We have a patio and the beginning of a driveway!

I think this is my favorite room in the house.

They did this in one day.

Cutting the bluestone. Tons of dust.

How pretty is that pattern?

Finito!

They stayed til 7PM to start the driveway.

Patio!

Patio should be finished tomorrow!

It's like another room!

Steps down to the yard. Feels Tuscan.

Bluestone pattern of patio. 

Patio Progress

Steve painting downpouts while working. Such talent.

Masons working their asses off creating the patio.

We need a wall since the yard has such a steep slope. It's pretty.

Curved wall of patio

Patio and Driveway

More prep work for driveway, backyard patio, and yard.

Outline of backyard patio

Laying the stone foundation for the driveway

Stone for our driveway. I think our neighbors are sick of us. Again..

Hopefully this week will bring the new driveway and patio. Hopefully.

Excavation of the Yard

An exciting day as I ran from window to window taking photos of all the work being done in the yard. First, they scrape up all the ugly overgrowth, dead roots and vines, and save occasional perennials. Next: Ugly ass driveway goes! Excavate for back yard patio! This is fun.

So far, we're loving these guys.

Lots of digging

Look at that gorgeous dirt

What a difference! The yard looks enormous.

Front yard at the end of the day. Saved plants by the wall

Can't wait for tomorrow!

Decisions on hardscapes. We have a window sill!

A major part of our landscaping plan involves a patio in the back yard, and totally redoing the broken down, ugly-ass driveway.

Some choices for both the patio and the driveway. Leaning toward the bluestone on the left (at the edge of the porch) for the back yard patio.

More choices. Top middle for driveway pavers. Thinking all three sizes, in that pattern, will look great.

Even more choices! My landscape designer, who I really like, is not like my kitchen and bath designer who knows me so well that he only brought a few choices on everything.

From the bottom of the driveway looking toward the road. It is all torn up, with lots of dirt. 

Our first window sill! This is a new window, but even the replacement windows had all the trim and window sills taken off.

Window sills first, then the rest of the trim

The Yard

So, we started thinking about landscaping over the winter. Minimum lawn, please. We began by saying I can deal with the small area in the front of the house (plantings, mulch, ground cover). Maybe throw down some grass seed.

See that sandy area in front of the sun porch? That's where the porta porty sat for 5 months.

Then, there was an Angie's List special: Landscape Design on one section of your yard for a really really good price. We thought we could use lots of help in the back yard, and a landscape designer from Weston Nurseries came out. At least he didn't laugh right in our faces. And while we decided not to use them for installation, he gave us some good ideas.

That white chalk line is the perimeter of the patio. Apparently, a patio and stone retaining wall is called "hardscaping."

There will be steps from the patio down to the lawn.

Mulch and perimeter plantings along the ugly fence.

Patio will go close to the tree; all the area under the back porch and stairs will be enclosed.

And, of course, something we thought we would put off. A new driveway. Pavers. What can I say? They gave us a good deal. AND they're grading and seeding the front, too. I'm OK with that. 

Herringbone pattern pavers for driveway. This is what it looks like now. Isn't that lovely?


Hopefully, we get a schedule for this this week!