The Patio Finale

Kate Spade studs, Jess LC Jackson neon pink bauble necklace,
DV by Dolce Vita Adyn sandal, Ya Los Angeles Nautical Stripe Dress

Even though summer feels to be winding down, I hope there are many warm weekends in our future. Because the patio is ready to go for outdoor dinners, chats around the fire pit, and all around relaxing! We're seeing some friends on Sunday, and hopefully enjoying the patio a bit, and I would gladly wear this simple summer outfit. What's even better is the dress and sandals are both under $30!

Speaking of the patio, I owe you a few "after" pictures! But first, this is what our pre-patio situation looked like when we moved in:

Once we said "sayonara" to the hedge:

And drumroll please.......our new patio!!!

Let's zoom in closer on the plant situation. We planted mums in the raised bed since they bloom during the summer and fall. Near the rosebush are fibrous begonias.

Freddy and his team at Green Landscape Solutions did a fantastic job with the patio. We had a general idea of what we wanted, but Freddy brought all sorts of creativity and an attention to detail to the project. For example, the curviness of the patio and corners of the planter. Love it.

They also did an excellent job in "finishing" the space. Since we were having permeable pavers installed, they needed to dig a deeper foundation and tore up part of the driveway in the process. On the left of the picture below, you'll see a new patch of asphalt. And as part of our design and building permit woes, Freddy worked with us and the building inspector to design a patio that met our aesthetic and zoning requirements.

As expected, they also put down sod around the patio and where the driveway was removed. What we didn't expect was to find the driveway power washed and extra pavers neatly stacked on the side of the garage.

And for a little icing on the cake, Green Landscape Solutions had very competitive prices. We got quotes from three different contractors and Freddy's quote was the best bang for our buck. So if you're looking to install a deck or patio or for a little landscaping work, I highly recommend Green Landscape Solutions.

Have a lovely Friday and weekend!

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Let there be Gravel!

I went with the Shabby Apple navy striped skirt. Thanks for the feedback!

To be honest, I don't have it in me to create a fab Friday's Fancies post. My mental energy has been channeled at work and whatever I have left is put into the patio.

Work started on Tuesday, but we've hit a few hurdles with a delivery delay and rain. Oh, the rain! I know we need it in Chicago, but why now? And of course the storms were at night, so I didn't sleep very well. On Thursday morning, our patio hole was looking like a swimming hole!

So instead of filling in the hole with gravel, they were pumping out water and removing part of the driveway.

Fortunately, our permeable pavers were delivered!

And they were able to remove part of the driveway.

We also we went ahead and ordered our patio table and chairs! Yes, they're from Walmart, but the set met all off our requirements:

• A table for 6
• A metal tabletop
• 2 swivel bouncy chairs
• Under $1,000

The patio set also had really, really good reviews. One lady even left a review 2 years later saying how well it's held up.

In other good news, they're filling the hole with gravel as I type!

Hope you have a fantastic weekend!
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The Bomb Diggity

You know that adage about home projects taking twice as long and costing twice as much? I think that's going to be our patio. The last time we talked about our brick patio, John and I were waiting to hear about our building permit. Well....it took a few tries to get approved.

Attempt #1: We didn't include three full copies of our plat of survey in our application. We only included a drawing of the patio plan on a close-up of where the patio would be installed. Turns out, they needed to see that the plat was legit. And that it included all the needed measurements and scale to calculate the impervious surfaces of our lot.

Attempt #2: With the full plat of survey submitted, it turns out our design didn't meet zoning requirements. In our defense, the zoning rules are not easily found. Or were they directly communicated to us. According to current zoning rules in our 'burb, no greater than 50% of our lot can be covered by impervious surfaces. In other words, the square footage of our house, garage, driveway, patio, and anything else solid cannot be greater than 50% of the square footage of our property. This is to ensure proper storm water management. And for property prettiness.

It turns out the impervious surfaces of our property before the patio were already at 53%! Our property was probably to code at some point, but obviously is not in compliance with current standards. Fortunately, our impervious surface count is grandfathered in so we can install a patio as long as we maintain the 53%. Which meant a new design.

Good thing there's such a thing as permeable pavers. They're installed slightly apart with pea gravel in between the joints to let water absorb into the ground instead of letting it wash into the sewer. We're really happy that we hired a pro because the gravel base needs to be 18 inches deep vs. 6 to 8 inches deep in a standard brick patio.

But...permeable pavers are still included in the impervious surface calculation. Just as 50%. So if the patio is 200 sf, it only counts as 100 sf. Which means however big we make the patio, 50% of that square footage needs to be removed somewhere else. That somewhere else is going to be part of our driveway.

Attempt #3: To make sure everything was covered, we had a meeting of the minds wth the building inspector, our patio guy, and us. Everyone verbally agreed to the new design and where the driveway would be removed.

With the new design submitted, we were sure we'd be approved! Nope, the building department wanted to get more of the design specifics in writing. Particularly, how deep the layers of gravel and sand would be, the materials to be included, etc. Thank goodness our patio guy was able to submit the design so quickly.

Because after paying our application fees and getting the license for our builder.....WE HAVE OUR BUILDING PERMIT!!!

I seriously think angels were singing.

Now we wait to get on the schedule...
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Prepping for our Patio

Last week, Marie asked when we were going to Europe in response to my announcement that we finally got cable. I'm assuming that's because we could have skipped the cable and used the money for plane tickets. Unfortunately, that's not the case. At least not this year.

Logistically speaking, a long week or so of travel doesn't fit into our schedule. John is using a good chunk of vacation time to go to Appalachia with our church. Plus, we'll be going to Denver for a wedding this fall and are planning on spending some extra days there.

Finally, our "big win" savings are being put towards a brick patio! As you may recall, we had a giant hedge in our backyard. Exhibit A to refresh your memory:

When my parents visited last fall, we made the executive decision to rip out the hedge in the hopes of adding a patio. Turns out, the hedge was three plants and had some super-thick trunks and roots. Exhibit B of John with a fraction of hedge remnants:

Now that it's summer, we're itching to get this brick patio started! At one point, we considered installing the patio ourselves. That is, until we saw the yard sloping towards our house. Clearly, that's not good if it rains, so we called a few patio and landscaping companies for quotes.

We decided on the company and we finalized the design a few weeks ago. And yes, we borrowed the neighbors furniture for illustrative purposes.

We'll have a curved path connecting the driveway with the patio, keeping space for the rosebush and some grass to the left of the path. The day lilies will be moved since they were only planted there until we found a more permanent spot for them.

The left side of the patio will be the eating area with a table that fits 6 or so people. On the right will be a conversation area with chairs and a small table. Yes, Dad, we'll conceal the air conditioner with some plants.

Underneath the window will be a raised, walled planting area. In addition to planting space, this will also give us more seating. We don't plan on putting the grill on the patio since there's plenty of space to put it on the driveway when we use it and roll it back in the garage when we're not.

We're currently waiting on the building permit (we applied for it last Friday), so once we have it, we'll start breaking ground!

Are you completing any big projects this summer?
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