Patio Palooza: One down, one to go

Patio Palooza is a two-part project. There's the actual paver patio and then the landscaping that surrounds it. Hubs and I took a four day weekend this past week to make a real dent in these two projects, even though Deckstravaganza is still looming over our heads (um, we have no stairs).

Drum roll.

Eye roll.

Let the heavens open and angels sing, sweet readers! For the laying and setting of the paver patio is COMPLETE!

It was a mad dash. The compactor we rented didn't work, so we had to run and exchange it (scoring a free rental in the process - holler!). We finished setting the bricks with joint sand just as a ten-minute deluge wet it for us and bad-da-bing, ba-da-boom, we had a finished project!

Meanwhile, the landscaping is coming along. We added mulch and got the garage side garden in, leaving just the deck-surround garden. Check out the sunny-side garden in all of its finished glory!

On the shady side, I used an old birdbath that came with our house for a planter - an idea Hubs was convinced would look totally ghetto. Aside from the one plant in the back that hates me and is already partially dead, I am proud to say that this little raised garden doesn't look ghetto, depite the fact that I only paid about $10 for the plants and another $4 for the river rock. I've got a clemantis vine set to crawl up it and sweet potato vines about to cascade down, so who's ghetto now, Senor Hubs? Not us! There are also three sweet peony bushes back there, so I'm a happy camper. And don't fret that this looks super shady, it gets lots of morning sun.

We also put in a limelight hydrangea tree under our kitchen window and surrounded it with the hostas that we saved from the old "garden." I can't wait until this blooms!

Of course, when I traipsed out to TimberPine to pick up that hydrangea tree and another you'll see soon, I couldn't help myself. I picked up three more hanging baskets - two more for the deck and a red one to hang from the garage. Bigger, better, best fo' life.

We are so close, I can taste it! Which is good because I have a long list of actual social activities I'd like to pursue once this project stops taking over our lives.