For quite some time I have wanted to redo my front courtyard. It was the basic look of concrete. Blah. Vanilla. Same as the others. I had this great plan in mind, and with all hopes that it would work, I shared my idea amongst friends to see if it would be tacky looking or as nice as it was in my head.
I headed off to the store where they had some of my supplies needed. Costings. Done. Need Rock. Costings. Done. Finances… not so much.
After months of looking at my courtyard as it was:
This is the view from my front door (above)
This is my courtyard section (above)
This is the view from the gate to my front door (above)
So, after this magnificent idea in my head of what I wanted the area to look like, I finally bit the bullet and started on the project. I figured that although I couldnt really afford to do it all at once, I would do what I could and then get more rocks when I could. I knew the rocks would be spendy for the project, so I figured it would be done in a long drawn out process.
WRONG.
I bought my 18 packs of deck/wood materials which I needed. I bought 2 bags of rocks, to make sure that the white color (it was a toss up between white or black rocks, but black rocks are much MUCH more expensive) and I was on my way.
I was so excited to begin the transformation, that I started in the late afternoon yesterday after getting off of work and buying my items. I was determined to give it a go.
Here was the first photo after some gruelling body aches of bending down and picking up the decking material.
Not bad eh!
Morning came, and so did some unusual aches in my body. I guess when your bending down and over and picking up and transporting.. it was something my body hadnt been use to in awhile.
So, I began right away this morning. Ok, not right away, but at a respectable time so that my horrid… eck I mean wonderful neighbors would not have a right to bitch.
I then realize its looking good. But, Im also realizing I didnt get enough decking materials, even with the extra pack Tilda told me to get. Shit. What to do. I also had an issue with the length of the walkway and the size of the decking material. It was either going to be just a tad too short or hang out the bottom of the gate. What to do…. so you compromise. And then, after all this hard work, I started questioning whether or not it looked as nice as I thought it did. I think some of the questioning was in part ‘oh my gawd, I did this by myself… is it really THIS DAMN GOOD?’
Whats a girl to do? I had most of it done. Well, with what I could, I wanted more decking material to finish it to how I had modified my original plans of the area. And, I wanted more rock. I wanted this baby finished. But, I was still unsure if it looked ok. See, I can justify anything. I mean ANYTHING. And, I was hoping that I wasnt sacrificing the aesthetics of the area just because my plan was now a bit different than the original plan. So, I called Tilda. She wasnt really thrilled about coming over as she had her own projects to do. But, after enough guilt trips (she attended Catholic School, so I knew they would work) and I think a bit of whining on my part, she succumbed to my begging and promised to drop by.
In the meantime, I ran to the local landscape store to get 6 more bags of rocks. As much as I originally thought I would do the rocks in a process, it was looking much to nice to not finish it.
Tilda arrives. She is really happy with the results so far. I tell her modifications, and she agrees that it will look nice. Whew! I really was glad to hear that she not only liked how it was looking, but thought my adjustments would look nice as well! She helped me spread 2 bags of rocks, and a well deserved coffee break was had.
As of tonight, my body aches in places I forgot were there. Such as my butt checks. And my thighs. And my quads. And my arms. Its almost reminiscent of days gone by of great wild sex. But its not…
Its the glory of an ALMOST done project… to be continued tomorrow. And, for those of you curious… I put down 7 bags of 20 kg rocks. Oh my goodness. Thats a workout! But, here is what it looks like…
What a difference! Dad even called tonight to tell me how much he liked it. He sounded really pleased, and impressed! Always good when the landlords like what you have done with the place.
As for me, I am off to the tub. I hear epsom salts screaming my name!
Tell me your thoughts? Is it better than before? Do you like it? Remember, its not quite finished… YET.
