Home Improvement: outdoor update: stacking those bricks

i am neck-deep in outdoor & landscaping improvements, trying to move quickly before the rain arrives. there is so much outdoor space on this property (not complaining - i love it!) that i've had to break it down into sections. once the pool renovations were completed, i started in the swing set area and am working counter-clockwise around the entire perimeter. at the moment there is a lot of exposed dirt. with the exception of the pool deck, swing set area lawn and now this completed brick path /patio (which runs the length of the backyard - from side gate to side gate), everything else is dirt or rocks. so you can imagine my desire to get this property covered before the rain arrives.

in case you're wondering, i'm not doing this alone. with the help of my awesome gardener and sweet concrete guy, we're going to win this battle. a plan is emerging and i can't wait to see the end result of our efforts. this house will very soon look so different with some serious ground cover...and a lot less dirt!

i'll be sharing a lot about the outdoors for a while since most of the work right now is happening outside; sprinklers, new sod, fences, paths, a garden, front driveway, front gate, and more. since there are various sections to the yard with many jobs overlapping, i think it's easier for me to break it down in here by completed jobs so as to not confuse you. breaking it down also allows me to see how far i've come since purchasing the house in june.

now that i may have totally confused you, today i'm talking about the completion of the brick path / patio in the backyard.

the old brick patio took a serious beating during the pool renovations. once the pool was completed, the pool company came through to make the necessary brick repairs. i was happy to have a flat walking surface again so we could get from the house to the pool, but i wanted to complete the path in order to walk from the patio around the left side of the house. the existing brick patio went around the right side of the house to the swing set area. but for some reason, the previous owners never added a path going to the other side yard.

enough chatter. let's allow the photos to tell the story.

here's the left side yard when i began. you can see here where the brick patio ends, but there could easily be an added path making it easy to get to this left side yard...

once you make that turn, there was a small garden set up along with a terrible side fence that was falling apart. once we started the job, we also realized how uneven the property was on this side, which meant bringing in dirt (yes, more dirt) to level it out…

here is the view of this side yard from the front...

and after the dirt piles arrived...

so much potential over here! can't wait to show you the end result…it's going to be amazing!

anyway, back to the brick path. my concrete guy got to work starting the path…

looking good!

then he came back to set the bricks in concrete…

love this!...

once the path was completed, i noticed a big annoyance. thankfully, that annoyance was an easy, inexpensive fix. do you see this area right here…

that extra pad of brick was sticking out like a sore thumb. the dirt area to the left of this path will be lawn. i had visions of the kids running around on the lawn and tripping over the brick pad. also, i wanted it to match the way the brick edge looks on the other side of the pool. so, we ripped up the pad, which was only set in sand…

and finished it off with a clean edge...

you can see here how it matches the right side of the pool now...

now this area can be filled in with sod...

finally, a path to walk around the entire backyard without stumbling over dirt piles...

a few before and afters. the after shots include the border along the back fence, sprinklers have been added (which is why you see flags), and the area has been leveled and prepped for sod...