Backyard Progress Almost Complete Patio Area

We are a week into August and I’m still having a hard time wrapping my head around the fact that it’s nearly back-to-school time.  Summer has flown and while we’ve made great progress on our backyard projects, we still have a lot more left to do before fall arrives.

This past weekend wasn’t as productive as we’d hoped but we do have the patio area about 90% complete.  We were able to clear the area, level it out and then spread a thin layer of sand for a smoother base.  Once that was done, all we had to do is lay the blocks into position.  

The plan is to get the remaining stone sometime this week and fill in around the edges.  This will finish the patio minus adding lattice or something similar to close in the underside of the deck.  Hopefully this makes it look a bit cleaner.

BACKYARD PROJECT LIST

1. Take out the garden and move it to the back corner as a smaller area in beds. 
2. Plant some privacy trees / shrubs along both sides of the fence to add a little privacy from the neighbors.
3. Add pond and water feature (Details on how we built our pond coming soon!)
4. Add some landscaping to “pretty” the yard.  (This task is partially complete but there is still more to do.)
5. Finish the patio area with fire pit.  (You can read about how we started this project here.) 
6. Add stone area with Adirondack chairs on the other side of the pond
7. Add some fun lighting to the landscaping
8. Install new siding on back of house and paint
9. Build door for garden shed and paint entire shed
10. Add Trim to corners and around openings on shed
11. Add walkway from sidewalk to rear gate.
12. Mulch planter bed along shop side of fence
13. add lattice or something similar to close off underside of deck
14. + more…

We did decide, after laying the block, to move our table and umbrella to the patio area and keep the firepit on the other side of the stream.  The chairs sunk too far down into the small stones making them unstable so this makes more sense.  It also feels more natural to have the fireplace in the stones anyway.  It’s a Win, Win.  I will be anxious to share updated photos of the finished patio and let you know what we’ll be doing next.