Over the last year or so we’ve been renewing our patio, still some work to be done but it’s essentially complete.
In truth, it’s been a constantly changing scene for 8 years, since I/we moved into this house.
And – we’ve done a LOT of other stuff in the house – including painting every room (some twice), a new study, walls removed for open-plan lounge room – and lots of other garden and outdoor work.
I’ve found a few old photos (had to SCAN them !) – good for a before/after comparison. It’s amazing to see the change – I can’t believe how much we’ve done !
These first few photos are from around August 2000. I’d just moved in a month earlier, and had taken some pics of the what the house was when I arrived :
Yes – that’s a spa in the corner – we used it for about 6-8 months before the heater unit died, and hasn’t been used since (6+ years). More on that to follow.
We tidied up some of the bushes & all, and changed some of the garden bed – including putting up a fence around the outside.
Fast forward a few years – to about a year ago (2007), and the spa has been removed, and the garden beds stripped right back. A mess of pavers and sand and dirt from where the spa was (an adventure in itself – to remove a spa !)
That glass table you see above is no longer with us – I was standing on a ladder, and removing a hook and some nails from the beams above, and dropped the hammer. It hit the corner of the glass, about an inch in from the edge – and the glass sheet disassembled itself into 4,000,000 blocks of glass (ie. it shattered !) It made an amazing noise – almost like a car crash !
So – next on the agenda (still) is a new table. The metal frame has been re-used, with a board of wood across the top (MacGuyer’d it, ‘din I ?)
The reason I was on the ladder was to remove screws and brackets and take down ALL the sheets of fibreglass. I then had to remove all nails and screws, scrub the beams down with a brush, re-paint the whole frame (twice) – and then re-lay new metal sheets and lazerlight. *phew*
Anyway – took a long time to do the above (ie. hard to get done during winter months) – in fact, it took so long that grass began to grow.
Cameron helped me to “lever” all the pavers, and carry them out to the garage (anyone want 500+ garden pavers ?). Next step was to level out the area, and drop it down somewhat (for a concrete slab – as you will soon see).
Then some plastic to protect the house and fence, and the steel mesh for concrete re-enforcing.
Concrete day was a tough day – barrowing concrete from 7.30 on a Saturday morning – arms and back were pretty sore that night !
Once the concrete slab was laid, and allowed to dry – the dude came back with a concrete saw, and cut lines in the slab.
Next up was to paint on a sealer and colour tint – as the original colour “powder” hadn’t really worked too well when the concrete was laid.
We’ve just recently been able to set up and “use” the patio – with most weekend meals out there – was breakfast, lunch and dinner last Saturday !
To re-cap – here’s a BEFORE :
And AFTER :
There’s still lots to do – the wheelbarrow in the photo above is where the spa will be re-installed. The plan is to mount it waist high (above “pool fence” height – and thus don’t need a fence !).
We’ve got a new heater unit, just need to assemble and re-plumb it all, will need an electrician and gas plumber for some of that.
The spa will be below the dome/pitched roof – so it should be nice to sit in the spa, and look up !
More photos and show-and-tell to come, as more changes happen.
Filed under: Nostalgia
