Pavers…it’s finally time!

Every step of this patio has been scary, mainly because I want it to be beautiful and what if I fail or mess up our yard in the process? What if i can’t get it to look picture perfect? It doesn’t matter had to try anyway.

So if you’ve ever been scared to do a big project … it’s okay… I’ve been there ya just gotta push through, hope for the best and know everything is fixable!

Let’s break down how I got here

first, clear the ground

I wanted to extend the patio under our porch out into the yard using pavers. First things first, I had to level the area. I had SO MUCH to clear out! Overgrown bushes, rocks, dirt, debris…. After I cleaned up the whole area, I laid down a commercial landscape fabric. This helps to prevent weeds coming up through the paver spaces. I go over some of the design details and the vision for the space in this blog post.

moving on….

Then, it was time to bring out the sand – 9 tons to be exact!! The kids had fun playing in the largest sand pit ever, and then it was time to level it out. I brought in some help for this one to speed it along. The guys spread the sand out evenly, getting creative by making a large flat edged rake out of spare wood I had. Then they packed it down as level as possible with a sand tamper. Ready for pavers!!! Let’s do this….

Who do I think I am?!

I was confident I could knock this out quickly. NOPE.

I was pumped to get the pavers laid. I mean, it’s what we are all waiting for right? This was one of the hardest projects I’ve ever done. Landscaping is intense so now I understand why a quote for this space was thousands of dollars! I got a quote from an actual masonry, and he said was quoted $40,000 to do that patio. INSANITY!!

So I called in reinforcements for laying the tile too. I had started, but I was racing the clock. The sand couldn’t sit and wait for me to do this spread out over a few nights, the weather was going to affect the level landscape. I had the guys who helped with the sand come to help lay the pavers too. They cut the tiles with a diamond blade, and laid them even & level-ish. I was grateful for the labor…is the tile perfect? No, one thing I learned about 24×24 tiles is that they are hard to get level, smaller pavers are easier to manipulate so keep that in mind if you ever do a patio! After a full day 8am -8pm in 95 degree heat the pavers were done – some of the polymeric sand was in but it wasn’t set yet and I still had a ton of cleaning left to do, including getting permanent marker off my beautiful new pavers.

But here we are! The backyard of my dreams is one step closer!

let’s clean it all up first….

I scrubbed the pavers with alcohol and my trusty scrub brush attachment on the drill. I got more gray polymeric sand from Lowe’s, and laid the sand to evenly fill the spaces of the pavers. Which I learned this the hard way… make sure there is no water on the pavers, the sand will create a glue like residue! Just pour some out section by section, brush over spaces with a broom until the sand is level with the paver surface. Once all done, then you water it per the directions. But I don’t really think this sand is very good, I’m gonna let it sit for a little bit and we’ll see if I need to redo it. Basically the polymers are supposed to keep the patio together and solid. I also used the paver edges also to keep it in tact.

The manholes for our septic system are under the patio + landscaping. The first one is at the very very edge so that we can just lift up the pavers and have access to it if we need it. The other two are going to be underneath the landscaping. Getting SO CLOSE to the finish line!!

Plants…will they make it?

Ask me what digging holes in clay was like?

Bless. It’s 97 degrees, I’m sweating my butt off and drinking water like CRAZY. I do not recommend doing a project like this in July/August, not smart. Trying to dig these holes in hard clay WORE ME OUT. I learned from some wonderful followers that I should have tried an auger drill attachment, but I was so worried that it would break my wrist, so I stuck with the using my own muscles a post hole digger might have been a good option too. Anyway, landscape fabric was laid first, plants in a rough layout and holes dug. I bought immature plants, while they may not have the most developed greenery or blooms, they’ll grow! And you usually save some money buying the baby plants. I’m getting all my plants from Lowe’s, I got hydrangeas, lavender, ornamental grass, lemongrass, and ferns and some annuals.

I used mulch because it’s inexpensive and I think I use like 22 bags for mulching the whole thing. I want to try to use the mulch glue but that will come later right now I’m just waiting for my grass to grow back =) and that might take a while. Here is a really good landscaping tip I learned….Lowe’s has a ONE YEAR plant return policy! If they die you can return them if you have your receipt! Black thumbs unite! But seriously, let’s say a prayer these thrive here. I can’t do this again.

Now for the fun stuff….let’s get some furniture!

don’t miss the last final pieces to bring this all together! we are so close!

I do need to give a little TLC to the retaining wall. And I plan on installing a fence on top of the retaining walls from Barrette Outdoor living and then finally we can shop for furniture + decor! We are almost there friends!! Make sure you follow along @livingononepercent!

THANK YOU FOR PUSHING ME ALWAYS 🫶🏻