Home Update: Back Patio

Like I mentioned in the last home update we have started working on the outside.  Our paint job is still not completely finished, but I will reveal it soon.  It is about halfway done & our neighbor asked "Are you going to paint the trim?"  My response was "Yes we are painting the trim, making new shutters, painting the front door, replacing all the lights and so on."  He looked a little surprised but lets be honest, this house needs a big facelift.  We found out that it has been a rental for over 10 YEARS.  It is definitely evident in the yard.  Weeds are everywhere, piles of leaves, overgrown bushes, dead trees and the list keeps going.  After clearing most of the dead and overgrown out we began our back patio.  We knew we wanted a large patio for entertaining, but we did not want to spend a fortune on pavers.  We originally considered stamping concrete, but I was not completely sold on the idea.  About a week after we began considering what to use on the patio we were given LOTS of old clay bricks.  They matched the style of the home perfectly and I was so excited to begin this project.  Most of our back yard was dirt before, so anytime someone came in from outside we had dirt trails through the entire house.  It made it really hard to keep the house clean especially once we got Bailey.
So on to the process...
The first step was getting all 1200 bricks to our house.  Michael might disagree, but for me this was the hardest and most grueling part of the process.  I thought my fingers were going to just stop working.  Next, we drew out the general area for the patio and removed all of the grass weeds.

We then raked the dirt so that it was level.  Next we did a layer of screening, which is a fine crushed concrete and sand mixture, and then used a compactor to pack everything down.  We then began laying the bricks in a subway pattern going out from the house.

Once all of the bricks were laid, we filled the cracks with a sand and mortar mixture and swept off all of the excess.

In order to activate the mortar we used water to spray off the entire deck

Before (just so you don't have to scroll back up):

After:

Since the day we bought the house I have been planning to plant hydrangeas under the oak tree.  I think the bed along the fence is going to bee the perfect place.  Oh and that beautiful table you see...Michael MADE it!!! It was a surprise for our anniversary.  Now we just need some chairs.  

Have a wonderful weekend!