Megapost
Added Over the Years
So I thought it was time to do a Megapost about all the pavers we've put in over the years. A funny thing about them is, I don't think any of them were pre-planned. They were just spur of the moment ideas that came to fruition and somehow we've found a kind of aesthetic that's been consistent with all of these cobbled up projects. Heres a collection of posts about pavers in one megapost for your reading enjoyment!
The Hint of a Patio?
Fist published May 21, 2013
Making a Nice Little Spot
I don't even know what else to call this thing. Pavers under the garden bench? Eine Kleine Patio? Well, whatever it's called - it's about time. I love my little garden bench but sitting on it in summer always left the ankles exposed to all the mosquitoes that seemed to hover under the bench. On top of that it always looked a little sloppy because not much grass grew under there, and occasionally a neighborhood cat would decide it was a great place to sleep - at least until Linus came out!
So this season I decided to do something about it. First I laid out the 16" pavers to get an idea of positioning and so I'd know exactly where to dig. The nice thing is this was a small project so the digging was minimal.
The whole project took about an hour-and-a-half.
The Grill Spot
First published June 06, 2024
A Place for Everything
We love to grill here at 173. But, let's be clear - when I say we love to grill, I don't mean we love it in the way Texans love it. Beef Loving Texans writes, "It’s always grilling season in Texas. We’re the lucky ones who smoke up our backyards year ’round and never have to dust off the grill come springtime." A quick flip through the channels on a Saturday morning will show you no less than a couple grilling shows set in Texas! But here at 173, we just love the flavor of the food that comes off the grill every week or two during the summer. We don't grill a lot, but when we do, it's really something special. Anyway, this is the story of the Saturday morning I woke up and decided it was time to put some pavers down to more clearly define the space where the grill rests during the summer. Let's get into it...
From the Beginning
Who knows how some things come to be but, the northwest corner of the back yard has always been the home of the grill here at 173. This is evidenced by the old Weber grill in this very early picture of the back yard...
And that corner continued to be home to the grill even after the original fence replacement in 2001.
This just happened to be another one of those moments where I got started on a project, got carried away and forgot to take before - or even progress pictures. So, we flip from the very beginning of the idea to ... done!
As you can see, it's only six blocks and I used the same style as was used under the garden bench and the potting bench... you know - a little cohesiveness!
Wouldn't you agree that putting the pavers there as a place to keep the grill during grilling season looks a lot tidier than without the pavers?
A theatrical spectacle is inherent whenever family members congregate and reacquaint themselves with powerful universal themes educed from homecomings including hugs, food, drink, conversation, politics, games, music, conflict, terror, mercy, smiles, tears, prayers, misfortune, and self-discovery. - Kilroy J. Oldster, Dead Toad Scrolls
Another Benefit?
And finally, I tend to think that having the grill resting on some pavers rather than the grass all summer long, coupled with being covered and being stored in the shed during the winter has extended, the life of our grill considerably. As a matter of fact, I think we've had this grill probably a good 15, maybe even 20 years now and it's still in excellent condition.
The only thing we've done to it besides changing propane canisters, is we replaced the heat deflector that sits just above the flames. We change that out maybe nine years ago. Aside from that, the frill's lasted quite awhile and I think this little paver spot contributes to that!
So that's the story of the six little pavers for the grill spot in the back yard here at 173. Thank you so much for stopping by and hey ... see ya' next time!
The Potting Bench
Excerpted from A New Potting Bench
first published August 5, 2022
The "Little Patio(?)"
After standing back and admiring the new potting bench for a few minutes, it dawned on me that the bench needed one of those mini patios (for crying out loud, one of these days I'll figure out what to call them) that's been put in a couple spots around the yard. No clue what I'm talking about? Well, here's an example of what's under the garden bench (also made at 173):
Yeah, it's just a couple pavers, but it for me it really gives a nice finished look. And if you look to the left of the composter below, you can see another little area with pavers, that's where the grill stands though the summer!
Anyway, the spot for the potting bench was just screaming for its own little patio. So, the plot was laid out (all fancy-like - a few stakes and some string)...
Then the spot was dug out a little, a bit of leveling sand was spread, and about $40 worth of pavers later, the potting bench had its new home...
The Stain
But before the bench was put in place, it had to have a finish applied. For a couple seconds paint was considered, but that thought went the way of laser disc players - forgotten! No, this bench was to be stained! The first, probably most obvious choice was to just use the new fence color - Pinebark:
But it quickly dawned that this bench was a blank slate - any color was on the table. Looking for an interesting color, and one that would stand out against the backdrop of the Pinebark fence, Valspar's Forestland became the near-immediate winner!
Forestland turned out to be an absolutely stunning color! I know it sounds goofy, but I thought it kind of cheered up an already naturally cheerful back yard.
Its Natural Habitat
Finally, as is my wont, I offer a picture of the 2022 potting bench in its natural habitat!
Pavers for the Rain Barrel
First published March 24, 2024
A Firm Foundation
Finally, nearly three full months into 2024, we have our first outdoor project of the year. The last outdoor project way back in October when we cleaned up the back porch exterior. It's not a major project, it's not very complicated and it didn't take very long, so you'd think this post wouldn't be very long. But you may know that I sometimes take the simplest of projects and create some of the longest posts - that'll probably end up happening here. So, without further ado, let's get into it.
A Bit of Back Story
The yards at 173 are rife, with flowers and bushes and plants just about everywhere you look, but not in a sloppy or overcrowded way. This has been a slowly developed passion, nearly three decades in the making! Our very first rain barrel can be seen in this picture taken probably around 1999 or 2000-ish. It was the half barrel type and was originally planned to be a water feature, you know- water plants, maybe a little waterfall. But for whatever reason, the plan changed to rain barrel.
It worked out well, but the watering demands grew along with the gardens. We could have lugged a hose around the yard but sometime before 2011, the idea came up to use an old trash can as a second rain barrel. I cut a hole for the water to empty into from the downspout, stapled in a piece of window screen to keep the mosquitoes out, and installed a spigot to control the overflow.
Then, with no idea what prompted me back then, sometime in 2020 it dawned on me to check Craigslist to see if anyone was selling a rain barrel. I swear only took a couple minutes and I came across a local lady selling two of them - perfect!
When we look deeply into the heart of a flower, we see clouds, sunshine, minerals, time, the earth, and everything else in the cosmos in it. Without clouds there could be no rain, and without rain there would be no flower. — Nhat Hahn
So I bought both, but it wasn't 'til spring of '21 that we actually got them into circulation. One of them was placed next to the front porch to collect rain off the front porch roof and because it's in close proximity to a bunch of the bushes and flower beds in the side and front yards.
The other is in the back yard next to the carport and services the vegetable garden and, with the old trash can rain barrel, helps with the back yard flower beds and bushes.
And just for fun - sometimes the rain barrels serve other functions like a vegetable stand... not really - I just like the picture!
Finally - To the Point
And now, at long last, we come to the purpose of this entire post period. It was in the spring of '23 we noticed that the rain barrel by the carport was beginning to tilt backwards, ever so slightly. So I was at Lowe's one day and I had an idea so I picked up four pavers to match the ones we've used with other projects (which I'll post about sometime). I don't know why we didn't get around to setting those pavers... oh yes, I do...
The reason we didn't end up putting the pavers in place last year was because, at the time that I bought the pavers, the barrel was full of water and in no time at all we were in the midst of summer. So, it just became one of those situations where we'd just wait until the next opportunity which turned out to be last week. The first thing we did when we got started on this little project was to put the base in place, just to get a sense of positioning and how big of an area we would need to dig.
Once that was done, we laid out the pavers very loosely in the area just to get a sense of how to position them in the yard, and how close to the carport it would need to be.
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After that it was very simple. First we laid down some patio gravel, I think they call it, and leveled that off. Then a bag and a half of leveling sand and - just like that - the project was done.
And here it is all ready for summer 2024 and I think we're taking bets on how fast it takes the grass to fill in the extra soil you see around the pavers. I'm thinking probably by June we'll have grass there and it'll look like these little these pavers had always been there.
The Back Stoop Done!
First published September 5, 2016
What a Difference!
As a reminder, when I started the back stoop, which seems like forever ago, it looked like this:
So it was time. At the end of the last post, the stoop was looking like:
It was getting there. Really, all I had to do was paint, but if you know me - I......hate.....painting! Stain on the floorboards and two coats of B-I-N primer, and two coats of paint later, here it was (of course Linus supervised throughout):
Oh, just a quick step backward - here's the stoop without the doors. As you can see the mower and some other things are stored below:
What you can't see here is that the storage runs the entire length of the back porch, more storage is always good! Anyway, I showed you in the first post about the stoop that I had built the doors, so all that was left was to paint them (of course - ugh) and hang them.
Aaahhhhhh, so much better - or was it? The pad outside the stoop looked like, well Ma will be reading this so - it looked like (insert your own word). I hate when you do a project, stand back and it looks nice and then the surrounding area brings it all down. The area outside the stoop has always been a problem-area. Back in the day, we even used an old rubber welcome mat:
Off to Lowes! First I graded the area, then laid down some recycled landscape fabric to try to keep some of those horrid weeds down! Then I had to even out and neaten up some things with a little concrete (no precision work here!):
Then it was just a matter of putting in the pavers:
Nice huh? All done yeah? Ooooof course not. Look at this:
Do you see it? See on the right side of the picture? I have always hated how there was a veritable cliff down to the pavers, it's always been like that. So, once again I had to do something about it. So I thought I would just put a small slope leading up to the pad to make it neater and easier to mow.
Then just a little grass seed...of course when you have this guy -
there's no way in the world grass would grow unless one took a bit of precautionary measure:
And THAT should be the end of the Back Stoop project. Maybe. I hope. The beauty shot:
And finally, a couple bonus shots - just for posterity:
Thanks for stopping by for this Megapost and...see ya' next time!
