New Front Patio

I am so excited to share this post with you, because it means I am finally done! Almost...

Our old house had an awesome front patio on it, and I loved sitting out there on perfect nights. The house we are now living in doesn't have one. It has a sidewalk that leads to the front door. Of course, I decide to tackle adding a front patio the diy way. All we paid for were the plants that are in between the stones.

Here's a picture from last Independence Day. All that's next to the sidewalk is mulch and bushes.

We found this gem of a place to get rock for free. We load up in my Dad's truck, climb all over this side of a mountain (We're in Alabama, so it's more like a big hill.), and collect all kinds of rocks. We lined our front beds with little ones, and we also found large flat ones for me to make the patio. Ryan also loaded up a wheelbarrow with leftover sand from construction down the street. We have really become resourceful!

Jackson helping out

We had to transplant some bushes that were in the spot, and then we spread the sand out. Because the stones were of varying thickness, it took a little ingenuity to get them all level. We laid them out first to get the right fit. It was kind of like putting a puzzle together. Then, I just started from the sidewalk and worked my way around digging up the spots for each rock. Ryan didn't have the patience for the leveling, so I really did take this one on myself. (Don't worry, I found other projects for him to do!) The biggest trick I found was to make sure that once each rock was level, I made sure to fill in any holes underneath. This keeps them from wiggling.

The rocks don't have a flat surface, so if that's what you're looking for, I would recommend purchasing flagstone. We added ground cover plants in between the rocks to eventually grow in and keep the rocks from shifting.

I added a table set that my mom had, and that's my almost part. Now that needs to be power washed and painted. Slowly but surely!

We've also added some decorations from my grandmother around our front windows. She and I don't know what they are, but they're pretty! It just adds a little something more. You can also see where we transplanted one of the bushes.

Here's the front entrance now.

My favorite part is the sign we added by the front door. I picked this up from a vendor at Randolph School's Under the Christmas Tree.

I can't wait to to sit on our front porch on one of these nice spring nights!