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Our Next Big Project....

Some of you might have realized by now that Paul and I don't let much time go by in between projects... We're always looking to cross something else off the master list of things we want to do around the house.... This time?  It's a patio.  Hooray!

We have a small deck off the back door but it's not big enough for much other than Paul's giant smoker/grill.  And last year, after redoing the fence we finally purchased a table and chairs so we'd have somewhere to sit outside, but have been talking about installing a patio for a while now.

The other night we ordered 200 patio pavers from Lowe's which were delivered yesterday. I guess the groundbreaking will start this weekend!

The patio is going to be in the right corner of the yard.  You can sort of see in the picture below the corner it will be in.  This picture was taking standing on the deck looking out at the yard.  The patio will go up against the fence on the right side of the picture, with one side against the side fence, one side up against the end of the raised planter bed, and one side against the stockade fence that divides the front yard from the back. 

2010-05-31 16-13-37_0003


It's going to be 18 feet wide by 16 feet deep, which gives us plenty of space for our table and chairs and possibly a few other seating areas.  Here's a mockup of a potential floor plan:





Patio-mockup


We recently purchased a gazebo to go over our dining table rather than just using an umbrella.  The gazebo is 10x10 and will fit nicely into the corner of the patio.  We'll have space for LP's little picnic table with an umbrella, our firepit with a couple of chairs, and another little bench/seating area.

Below is a mockup of the decor.  We already have the gazebo, the table and chairs, the kids picnic table, and, of course, the pavers. 

patio-dec-mockup

I'm eying a solar powered outdoor pendant light at Ikea to put in the Gazebo, along with some of their outdoor dining stuff.  We already have navy blue and red outdoor dishes so I'm going to work with what we have. 

I can't wait until this is all put together and we can start enjoying it! I think it's going to be a fabulous addition to our backyard and we'll definitely be planning some big summer parties to break it all in!

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