Our DIY backyard makeover is in the works!
Hello everyone! I’m back again! Roman is at this amazing stage where he’s basically a little sponge, adding tons of words to his vocabulary every day (toddler pronunciation 101: Pea-ba-bah = peanut butter, foomie = smoothie, quackah = cracker…it’s wonderful), and I’ve been soaking it all in. And doing obligatory holiday stuff. So, ya know, just life.
But I *did* wanna swoop in to keep y’all posted on some pretty big updates going on in the backyard! As a quick reminder of where we’re starting, here’s our poor excuse of a “deck” that was built incorrectly and is now a death trap. Seriously, you might fall through right now.
Although I like to do things myself, you can see that there’s a post supporting a portion of the roof. While I know–on paper–what needs to be done to support it while replacing the old and building the new, I’d rather not risk having a chunk of my roof fall due to my lack of know how. Thus the deck will be handled by a contractor. We will be going from a 5×7 to a 10×10 with railing and steps down to the walkway. I’ll probably tackle staining and sealing myself to save some money. I’m thinking a gray/brown stain with white paint for the railings and step risers. If you are a stain aficionado, I would LOVE to hear your recommendations (leave me a comment below!).
So that’s one chunk of the updates.
The other area being made over is our paver patio:
We are doing this part ourselves! As you can see in the picture, there are several broken stones, there are places where it has caved in, and there is no distinguishable pattern that was used. We decided to rip it out, expand and re-level the area, and salvage what stones we could while adding on with new stones. Here’s what we’ve actually already done:
We got our pavers power washed because they had a mini ecosystem developing on the surface. Look at the difference it made! So worth it.
(See all the broken stones, caved-in areas, and lack of pattern? No bueno)
(Side by side before and after where you can also see the walkway from the deck)
Then we pulled up all the stones and dug the perimeter out to make the space about a foot and a half wider and longer (I think it’s around 14 x 18 1/2 now):
(view from kitchen window)
And that’s where we’re at right this second. We plan to finish it this week (and add a cool functional surprise that will be pretty awesome for the winter!). I’ll come back with a ‘Before and After” post of the deck including instructions for how I stain, paint, and seal it. And I’ll probably do a separate post for the paver patio (and surprise addition) so these posts don’t get crazy long!
That’s it for now! How’s your holiday season shaping up? It’s still regularly in the 80s here in South Texas so not very winter-y yet. Fingers crossed I’ll get to wear my sweaters more than once!
