OK, so, remember what the front yard looked like? I didn't like it, and hired a landscape designer for ideas on a garden with a flagstone patio!
Jillian (the landscape designer) and I drew out where the patio and path would go, and I got to work making the yard into a mud pit (well, Bob took out the grass for me), then I dug this nice trench for the flagstone areas...
Here's the gravel and 2 tons of flagstone...
This took forever, but I got the puzzle put together...
Slowly but surely it got levelled, and the spaces filled in with gravel...
Jillian brought the plants over and helped position them..
Over halfway planted now...
And, the finished product! All covered with mulch, even!
Another view
So, do you think I could leave it at that, enough projects for one summer? Nope. That one was done by late spring, and after some time off (houseguests, hiking, etc.), I set out to fix up the back yard with a deck.
Boxes of power tools in my kitchen...
Here the wood has arrived in my driveway
First stages of the framing
The completed frame, which, thanks to Doug, doesn't seesaw over the middle anymore...
Starting to get the decking on.
A little more progress. (This was slow)
A little more (and there's my miter saw too!)
Starting to look like a real deck! I built the stairs a little crooked--that'll be fixed soon...
Here's the finished product!
See, un-crooked stairs, thanks again to Doug for coming over and rebuilding them with me. (I apparently have no patience for this sort of thing by the end of a project.)
So. Why such a hurry to get the deck built this year??? 'Cause I wanted a hot tub!!! Here's the HotSpring truck coming to deliver it!
These 2 big guys managed to get it into the back yard without destroying anything...
The electrician here getting it all wired
And there it is, ready to be enjoyed! Still working on appropriate positioning of the umbrella, and gonna build a little stair for it too.