SO close...

We were able to use the patio on the 4th, but it still (as of 8 this morning) isn't quite done... Mike and crew made huge progress Saturday and Sunday. The hot weather at the end of last week slowed them down, as it was just too hot to safely work in the sun. One extreme to the other, eh?


The pipes here give an exact one inch depth to the sand in which the pavers get placed. As Mike moved toward the shed, he moved them that direction. He started out right against the shed, as you generally want to start against your hard edge, but quickly found out the shed wasn't placed quite square to the house or anything else! We'd have had pavers running at a slight but visible angle. So, thankfully, he started on the other side! Getting pavers in three sizes makes for a great random pattern, but also creates all kinds of problems when laying them. You have to make sure you don't use too many of any one size, so you don't end up short on one size, and you want to vary the color somewhat, too. We think Mike did a great job.

Here you can see he's cut the edge to the rounded shape we want - yet another thing that makes this complicated!



Mike had quite the set up for cutting - the tarps are to keep shards from landing in the grass. Partway through the day, his sawhorses broke, so he used bungee cords to hold it down on one of the wheelbarrows!


You can see the finished edge here. It takes so much time to do each one...
1. Lay a paver next to another.
2. Mark them both.
3. Cut them both.
4. Lay them down again, with another stone on the other edge of one of them.
5. Mark those two pavers.
6. Cut both of them.
7. Put them down.
It takes this many steps to cut both sides of a paver and fit it, so you can see how it takes a great deal of time!

We have stepping stones on the other side, too, and will add plants when more dirt and some edging get added.




And the nearly finished project! Joe takes a well-deserved break in the shade after we spent a bunch of time cleaning up and putting together the furniture (2 more chairs and a table, plus a small fountain that burbles nicely).



And lastly (at least for now), a view of our big garden from the patio. I plan to spend many mornings in the shade sipping tea and looking at it! The big white plant in the middle is one, count it one, daisy. And they told me to treat it like an expensive annual... I've had it for years!