DIY Patio

Back when my hubby (well at that time he was still just my fiance) and I first moved into our home, the back yard didn't have a patio or deck, just a small landing right off the back door. I knew that spring would approach fast and I definitely wanted to make use of our yard for entertaining and cookouts. So, we decided to build our own patio! This was our first major project in the house. Here's what the yard looked like before:

I didn't want the patio to take up too much of the yard because I wanted there to still be  plenty of green space for our pup to run around, but I also knew I wanted to convert that round planter pictured above into a fire pit. We decided a curved patio would fit our space best. We shopped around, and ultimately bought our supplies at The Home Depot. I think we spent about $700 on supplies, but we did all the labor ourselves, so that saved a ton of money (and burned a LOT of calories!). Even though I wasn't blogging at the time, I documented the process pretty well because I was so excited to be doing our first big project as homeowners! 

The first step was to remove the grass from the area we wanted to put the patio. Once all the grass was removed, we had to smooth out the ground and level it.

 That's my father in law helping us level the ground :) 

 I didn't take pictures of this next part, but the next steps were to put several layers of sand and fine gravel over the ground. Then we laid a fabric weed blocker down on top of that. We laid the fabric blocker down as we progressed with the bricks because the wind was blowing it everywhere.

After all the bricks were laid, all that was left was to clean up! The edges were rough, and we planned to finish them, but never got around to renting a brick cutter to do it. Luckily, the grass grew in and covered the edges so that now they look smooth and even! We do still need to cut some bricks and fill in the edges surrounding the fire pit! 

Today the patio looks even better because we've purchased patio furniture as well:

What about you? Have you tackled any big DIY projects in your home that make you proud?

-Jesse