The Patio 4: Laying a foundation

It's starting to come together.

Packing the gravel.

We designed the steps to build into the stone wall, this will create a great impact.  Notice the grading on the steps slopes at an angle - once the framing goes in at  90 degrees it will make sure the front of the steps get filled with concrete.  

The plan. 

Chatting with Max, he's the Platte Woods Street Commissioner and overall neighborhood handyman.

I'm focusing on not destroying my driveway or flipping the skid loader- Mark is much better at running this thing.

Shooting grade, as they say, to ensure proper drainage.  This is a key step in the process as you can see the house is directly behind the future patio and we need to keep water flowing away from the basement.

Mark teaching me the steps in determining grade. 

My younger brother Daniel also helped this weekend too, sorry no photos.  Thanks bro!

We added drainage tile to run along the stonewall.  The wall was built with no drain ports so water comes from the bottom of the wall keeping the edge of the concrete damp.  This 'tile' is actually a perforated tube wrapped in a fabric, the fabric filters mud from seeping in and clogging the pipe.  Oh the photo looks foggy because it was cool inside and once the camera hit the intense heat outside it completely fogged over - a heat advisory was in effect

4th of July: Affordable and American ways to make your outdoors pop.

Flags are like pocket squares for houses, ha.

I found out what is obvious to most, if your plants look sad and droopy spray them with water for about 30secs and a few minutes afterwards they will pop right up. Thanks for the tip Brent! 

My wife lined the sidewalk with stone that was left over from our basement fireplace (seen below).  The dead grass is my fault, I trimmed it too short with the weed eater.

We are blessed and cursed with a large yard.  The next step will be to devise an outdoor lighting scheme: up lights for the trees framing the house, flood lights around the home, etc.. The neighborhood has no street lights and is very dark, the lights will help us find our house at night.

They make 3 types of outdoor flags: Poly, Cotton and a Blend.  We went with the blend it's the best of both worlds; it has the natural look and feel of cotton but, like Poly, won't fade. Thanks All Nations Flag Co.  Flags can serve purposes other than a display of pride; table cloth, a Confederate flag makes for great redneck curtains, or this more tasteful approach.  

I love this light, it is a timeless piece at a great price, it can be found here. We used it on our garage, I have seen ones similar used inside in kitchens and bathrooms  - above a medicine cabinet or mirror.  Check out similar, more expensive styles here