Operation Backyard - Part 1

I was a little nervous when we got ~ 6 inches of snow in early April - I thought spring would never come! However, in the last six weeks, our town has totally transformed, and spring is in full bloom. There are more tulips, peonies, rhododendrons, azaleas, and irises here than I've seen anywhere else (and California has a LOT of flowers!). We've also met a lot more of our neighbors in the last few weeks, so settling into the neighborhood continues.

During our first few months here, we talked about lots of ideas and projects, including adding a patio to the backyard so we'd have a spot for a grill, table, and chairs. Until now, all the projects had been indoors for obvious reasons, but it was time to take a break from painting walls and turn our attention outside. While we definitely wanted to get the patio done this summer, it was equally important to get it done before we are sans-kitchen, which begins at the end of July and will last till mid-September (yay for a new kitchen!). That meant we needed to get busy and fast.

So we sketched out a plan, pounded some wood stakes into the ground, wrapped some string around the stakes to outline where the patio would be, and proceeded to our local Menards to buy eight 2x6x8s, 81 pavers, 70 bags of sand, 90 bags of gravel, and some miscellaneous hardware. And since they were delivering everything, we threw a grill and ladder in for good measure.

Then the digging began, and went on and on and on.

But finally we got the dirt and grass (and roots!) out of the way, lined everything with several inches of gravel, added several more inches of sand, and placed each 35-pound paver. I nearly died.

Then we waited a week for it to settle and re-leveled about 30% of the stones (that was fun). This is basically how it looks at the moment. Next step: add dirt and moss to the spaces between the pavers so it flows with the green grass around it.

Houzz has been really handy for inspiration photos of pavers with moss growing between them. I hope ours comes out looking as good as this one...