine that it has caused you a very good feeling, because doing something we enjoy is immensely pleasurable both to do and to complete.
Many thanks for this diy. This do it yourself was a great toturial.
good evening
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thanks for checking out my blog- we did enjoy doing it and it was a good feeling to get it accomplished. We have many more projects we are looking forward to sharing and I hope that you get a chance to take a look at them. I appreciate the kind words - thanks again.
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Wow that's amazing @jorlauski! You guys do beautiful work together :) And yes, I spotted the dog, of course laying right in the middle of everything...they hate to miss out on the action right? :)
I moved into a new house once and it also had zero landscaping done. It's nice to have a fresh canvas to work on, but man it's a lot of work and a lot of money to complete! It is however a great feeling when it's finished, and you can sit in your lawn chairs, on your patio, cheers your drinks and say, yep, we did this! :)
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thanks @lynncoyle1 - that's our favorite part - sitting back and looking at the work - and yes - it can get expensive - but we try to repurpose as many materials as possible - everything you have seen so far has been done with stuff already laying around in the yard ... all we paid for was the sand...however - we are on way to the home depot right now and plan to drop some $$ for some materials - sooooo yeah .. hard to get away from the cost - but at least the work is a labor of love and we enjoy doing it ...
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I love that you use repurposed things! It's such a throw-away society we live in that making use of something "laying around" is such an admirable thing!
Oh I remember going to Home Depot...a lot!! With those bills, it's a good thing it's a labor of love :)
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yeah.. as I was telling a friend yesterday - I have a love / hate relationship with Home Depot - I LOVE going there , but I HATE spending money there.... soooo I guess its a wash - I made them load my truck though - so I felt good about that ;) ... will post more update pics soon
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haha way to make them pay!!
Even when you go in for a couple things, you leave with so much more...a bit like Costco I think:)
I'm looking forward to watching the rest develop. Good luck !
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wow. this is just too amazizng. salute to your creativity.
and seriously, women just kinda have this special power of making everything beautiful.
Am glad you guys made the best use of all the resources available at your disposal.
and i could spot the dog though showing not fully.
Its a nice job you guys did. wow. it looks so beautiful.
If i may ask, how long did this take and what was the most challenging part of it?
And am sure sitting some beautiful flowers will beautify the environment more.
weldone guys
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thanks for the great compliments - all the work you see in this post was done in one day. We started off at about 11 am and finished up around 5:30 or so .... you are right about the flowers - we will be adding some flowers to it - we haven't figured out what we want to do yet - but we have a few ideas. We are going to be putting some vegetables in here - but we also want to add some colorful flowers to attract some bees.
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Hello @jorlauski! it is really gratifying to find such fresh and original publications that allow you to appreciate the work of others and learn at the same time, I confess that the mosaic of broken cobblestones being so simple demands great attention and dedication, I admire the ability of your wife to do it, it is a simple test that even with reused materials we can do great things, I would like to see the final result of your garden, congratulations
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thank you so much - it's nice to hear such great things about our work - the mosaic was simple and fun and I'm sure anyone can do it cause we have no idea what we are doing - most of what we do is a shot in the dark - but it usually works out OK
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A Professional won't have done it better
Kudos for a job well done👏
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thank you very much that's very kind of you to say... Honestly it has never occurred to us to bring in a professional to do our yard ...it's something that we just do for fun... And we always enjoy the time we spend working together
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I have to say the broken paver mosaic did it for me. I just love the idea of repurposing. Save money and looks awesome. I would love to see the final effort for the pathway. Love the illustrations so we can see what it looks like.
Just a quick question. Was that cement that you swept in and watered down or just send?
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thank you for the kind words - we really enjoy getting creative in the yard. Tp answer you question -it was just sand. We put the paver pieces as close together as we can and the pour regular sand into the cracks - sweep it around till it gets into every nook and cranny and the wet it down - the sand will dry aver time it gets more firm - thanks for checking out my blog.
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Ok cool that really is a time and money saver. Sell done
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Amazing post you have there to show us the transformation of your yard. Beautiful and action-filled images make this an excellent post to tell this story.
I found this a great post for my comment challenge and have featured it in Comment Challenge #26. So expect some extra comments coming your way. :) Let's see what other Steemians knows about this topic.
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thank you for the kind words and for stopping by my blog - I really appreciate you featuring my article in your comment challenge - I wish you the best of luck with that. I hope to see you stop by some of my other posts.
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This is nothing but amazing, I can't believe my eyes. You guys are just too creative, see the way you make beauty out of something troublesome.
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thanks @emmakkayluv! that's so nice of you - I really appreciate the kind words - be sure to keep checking back for more updates on our progress.
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Sure, I don't abandon beautiful things, I stick with them... Smile
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@emmakkayluv - here is the update to this
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Just too amazing, you guys are super creative. ☺
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Finished product looks pretty schmick. I'm about as handy as a crack in a glass eye when it comes to landscaping
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Wow, nice job you did out there @jorlauski. You guys are really hardworking and creative. From the beginning of the project it looked impossible('cos I felt it's supposed to be done by professional(s) only), but it turned out great.
Yea, the dog is at the top right corner of the picture... I guess it doesn't even know what's going on 'cos it looks like it's sleeping,lolzzz.
With this work here, a novice can follow the steps and come out with same result or even better. I think I can use the steps and come out with something good also,'cos I'm a novice. #smiles
Weldone, looking forward to seeing the next step in your DIY post.
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Hi @Amoni - thank you for the feedback - I think if a professional looked it this they would laugh ..we are not pros by any means - but we have landscaped a lot of yards ( our own yards .. not as a business) the work is pretty easy - it's coming up with the designs and the layout that take more thinking - the dogs love to hang out in the yard with us when we work - as far as the sand and cement - thanks for the suggestion - there is actually a sand compound called "joining sand" that helps to bind the stones together better - so far - we have done this a few times using just sand and the rocks never come loose - it seems like sand would not hold them together tightly - but it really does - the last one we did has lasted over 7 years so far and they are SOLID - we did however think about using some cement dust in the pea gravel that we laid down ( no pictures of that posted yet) to make it more solid - thanks for checking out my blog - I hope you come back to follow up with the updates.
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Greetings!
I'm really happy to find your blog, sir!
The way you are working on your yards,
it's just amazing.
When the work will be completed, do not forget to share it with us.
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I'm very happy that you found my blog too - I hope that you will come back to see the update s- thank you for the compliments- we put a lot of work into the yard so it's nice to hear such good comments about it. I will be sure to continue making more update posts so you can see project from start to finish.
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yeah, surely i would love to come back to the progress of your yard!
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Very cool project! I'm going to have to come back to this when I'm ready to do some landscape work myself. The mosaic type design is very cool. Your wife has a great eye.;) --it's beeyou.
You should change the last tag to #newberesteemday so it shows up when we search the tag. I don't think anyone looks at newbieresteem. Also, #ocd-resteem is another good tag to use for quality posts.
Congratulations you have been resteemed as part of #newbieresteemday's top posts for the day! We invite you to use our tag to connect with more of our members. To learn more: Come Join Us!!! (Newbie Resteem Initiative)
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thank you so much! my wife does have a good eye for this sort of thing. These pics were yesterdays work - we did a lot more today and I will be posting pics by sunday probably..
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That's a great teamwork! I love the finish. The broken pavers give texture. It compliments with the mosaic-like head plant pot/planter. I think that it is in the right spot. Or are you planning on moving it? The photo and description of step-by-step process made this DIY easy to follow and do.
The perfectionist in me is bugged by the space between the head planter and the patio because it is not proportionate to the other side. (My lack of English is giving me a hard time trying to explain what I wanted to say. Bear with me.) Maybe a choice of smaller pavers rather than just three big ones would have done the trick or cropping the patio closer to those pavers or cutting a fourth paver to cover that blank space.
Maybe placing that head planter in there would be good too however it will be in the way.
I saw the finished renovation and the whole project looks great! As long as Sugar is okay with it, then I guess that blank space can be overlooked :D
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Wow, that's turning out really well! Doing that little patio section with broken pavers actually makes it far more visually interesting than just laying straight ole' bricks-- which would be very tempting in a rectangular spot like that. It's also really nice how you're working with curves on the garden path... gives it a much more "organic" feel than straight lines which always feels more livable and welcoming.
=^..^=
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I loved this project! mainly because it is a genuine detail for the entrance of your home and they always say that the first impression is the one that counts! secondly it is a family activity, which translates into quality time with your family, your wife does a great job with the design and you help with the hard work, that is called teamwork, it seems to have everything coldly calculated, in each photo you can appreciate the effort they make to successfully complete their work, I have no more knowledge of plants and gardens but the results are being appreciated very well, my congratulations.
Sorry for my English mistakes, I'm using a translator right now.
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thank you for making the effort to respond to my post - dont worry about your english I can understand it good enough to get what you are saying and I thank you for your kindness. We still have the entire yard to complete - but we started with the porch because it is exactly as you've said - first impressions are lasting impressions and we wanted for our house to look nice when people show up
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I hope he will present us the final work, maybe some flowers with bright colors, although I don't know how the environment works in his country, in Venezuela we have a good spring.
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I would like to add lots of flowers - I want to attract bees because we have a lot of fruit trees that we want to grow and need the bees to pollinate them. I'm not sure what flowers we will have yet - but I'm sure we will fill the space with lots of color.
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the results are sure to be great! A great job for you, the satisfaction you will feel when everything is ready will be priceless, very lucky.
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You have a nice "project" there. 😄
If I may suggest, you can also transform the walkway into 2 beautiful types:
1. Reflexology walkway.
You can walk on it in the morning/afternoon to help improve your health.
2. Watery steeping stone
I think this idea could be beautifully done if the area is large enough. Although, water maintenance could be a hassle. Static and dirty pool of water could bring lots of diseases.
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thanks for the suggestions - I would love to be able to put in a water feature - as you say - its a bit of a hassle - but it does look beautiful .... we may be putting a pond into our yard and if we do then will be sure put in some updates to share with you all - be sure to check out the most recent update where I fill in the walkway - thank you for checking out my blog
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I have to say the broken paver mosaic did it for me. I just love the idea of repurposing. Save money and looks awesome. I would love to see the final effort for the pathway. Love the illustrations so we can see what it looks like.
Just a quick question. Was that cement that you swept in and watered down or just send?
Loved the post.
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