Outdoor Dining Patio

If you would have told me how long it would take to put in our outdoor dining patio, I wouldn't have believed you. I simply had no idea of the time involved in completing such a project. Like the fence, it took many, many hours (and many, many weekends) of meticulous consideration and hard work.

Hubby did most of this work. He did all the math, the measuring, leveling and planning.

See Exhibit A.

Exhibit A.

As for myself, I was good at pointing around and saying, "like this, and there!" 

Which hubby was able to translate into a beautiful patio and stairs.

Although it was our intention to have this completed before summer officially began, 

it has now been completed before summer is officially over!

So the following photos are what it took to create this new space of ours...

This is what we started with after the dining room addition was built. 

Retaining wall was built first. See urns? I'm already starting to decorate.

After a significant amount of gravel was added and leveled, Hubby built a frame for the patio stairs. We decided that the easiest way to build the stairs was to adhere pavers to a strong foundation of concrete. 

This was the night before the concrete truck came to pour the concrete into the stair frame.

The concrete pourer was able to help with leveling the concrete as it was being poured. 

After concrete cured, pavers were adhered.

Next step was to lay the patio floor pavers. 

To make sure that the pavers looked right (as much like real stone as possible), Hubby worked out a pattern on paper first. The pavers were the same width but came in four different lengths so there was a system in place to ensure that all seams were staggered. 

There are a lot more photos. Most of them are of hubby up to his ears in gravel, dirt and pavers. And a few with him giving me the stink eye when I interrupted him with, "stop, let me take your picture!" This request was usually met with deaf ears.

Here's hubby ignoring me after such a request. 

This photo shows the completed patio before we planted the boxwood hedge and limelight hydrangea. 

This photo shows the beginning stages of planting a hedge of boxwood around patio to create a living wall. We wanted the patio to be as green as possible so we opted for a living wall rather than concrete/stone. 

Later on, we decided to add stairs down the center. 

AFTER

PHOTO UPDATES: New patio table and chairs. Full post here.