In two months, we have already gone through three different ground covers for our new garden patio makeover. AAAGGHHH! Much as I hate to admit it, a lot of gardening is trial and error. And the little strips we have are causing us a lot of trial.

We designed the new patio in such a way that we wouldn’t have just a solid expanse of concrete. That would have involved installing a drain, and locating our existing drain and then hooking up to it.  But that meant jack hammering through existing concrete. I could see the dollar signs flying into the clouds. The other issue that bothered me was the “ungreenness” of that solution.  I had originally imagined pockets of green, or ribbons of ground cover planted around islands of concrete to absorb excess water.

The landscaper we consulted didn’t think much of that idea. He felt such narrow bands of dirt couldn’t support a healthy plant growth. But the patio area is too small to widen the bands beyond 3″. Our patio only receives 3 hours of hot sun a day — from 12 – 3. But it was still going to be a problem because we were creating a heat source with the volume of concrete.

So our contractor on the project, Nick Herrera, suggested a redesign. We left open dirt areas at either end of the patio. We left swaths in front of all the planters for drainage. Then we left two 5″ wide strips dividing the patio into thirds. Bill and I lined all these with gravel, good soil, and a drip system.

Originally, I wanted wooley thyme. I love its soft green texture. In a previous home, I planted it between the flagstones along a path that got plenty of traffic. My husband remembered it as weedy, and dying out in patches. And it has a tendency to attract bees. That was okay on a pathway, but not an enclosed patio that we sit in. Hmmmm. Then I considered dichondra. We have it growing in a flower bed out front that gets some hot sun. Dichondra likes small areas and tolerates sun. But it prefers cooler conditions. Since it was the height of summer, I couldn’t find enough at the stores anyway.

What we could find is Scotch moss. I knew this was a risk, too. But it is a great plant stuck between flagstones. It takes partial sun; I see it growing in pots. But since we were planting in July, we ended up draping shade material to protect it. Our patio looked like a shroud with these black fabric strips strung between all the strategically placed lawn chairs. But alas, after much pampering, the poor stuff succumbed.

We tried Baby Tears. It’s only surviving in the areas that don’t get sun. Even the vinca planted in semi-shady areas is not doing well. This little garden is a tough environment!

Our latest planting is still surviving somewhat. We’re trying Korea Grass. The clue in the name is that it’s a semi-tropical grass.  My concern that the grass will turn brown, as grass does, and then not green up until next spring may be coming true.  Since it’s a grass, we’ve been leaving it exposed to the full sun. The Korea Grass is still alive, I think. Some of it’s brown, which I hope doesn’t mean dead! Time will tell. Notice the grass in the center strips. That’s the Korea Grass.

We have added 300 more feet to our living space by completely transforming a gravel back patio into a pocket garden, a beautiful mini-Eden! It’s my Father’s Day gift to my husband — who wanted a lovely, no-care yard.

As of the day of the unveiling, we were not completely no-care yet. Bill spent the day fooling around with sprinkler heads, and lowering the sprinkler rises. He thought the crew had made them too high. So, he made his own multiple trips back and forth to Home Depot. He dug up the dirt in the planters to reconnect the shorter sprinklers, then found they were too short and had to go exchange them.

We also shopped thoughtfully together for new plants. I’d done research on what could survive in the space. But then we couldn’t find everything, though we went to several nurseries.  We read a lot of plant tags, and selected compromises we hope will make it.  And it’s sooo hot, that I also picked up the black mesh used for shade at nurseries. We cut it into strips and lightly covered all the tender new transplants.  It was tempting not to put any new plants in, but wait until the weather cools in a couple of months. It’s a hard time to plant when the sun is so fierce!

But even so, the hardscape and structure is really great. We have lights, automatic sprinklers, attractive planters, flowing fountains and a charming fireplace where only weeds and hardpan had been before! We’re ready to entertain. In fact, we had a lot of fun picking out new red dishes and umbrellas. After a lot of shopping, I found the perfect fabric at Joanne Fabrics that pulls the Italian colors together. I even got floating candles for the fountains at Crate and Barrel. The ambiance is charming.

To recap: the goal was a new patio by Father’s Day. My husband Bill was not to do any of the work. I thought the project could be done in a week, so had started in plenty of time I thought. Because I wanted a fireplace installed, that added an extra day and a half of hard labor to the job. It ended up taking 8 days, plus one more for finishing up.

Except that when I got up on the Saturday morning before my self-imposed deadline, I could see that I had more to do before I ‘d be able to present this gift to my husband.

I felt the cement was too light. I really wanted it darker to make more of a contrast with the tiles and beige wall. So, as tired as I was of the project and the intense amount of time I had exclusively devoted to it, I just had to stain the cement. All day.  It took all day, except for the break I took for a siesta during the worst heat of the middle of the day. I was on my hands and knees patting the stain on with a sponge. I was trying to imitate the look and feel of stone, so I wanted to apply it unevenly. But I had to make two swipes at it.

Then I had to seal the cement and tiles. I really recommend sealant, as it gave a low level shine for protection, while bringing out the layers of color. It was well after dark — more  like 10 p.m. the night before Father’s Day – that I gave the  stucco one more coat.

After witnessing how much Nick’s crew got done in a day, this is pitiful. But it was done! I fell into bed exhausted.

The main crew finished up yesterday. Basically our outdoor room was constructed in 8 days. That was with a professional, talented crew of five. It would have taken us all summer and fall — maybe on into the winter to get it done. Well, if I haven’t even been able to keep up a blog — and with the heat here in LA only intensifying and never letting up — who knows how long this project would have dragged on.

Today just Nick and his right hand man showed up. It was day of  finishing up, so we did not need to pay for the entire crew at $500 per day. Black shutters were installed around the sliding doors to enhance the Italian motif of the condo building. Hours were spent making sure the drip system drips, and they got the fireplace to work. It was very exciting that the thing I originally wanted worked out so well! I love it. It really makes the room, and is the visual center piece when you walk in the front door. It does the job of extending the eye through our small living room into the sunnier outdoor space.

I continued repainting the air conditioner cover brown and black. All those little white pieces are such a pain. The last chore for the guys to do was restucco the wall damaged during the original demolition between the new concrete pavement and door sills under the sliding doors . When that dried, I was painting it well into the inky evening. I think I’m done ! Wahoo!

Working a new job since early August has certainly pulled me away from blogging about this patio makeover that was completed in the summer. We’ve been enjoying it all this time, but I still want to lay out the process so it can be duplicated. So it’s Sunday night, but before going to bed I want to catch up with at least one other entry. We built this thing far faster than I’m writing about it!

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Before this day, I had already been painting the lumber needed to make the cover for the air conditioner. We wanted to cover this big unsightly box that’s right in the middle of the patio. Since we’re short on space, I also want it to double as a counter space for entertaining. Nick reminded me that we have to preserve air flow around the air conditioner. So he had come up with a design utilizing 1 x 1’s cut 3 feet long.

I chose to use the light colored paint from the arbor and the black used as accents.  At first I thought this was really cute spread out on the floor of my garage, looking like piano keys. However, once we got it set up on the patio, I wasn’t so thrilled. It was too much contrast. Ah, darn. That means I’ll have to repaint the white to brown, out in the heat, using a little brush to deal with the edges. Not fun.

And that’s how I spent the bulk of my day.

In the meantime, the crew tiled under the fountain with leftovers. That was a brilliant brainstorm. It really set the fountain off from the darker concrete.  Nick spent a lot of time getting the low volt lights working, attaching them on long tethers for easy moving anywhere within each planter.  The guys dug out the dirt in front of the gate and installed the big concrete stone they had made.

Then they cleaned up the neighbor’s yard that we had used as the staging area,  as well as the sidewalk, spick and span. You’d never know that there had been a colossal mess for the past week. Not even a spec of gravel was left. I really appreciated that attention to detail. If you’ve ever been involved in a construction project, it never ceases to amaze me how sloppy the crew can get — I guess the expectation is that someone else will clean up after them. Nick Herrera’s crew was really an exception to that. I didn’t have to do anything in that arena.

But I did at last get to plant all the poor specimens that had been wilting in pots in the heat. These were plants we’d brought with us in our move (last March); some were old friends that I was eager to get into some lovely dirt before I lost them.  I think I heard them sighing with relief.

Gads — I have no been offline six weeks! I accepted a part time job in August, that turned into a full time job. Lots to do and plenty of long hours. So we were very glad that our little pocket garden had been completed and was functioning on its own. Although, seeing as how it was planted in the heat of summer, we did have lots of trouble finding the right type of ground cover that could tolerate it. But I will address that in a later post. Here let me resume my recounting of how the garden was built.
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Day Seven of our project began with Nick Herrera’s crew finishing up stringing the low voltage lines under what would become the cement patio. They ran the lines through PVC pipe that had been laid the length of the patio and popping up under the planter boxes. Nick added long leads on the wires so the patio lights could be moved around in the planters once the plants were installed. I made run after run to Home Depot getting the right type of attachments.

When Nick had arrived that morning he had exclaimed, “I love cement! Now the real artistry begins.” This is what these guys are really good at apparently. They poured the cement, smoothing it as glossy as glass. I was surprised at how thick it was.

By the time they finished pouring the last segment two hours had passed. The first segment was then set enough to press lines in it, making it look ragged like stone. It took a lot of care. While everything was wet, Nick began adding in layers of “stone.” This is where the real artistry began. Nick is the Jackson Pollack of cement. He swirled dark streaks through the cement, alternating with lighter streaks. Then he threw handfuls of dry yellow dust across the top to imitate layers within the stone. We all began to get into the spirit, seeing the wet cement as a giant canvas. We streaked, swirled and dusted before the patio hardened.

Once that was done, I began stamping in the stone pattern with a huge rubber mat. I used a heavy tamper to press in the design. After the crew left, I continued doing this for a few more hours into the evening when Bill got home from work. I could only do one patch at a time, so it took forever. But it looked quite lifelike!

This is a much cheaper way to have the look of slate — about one fifth of the cost. For another project in a different home, I would have used the slate. But not at this property.

I’m very pleased with the results, but want the stone to be darker to contrast more more with the planters. I’d have to do that later.

If you happen to look at the posting date, you’ll see I’ve been offline for over a month! The project did get done in time (Father’s Day, June 21), but I couldn’t get back to writing about it! I was crazy busy working on it all that day, as we were leaving on vacation the next. Then we went camping at Yosemite, headed to a family reunion in Seattle, and participated in a conference in Chicago! This week I began preparing for a new job.

But I still want to record how our small patio makeover went for anybody else wanting to tackle a similar project.

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We didn’t resume Day Six of our Patio Makeover until Tuesday of the week before Father’s Day.  I’d been to a tech conference in San Diego on Day Five that lasted all weekend (if anybody’s interested in a well-supported business website for yourself, try SiteSell). While I was at the conference, Nick had run into an electrical problem that he felt needed a pro. Since the master electrician couldn’t come until Tuesday, I had time after work on Monday to continue shopping for low voltage lights to go into the planters. Since I had originally thought this whole project would be done in a week, the fact that we were now going into the second week, and had lost a day of it, made me realize I didn’t know how much it took to create hardscapes. And this guys worked fast, never taking long breaks.

Believe it or not, my husband and I still hadn’t decided on the lighting, though we’d been to several stores. I saw really terrific lights at a specialty lighting store, but just one cost more than four at Home Depot or Lowes or Orchard. If we had a grand house, maybe I could justify it. But as an “affordable” project, the costs continued to mount. I had hoped to match the large wall lamps that Nick was trying to install, but just couldn’t find anything. At the last minute before our local Home Depot closed at 10 p.m., I finally decided on a set of lights and went home to bed.

Early on Day Six of the project, the electrician came. He ran a bunch of tests, and told us everything was fine after all. He thought since it had been drizzling on Friday when Nick tried turning on the lights, perhaps drips had gotten into the new plugs. He finished installing the wiring for the outdoor outlets, and put up the big outdoor lights. Believe me, there was comfort in knowing a pro was doing this instead of ourselves. Since I was paying anyway, he installed a couple of new plugs for me in the condo. I wrote out a check for three hundred dollars.

Then another of Nick’s friends, a landscaper and grower, popped in. We talked about the plants I was thinking about putting in, and he made some suggestions as well. I have been observing the play of light in the garden, but it had been overcast for a couple of weeks. I knew I didn’t have any sense of what the summer light and heat would be like. At this point in June, we’d only been in the place for a couple of months.

Our speedy crew, who had been busy grouting between the tiles while the other gentlemen were here talking and filling up the small space, really swung into action once they could move around freely. They fired up the tile cutter and pieced the bottom of the planters. They ran the low voltage lines into the planters. I really appreciated their assistance in shoveling the gravel into the bottom of the planters to assist drainage. Then in went the dirt. I’d purchased four of the largest bulk packages at Home Depot.

It took all four men to lift the fountain into place. Although it was in three pieces, they’re all made of cement. My husband and I could never have lifted them ourselves. It required a lot of muscle — although just two strong men had delivered it! Nick also drilled holes in the cement the wall for the wall fountain and the mirror I’d picked up at a yard sale. With the decorations up, the patio was looking less like a big box and more friendly.

Before the day ended, the guys laid out all the forms for the cement. I didn’t want a solid cemented-in space. Bill doesn’t want weeds or patchy spaces. Anyway, if we were doing solid, we’d have to first install a drain field — sounded complex to slope the cement to handle the runoff. And I suppose it would entail another day or two of labor to design that and hook into our existing drains after they found them. Each day costs $500 for labor. I learned with the fireplace that just digging the trenches to lay the new gas line consumed an extra day I had figured into the equation.

I wanted green space so it would feel like a “lawn” out in back. I originally wanted to have space left around each individual piece of “stone,” like flagstone. But the landscaper felt we couldn’t plant something in such small slivers of space and have it survive. I really like woolly thyme, but when we used it between stones at our house in Washington, it did allow weeds to pop through. That’s what Bill remembered — lots of weeding. With Nick’s help, we worked out a clever compromise instead.

We’d have three big areas of cement, but etch cracks into them to look like individual stones. That satisfied Bill. To get the green areas, and allow for a more environmentally-friendly drainage system, we created strips of green between the big areas, in front of the planters, and at the edges of the patio. Could we be close to finishing?  Here’s how it looked all laid out:

I was off to a conference on this Friday — the day I originally fantasized would be the culmination of my small patio makeover. I think I had unrealistic expectations because for the first time I was hiring experienced help. This was NOT a do-it-yourself project over endless weekends and months. It was going to be about as close to Cinderella’s godmother’s flick of the magic wand or Samantha Steven’s nose wiggle as I’ve ever been. But alas, there’s far more involved for the mere mortals who are working hard to get this patio done “quickly.”  My definition of quickly has had to go through a makeover adjustment check for reality.

First off, today I got a call at the conference from Nick, our contractor. For thirty years Nick has built a gazillion projects, including swank Beverly Hills homes. So, when he called to tell me that our electricity had fizzled when he went to install the new outdoor lights, I rather stopped enjoying my conference. Sheesssh, if he’s telling me our electricity is on the fritz, it must be serious. Having only owned the property two months, it seemed ominous that a condo built in 2006 would be decrepit. I still had three more days of conference before I’d get home.  And what would that solve? Like I’m a master electrician? I’m reticent of anything that sparks and could knock me flat. Nick had called a master electrician, who couldn’t come now until Tuesday. I imagine my costs skyrocketing.

So everything will now be put on hold for four days. I was kinda surprised that the crew wouldn’t be working on Saturday. What was I thinking?

I had hoped to avoid the old axiom that construction projects take twice as long and cost twice as much as you think they will. Maybe it won’t be as bad as my imagination believes at the moment. However, since I’ve already avoided calculating the true cost of the fireplace and the additional days of labor and parts that involved, perhaps my imagination is right!

Meanwhile, Nick tells me the guys are mounting the tile to the planters, and they look beautiful.

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Late Sunday night.

Even though it’s dark, the first thing I do after tossing my suitcase on the floor, is head out to the patio. After all, it’s the only thing I’ve been dealing with for weeks now.

Yes, the tile installation is beautiful. Having installed tile myself in our first house (and never touched it ever after), I can really appreciate the straight narrow lines. The lips of the planters are really done well — the corners precise. While I could have gotten the side tiles on, I could never have cut the top lips pieces. I don’t want to ever have the occasion to practice that much!

I’d designed the planters so as not to have to cut tiles. It was supposed to be simple. But I can see that the shorter planters did not get placed low enough to the ground.  Since they’re sticking up above, the twelve inch tiles are now too short. So that will involve some piecing to cover up the gray block. Too bad. I guess I just should have made these two side planters the same size as the back ones. The sixteen inch tiles look great. My idea in using the larger pieces was to create an illusion of “largeness.” I wanted a little variety in the side planters. But now I think I should have just made them sixteen-inchers, too.

So, if I’d been home, perhaps I would have caught this flaw before it got too far along. We have far more sixteen inch tiles that we’ll ever need. That amount was over-calculated. And now that I have them, they can’t be returned. I would have used them on the side planters…but then of course, I’d end up with none of the twelve-inchers being used at all. And as it turned it, they were far more attractive than the larger ones. It did take the two extra boxes of large tiles to find enough colorful ones to use. We have a big pile of plain ones left over.

As originally conceived, the design of the tiles were to be the active tie between the tan fence wall and what will be the dark “floor.” So far, that idea is looking good!

One of the things pitiful gardeners should contemplate is how much they like or don’t like to garden. Or how much time they’ll spend at it realistically — especially the specific chores we don’t like so much. We shouldn’t bite off more than we can chew.

In the past, I’ve had more time to do this activity that I don’t naturally relish. I was willing to do so even in the rain because I didn’t want our yard to be the worst-looking plot on the block.  I gotta say, living in a condo/townhouse and not having to worry about the common areas is a luxury to me! But I didn’t want a solid concrete backyard. I love flowers and green — I just know how much work they take. So I’m going to confine them to specific areas to eliminate weeds.

THE JOY OF RAISED PLANTERS

I decided how to make my work easier. In this patio remodel, I’m putting in raised planter beds. There’ll be a wide lip to sit on to make weeding go faster and more comfortably. Here’s the splurge for such a small space — today I’m having the crew put in automatic sprinklers. I just purchased all the parts this morning at Home Depot with Conzalo Melchior, Nick’s foreman.  It cost about as much as doing a big yard. But as we edge toward retirement age, we want more freedom from the yard. Sure, this patch could be hosed down quickly. But we don’t want to ask someone else to have to do the watering when we’re away.  Also, this will conserve water. It’ll be worth the extra expense.

The attention was on finishing the planters today. The other two crew members, Lupe Avilez and Alvaro Melchior (Conzalo’s dad, who must be in his 60’s) made up something called SpecMix. It was applied like a grout between the cement blocks. Then a goopy waterproofing material was spread all over the inside of the planters, including the base of the block wall. We don’t want it to deteriorate over the years. They threaded in the water lines and attached the risers for the sprinklers. Things are taking shape.

Now, I won’t be home for one of the most important days tomorrow. Friday I’m taking off to a conference that lasts through the weekend. I will miss the tiling of the planters. If I hadn’t bought the fireplace, causing the guys to spend the first day digging trenches, the tile would have been applied today when I was home. Drat.

CHOOSING THE RIGHT DECORATIVE TILES

When we were selecting a theme or look for the backyard, I was naturally drawn to cheerful colors. Living in LA, I like the bold Mexican sun-drenched tiles of yellow and bright blue, combined with terracotta. I can find that look most everywhere. But, I went the opposite direction.  To tie in with the design of our building out front, we’re going for a more monochromatic and subtle Italian feel .

I have put a lot of effort into finding the right tile. I want a dark “floor.” We have an existing tan wall. So, the intention is to have the tile be the link between — a mix of dark slate mixed with tan and yellow. After visiting gobs of retail tile stores, I found just the right pattern. Beautiful colors. I even drove out 20 miles to the supplier, expecting that I could pick out each tile. Wrong! I could only buy closed boxes, all the tile being pre-selected for me. I was not too keen about this. I really cared about the color and pattern.  This is not Home Depot or Lowe’s (who each only had one light-colored outdoor tile available), so I can’t take them back. I have to use whatever is in the box (and be happy about it). I ordered an extra box so I’d have enough to choose from.

INSTALLING THE ARBORS

While Conzalo finished up the planters, Lupe and Alvaro installed the arbor at each end of the patio. It’s pretty simple. Eight foot posts were attached to the existing fence posts. On either side of the posts were attached two 10×6 foot long boards. I’d wanted thinner boards, but Nick said they’d eventually warp covering that long of a span. Plus they needed to be sturdy enough to support the bougainvillea I plan to entwine across them — not just for the splash of color, but to help block the neighbor’s upper story.

PLANNING THE TILE PATTERN

After the crew left, I decided it would be smart to lay out the tile. Boy was I shocked when I opened the boxes. They contained so few dark slate pieces! Piece after piece was light grayish with no variation — boring, blonde, and bland. Almost nothing looked like the sample I’d gotten from the showroom. Nick had explained that when you work with natural stone, you can’t predict for sure how they’ll look from the quarry. No two boxes will be alike — or like the old display sample. That’s why I’d wanted to pick out the tiles myself.

I was glad I’d opened the boxes, as I could see I’d have to carefully piece out how I wanted the tiles to be fixed to the planters.  Beyond that, I discovered several broken tiles — and wouldn’t you know, they were dark ones. I zoomed off to the store, since it was nearly closing time. I raced in with my splinters, only to be told that the manager would have to stop at the tile yard on his way into work in the morning. Yikes. A hurried call to Nick asking him to stop by the store to pick them up in morning calmed me down a little.

For the next two hours back at home, I arranged the tiles as the light faded into black. I had to be so careful not to drop any of those heavy 16″ pieces. I couldn’t afford even a corner chip. I stacked the plainest ones in a corner, labeling them with a  “boring” sign.  Only if there was a disaster did I want the guys to use them tomorrow. It occured to me that I should number the tiles on the back with a sharpy, and put a direction arrow on them as well. But alas, it was dark and I had yet to pack. Plus I had to get up at 4:00 a.m. in just a few hours. So, I prayed that the guys would clearly understand my intent.

Since we’ve mostly been do-it-yourselfers for 32 years of marriage and four houses plus several rentals, it’s rather strange to hand over a project with so many components to someone else. Already there have been lots of little decisions made that I would have done differently.  I’d have taken weeks to make some of them! These guys work so fast.  I’m grateful on the one hand that they don’t waste time, but I realized how long I can take to decide on things. I will consider the best placement, or change the color… but this has been wham, bam, hurry up ma’am!

I definitely would have repainted the lattice before putting that up. Oh well, maybe it won’t be so noticeable with plants growing across it in the future. I’m wondering about the placement of the electric outlets, especially where they’re put near the fountain. Stuff like that.

THE CONCRETE MAKINGS ARRIVE

I met Nick Herrera at the brick yard early this a.m. He arrived in a huge truck. After I paid for the supplies, I went off to find lighting for the planters, as we haven’t agreed on what to install yet. When I got home, Nick showed up with the supplies. I was stunned at the big load for such a small project. More stunned at the price of sand and gravel ($650.00) Wow.

When you live in a condo/townhouse, there’s very little place to work outside. This became apparent when Nick needed to dump our sand and gravel to make concrete. It couldn’t go in our common driveway we share with the others in our little complex. We have no backyard other than the one that is currently all dug up. So, he left the pile on the sidewalk!

THE PLANTERS

The blocks for the planters got wheelbarrowed to the patio. Footings were made from cement. The block sides were stacked up quickly. Rebar was inserted for stability — this is earthquake-prone Los Angeles, after all.

We planned the size of the planters so there’d be very little need to cut the tiles later that will decorate them. Since I want to create the illusion of a larger space, I don’t want to use a bunch of little tiles.  Using 16 inch tiles will hopefully do that.  We bought 8 inch blocks, stacked two high all along the back fence. Along the side fences, I thought this might look too big. So, I decided to make these shorter, and will face them with 12 inch tiles. It’s still the dark slate shot through with yellow (called autumn mist), but the tile size difference should introduce an element of variety.

Towards the end of the day, the posts for the arbor were attached to the existing fences, and the boards put up — and were too short. Miscalculation. Drat, the umpteenth return to Home Depot to fetch 12 ft boards instead of the 10 footers I already painter. They’ll need to be painted with a primer and two coats of color tonight — only I don’t have the time to finish them. I’ll set them up in the garage and get to them when I can.