Hey Everyone!!  It’s Spring and I finally decided to get a jumpstart on the outdoor space before it gets too hot.  I’m usually guilty of waiting till the last minute and then can’t get too much done because it’s too hot.  I actually used to could stand the heat, but not anymore.. girlfriend have to take several breaks to go inside for cool relief, especially after last summer’s project of painting some outdoor items.  So… let’s jump right in and talk about the backstory – shalll we-… I used to have a gazebo in my yard and loved having it.  As you see here, every Summer I would spruce up the decor and really enjoyed hanging out in there, however, after having gone through three of them, it was time to let them go, and spending $1k on one was out of the equation.  See the huge Maple tree – well that offered plenty of shade in my yard, so I figured I’d just create a small patio area.

My initial thought was to make the cobblestones like I did when I created the pathway

But when I visited the granite yard to pick out my countertops I noticed piles of broken granite slabs.  I asked him what do you do with those broken slabs and he said “nothing”… you can take some if you want.  OH MY GOODNESS – that was music to my ears.  I couldn’t believe it. So needless to say, my mind thought – PATIO!!!  and that’s exactly what I did.  Everyday on my lunch break I would ride up there and get a few and created a pile in my driveway until I had enough for one.

SIDENOTE conversation:  when I mentioned this project to someone, they actually said to me, isn’t that going to be slippery when wet?  I responded.. who sits outside in the rain??  duuuuh???? lol

Now, first things first.. had to remove the pallets that was once there – insert here comes my super-guy Jake- to the rescue.  I was afraid of snakes, bugs and  whatever else might be under there.  Jake was extremely helpful with this project (I consider myself lucky to have someone like him) because he not only was there, but once he understood what I wanted, he took control and ran with it.  He even got the sand from the riverbank area in our town.  I had one bag of sand leftover from the pathway and we used the clean sand on top.  After the ground was leveled,  he laid them out sporadically and made sure the chairs would sit on the stones evenly.

Then after that, the gaps were filled in with sand and packed in.

I was very pleased with this no cost/low cost project (I compensated Jake for his time).  We started this right before everything began to bloom and now that Spring has sprung I was able to take better pictures (now the chair cushions were cleaned up a bit, but with the rain and bad weather, they got dirty again.. (needless to say, excuse that part)

But this is pretty much the look I wanted and it was accomplished while being budget friendly.

The pallet eyesore was gone and now it’s a flat level space with granite.  On a clear sunny day, the granite shines  (which I was surprised)

To see more of my yard and it’s transformation over the years, please check out my latest video

With inflation not seeming to give us a break, it’s good to be able to improvise a little and create something without breaking the bank.  I hope this has inspired you because I sure didn’t know granite yards give away leftover slabs.. it was new to me.  Was that something you knew about?  If not, now you know.. Hope this helped.  Thanks again for joining my here on the blog.

CIAO!!!!