The Pea Gravel Patio

Yesterday Brett and I installed this pea gravel patio:

I broke every single rule for putting down pea gravel but I’ve never like following the rules anyways. We didn’t put down weed barrier (more trouble than it’s worth) and I didn’t even outline the area completely until after the gravel was being dumped. I didn’t even calculate how much gravel I needed…basically just ordered a whole truck load because when you get it straight from a quarry it doesn’t really matter. Half a load is almost the same as a full load, because you are paying for the truck regardless.

The truck driver we’ve used the past few times can dump the gravel with so much precision it doesn’t even really count as “installing” a patio. He did all the work:

Since we put in a driveway and parking area to the back of the house it was easy to get the entire truck around to the front:

We used a metal border for now and one day might add stone, but the metal border was salvaged from a demolition and it was free so that met our budget. Now we just have to get the grass to grow thick and lush right up to it:

The table we got at a yardsale for just a few dollars and Brett rebuilt the benches last night and stained them so they are still in the garage drying:

It was raining last night but that didn’t stop Boo from trying to roast a marshmallow. I was able to get the fire going long enough to melt enough marshmallow for one s’more:

It would have been nice to have had the patio earlier in the summer but we had to take out a really big tree first that was at risk of falling and making a big mess. Now I just need some globe lights to string across the yard and maybe Brett will build me a really long farm table.

Stay tuned for the depot project that we are working on through August…there will be pea gravel used for that too!

More House on Hospital Hill posts here!