Yard-ening, a story in pictures.
 

http://img162.echo.cx/img162/4821/yard016ej.jpg

See, I had this shed in my yard. It had all kinds of crazy shit inside; a kiln, a workbench, hundreds of radio valves, a World War II marine corp. radio and loads of other stuff.

But it was taking up too much valuable drinking space in the only corner of the yard which sees any prolonged sunshine.

http://img253.echo.cx/img253/7993/yard025vp.jpg

So, I sold all the contents and knocked the fucker down...

http://img285.echo.cx/img285/6755/yard064uq.jpg

and cleared up the mess.

http://img268.echo.cx/img268/3619/yard0615vp.jpg

Then the snow came and work stopped for a while.

http://img277.echo.cx/img277/2985/yard0651tz.jpg

The snow cleared so I broke up the concrete in the yard and laid some foundations.

http://img178.echo.cx/img178/7518/yard0661iz.jpg

Then it rained.

http://img298.echo.cx/img298/8739/yard679fy.jpg

During breaks in the clouds I put up a retaining wall with a couple of planting areas and some steps,

http://img253.echo.cx/img253/7702/yard0702gj.jpg

put some gravel down,

http://img285.echo.cx/img285/3606/yard0719im.jpg

laid some Indian stone flags (which I had left over from my kitchen floor),

http://img268.echo.cx/img268/707/yard0724sn.jpg

filled the gaps with more gravel, cracked open a tinnie and sat there staring at it for about an hour.

Nice work. Heck, very nice work.

As soon as I saw the first picture materialize after opening the thread...I said to myself, this guy lives in the UK...then I checked your "location" and low and behold I was right.

Enjoy your patio and remember to recycle your tinnies :)

Again, nice work.

-bear

Nice work.

Where else would it rain like that?

Yup, we certainly get our fair share of weather over here.

I did all the work during the cold, wet winter months so that it was ready in time for the summer. Always a step ahead. :thumbsup:

I had a few quotes from professional landscaping companies ranging between £3,000 and £5,000. It cost about £500 in materials (and a lot of labour) to do it myself.

Haha... I thought almost the same thing.

"Sheesh... that looks like England or Ireland..."

:)

Nice patio by the way. I'm astounded you did it all yourself. I was never really a DIY man. I'm more of a GBI guy myself.


Mr Mephisto

Awesome project, fun documentation, and very stylish result! The lion head fountain is a great touch. Here's to lots of sunshine on your patio! :thumbsup:

nice work, it turned out very good. I'd be happy to drink beer in your yard :thumbsup:

Excellent work! Looks fantastic.

I want to see pics of the dinner party you are going to have..lol

awesome work

Felt like I was reading a children's story with all the pictures.. I miss children's stories.......


OUH! Nice job .. seriously.. I'd crack open a "tinnie" with you anytime on that patio..

Excellent work... I have been thinking of doing some work to my backyard. This has inspired me greatly...

/raises his own tinnie in salute!

Thanks for the positive feedback.

What the pictures don't tell you is that, due to the amount of gravel, my back yard smells a little bit... fishy (gravel is dredged up from the sea-floor). All I need is some more rain to wash the smell away, I reckon.

and I probably won't have to wait too long for that to happen. :D

Vinegar is pretty cheap - could you buy a couple of big bottles, mix 50% with water, and just spray or pour it over the gravel? It might help remove the fish smell.

I really enjoyed your pictures - it was like watching a design show on TV. Beautiful job!

I see how that would work but I'm happy to let nature take it's course. I've got nearly 3 tonne of gravel down so it would take incredible amount of effort to wash it.

The smell isn't too bad, except when the conditions are right, I just get an occasional wiff of the sea.

Cheers.

I just thought that I'd chip in and say that we do get nice weather here sometimes. It was 32 degrees today. But, guess what, Rain tonight :D

Very nice! I wish I had a lawn to do stuff in...I live in an apartment now.

Looks very nice. Now to repaint that handrail...

That looks great! It's certantly opened up the whole area nicely.
By the look of those pics, you shouldn't have to wait long for more rain!

I did all the groundwork during the winter months.

The weather today, all weekend and all of last week has been:
http://img46.echo.cx/img46/2828/churchreduced0ii.jpg

The forecast for this week is more of the same.

*blink* *scratches head* "Oh! Celsius..."

Absolutely amazing what a pair of hands can do for loving a little bit of land :) Was it worth all the work and time you put into it? :)

There were some moments when I thought I'd bitten off more than I could chew. I hadn't laid a brick in my life before I started and I could always think of something better to do with my spare time.

Hopefully, this weekend it will start paying me back when all my friends and family come around for a bit of a do (I think there's about 50 people coming - I hope they bring some food and booze with them, otherwise I'm screwed :D).

Are you serious? I'm double plus impressed then! I like everything about your patio jwoody - the water fountain is a particular nice touch :D It looks very hyggelig!

A couple of questions though:

#1: This is your own patio right? Do you owe you own house or are you living in a rented apartment?

#2: I really like those "yellow" colored bricks you've used - the same ones that you've used as your kitchen floor. But why on earth have you used bricks on your kitchen floor?! :confused: Isn't it freezing when you walk on it bare-footed and.. isn't it difficult to keep clean?

I work for an architect, as an Architectural Technician/Draughtsman so I've known all about the theory of laying bricks and mixing mortar for years but I'd never had any practical experience before.

The first row of bricks looks a bit rough but that's now buried underground so you you can't see it. By the time I'd laid those I'd almost got the hang of it.

Can you remind me what the English translation of hyggelig is again? :D

(only joking, hyggelig is exactly what I had in mind for the patio area :thumbsup: )

I share a house with my brother. We bought it a couple of years ago (in a very rundown state) with the intention of fixing it up and selling it for profit.

I'll put some before and after photos of the house up when (if?) we ever get it finished. Renovating houses is much more expensive than TV would have you believe.

The house is more than 100 years old and when we moved in it had a rough concrete floor which had to be completely removed because it had no damp-proofing underneath it. We got the stones for the floor at a discount price (through my work) and they look good.

It is cold to walk on bare-foot but it's a small price to pay for such a stylish floor.

I wouldn't know, we pay someone to come in weekly and clean the house for us. Very reasonable price too.

You don't need me to tell you what a terrific job you've done, but here it is. :)

It's so nice to see a project from beginning to end. Heh, it rather inspires me to pick up some of those half-done items of mine (costumes though, not a huge useful job like yours).

Can you estimate how many hours you spent on the project? Hope your brother helped. :P

I'm sure there's loads of people here who'd love to see your work.

Impossible to say with any kind of accuracy. We (notice how I'm using 'we' instead of 'I' since I let it slip about my brother) pulled the shed down in November last year and spent a few hours on it a few days a week until it was finished last month.

There was a time, around christmas- new year, when we just forgot about it for a while. Then, when the weather picked up a bit, got back into it.

P.S. - I forgot to mention; the bricks were all free, reclaimed from a recently demolished pub in Newcastle.

Ahh. "liberated bricks". :p

Can't beat "Can Do" mixed with "Creative Resourcing, really! Many terrific costumes are made that way...but not with bricks, heh heh.

I gotta commend you on your resourcefulness and experist on building the retaining wall. They look really good. Though I would've kept the WWII marine corp. radio. Excellent job though.

Some lounge chairs and a fire ring and you are styling!

Here ya go...

Saturday, early afternoon:
http://img284.imageshack.us/img284/9...nochild3uv.jpg

Sunday, very early A.M.
http://img261.imageshack.us/img261/7466/yardfish3bs.jpg

Fantastic job. I have to figure out how to make or backyard deck more conducive to socializing. Thanks for the ideas.

Very nice jwoody. Most impressive. Though, I notice you use the term "backyard" very loosely. I saw no yard in these photos ;). Of course, I live in the states, and not in a big city, so when I say "backyard", I mean.. a lot of damn grass that I have to mow incredibly too often.

Love the patio though, and I'm sure it is great for dinner parties and just kicking back with a beer in hand with friends.

Ahhh. That explains why the outcome looks so damn good :thumbsup:


wow, heh, I've never met a guy who lives with his brother before. You two must get along great then :D

I see. I still have a very hard time imagining what it looks like. Could I persuade you to take some photos of it? Please? *bats eyelashes*


What the...? Lazy bums! :p

Ah. The very essense of "hyggelig" right there. Except a few candles (and some Tuborgs) would have made it even more perfect :D

Say, those plants you've chosen.. do they serve a purpose other than making your patio look more nifty?

No. What do think it is, charity week?



Oh, alright then...

Here's one I prepared earlier... On this photo the kitchen floor looks like completely different stone to the ones outside, but they are the same. These ones have been coated in a sealant to make them easier to clean.

http://img311.imageshack.us/img311/6...chen0003bi.jpg

Got the candles covered and on that day we had every type of lager you can think of except Tuborg, unfortunately. I'll remember to get a case in next time. :thumbsup:

http://img233.imageshack.us/img233/8...hild3uv9ii.jpg

There's some herbs in there which my brother planted (his hobby is experimental cooking), some mosses and plants which we picked from a mountain (more like a big hill) we climbed a few months ago and the rest I have no idea what they are. Some of them were out the front of the house when we moved in and the rest were donated by an aunt of ours who is a keen gardener.

Mange tak S. :icare:

The floor looks fabulous but not something I'd use in my kitchen hehe. Did you get the inspiration from France?

As for your kitchen, is that new? The only British kitchens I've ever seen (in British soap operas) looks aweful and in very poor condition (anno 18th century something). Are they still standard in the average modern British homes?

haha allright smartass! In my defence half of them doesn't even look like candles! :p


Ah! May I suggest an aloe vera plant for medical purposes? And if I were you I'd plant jasmine and lilac as well - both gives off a wonderful scent during day/evening and are easy on the eyes too :)

Velbekomme N. :D

Because we're renovating the house with intention of selling it, we decided to put our personal tastes aside and make the house as traditional as possible. We used books which I have at work and a couple of magazines for ideas. We both had our hearts set on a stone floor in the kitchen before it was even discussed.

I can't speak for everyone in England but I know exactly what you mean. Our kitchen was in a terrible state before we fixed it up. I've got some photos on my other computer. I'll show them here, maybe tomorrow if I remember.

Thanks for the suggestion but I'm completely clueless when it comes to plants. I leave that side of it to others.

The kitchen, before. Isn't it delightful?

Check the coal powered oven out. That was the only source of heat in the house when we moved in (in the middle of winter). Me and my bro spent a good few nights huddled around that thing in our wooly hats and jumpers.

The reason it looks so smokey is because the chimney was a bit blocked up (with hundreds of dead birds, we later found out). We faced a choice between carbon monoxide poisoning or hypothermia. I know which way I'd rather go.

http://img238.imageshack.us/img238/8...nbefore8yx.jpg