[2012 Patio Project] DIY patio at our backyard~

I now have a patio and a picnic table.

It took over 3 weeks for Mr.D, majorly because of Lowe's poor inventory system.

You may be curious how I got a brand new patio in this Spring.

   

Before the end of the winter,

I suddenly decided to grow vegetables in our backyard, and asked Mr. D to make me a raised bed vegetable garden.

Mr.D put up some resistence,

but finally agreed to make it only if I let him make a small patio first.

Well, as an exemplary good wife, I let my husband do what he wants to do.

(My husband is self-made DIY man.

He removed our old kitchen cabinets and sold them at Kijiji

and installed a new kitchen.

He fenced our backyard as well)

This is the "original design" what Mr. D drew at the beginning of the patio project.

Different colors meant different sized patio stones.
After the project was launched and turf was removed, we realized that we needed to extend the patio by at least 3 feet.
So, the final version of our patio is bigger than the sketch above.

First the turf needed to be removed before the patio edging could be done.

Believe me, installing patio edges is easier than digging out turf.

It cost us a fortune to get rid of sod and soil.

Remi is always eager to give a hand, which is not very helpful all the time. :)

Thirdly, landscape fabric was spread to prevent any potential weed.

Fourthly, a layer of gravel was paved. Mr. D used riverwash stone, but you can use cheaper any gravel. We had had five different items to be delivered while a dump truck could deliver only two items at a time. To save that $80 of delivery, we used more expensive riverwash stone instead of gravel.

Fifthly, a layer of crushed stone was spread and tramped.

Now the patio base is almost ready.

Sixtly, playground sand were spread for the leveling.

Finally, patio stones were to be placed, according to the original drawing.

The most important thing, at least for me, was my raised bed garden.

Mr.D made the frame with the lumber.

The raised bed was filled with top soil.

My raised bed garden has 24 square-foot spots to plant vegetables.

  

Mostly, they were chatting and playing while Mr. D was hard working.

9 of 24 squre-foot spots are occupied with tomato plants I had germinated in April.

And I have arugula(rockets), lettuce, chive, basil, parsely, cucumber, sugar snap peas, green beans, spinach, and two raspberry bushes.

At this point, the patio is almost ready to be used.

Once the patio stones were all set, the cracks/space between stones were filled with jointing sand.

 Tara~ Our patio is ready :)

Edges were covered with riverwash stones.

However, it was not the end for Mr. D.

He was dreaming of making a picnic table.

He said he would make me a picnic table in two hours.

Alright, then. I don't use a veto on such a desire.

Instead of a patio set,

we went to Home Depot to buy lumber.

Mr.D was all excited to make a picnic table.

I didn't bother him.

Remi and Pablo helped out their daddy.

 Mr. D, making table legs.

 Table was made in less than three hours.

Mr.D said it was very easy to make a picnic table.

Well, maybe not really.

But, compared to the DIY patio, a DIY picnic table looked like a piece of cake.

Then, we hung a IKEA canopy we had bought.

I think it looks good.

What do you think?

Pablo is doing his writing of the day at the brand new picnic table.

This was our patio project.

I can't believe that there always are something to do in the frontyard and backyard.

We, or rather Mr. D is attacking the sidewalks from the portch to backyard.

We hope it be completed before the end of June.

2012 Patio Project