Landscaping – The Brickwork in the Back of the House
Were really happy with the brickwork in the front so we used Chris Nikolas of Sod Off Scape Shapers again. He suggested we remove two of the three birches in the back – they were too close together and all were unhealthy as a result -- and all the overgrown evergreens. He also suggested a seating wall around the perimeter. We used the same brick colors that we’d used for the front stoop and walk.
Because of the size of the trees in the back Chris suggested we hire a specialist to remove them so we brought in Bartlett Tree Experts (We were happy with the work they did and have retained them to manage the health of the remaining trees on our property.) Once the trees were out, we gave Chris the go-ahead.
Work started on April 9th, 2006.
First they removed the old deck:
Then, they leveled the ground. The house is on a hill and, as you can see in the photos above, the old deck was two levels. The level on the west side, accessed by the kitchen, was higher than the one on the east, accessed by the family room. We wanted to drop the patio down on the west side, add 2 steps up to the kitchen door, and slop it gently towards the east.
Over that went gravel:
Then sand:
And then the bricks:
Less than a month later, on May 6th, 2006, it was all finished!
The east side, in front of the family room:
The east side,seen from the lawn:
The center:
The center seen from the lawn:
Another view of the center:
The west side, in front of the kitchen:
We had intended to extend the western edge of the patio in front of my studio and, eventually, connect it to the walkway on the western side of the house, which would also, eventually, be brick to match the one in the front. We ran out of money, however, and had to truncate it so we rounded off the edge about where the old deck ended and added some stone ‘steps’ to transition to the side.
The western edge, truncated:
The stone steps leading to the side walkway:
The stone step on the eastern side, for balance:
Back to personal pictures menu
OOAKFolk, Inc., and artist Barbara Healy are not affiliated in any way with the original manufacturers of
the dolls pictured in this site. No photograph, text or graphic on this site may be copied without written
permission from Barbara Healy. Copyright © 2004 OOAKFolk, Inc.
Last Revised: July 21, 2008
Site Questions? Press Tech Support to send email.