Pergola 95% Finished

 

Here is the pergola, 95% completed. We still have to bolt the top timbers and get some prettier chairs but so far so good. My hubby is awesome for always catering to my whims. He never even complains. I'll keep him.

 

The BBQ looks a little out of place sitting there but at least it is no longer on my walkway to the front door. Maybe someday an outdoor kitchen is in my plan, but not today. Today is just a medium style barbecue. We are also toying with adding a bar/counter top between the uprights on the far side of this picture. Then we would have food serving space or a place to eat if we want to. I wish we had built the patio a little bigger but expanding it is now out of the question. I am happy with the final product. I thought some fun Adirondack chairs in front of the fire place would be nice.  And Doyle said he would look for some nice, big, flat stones to make a walkway so the lawn isn't so crunched down in front of it. Construction is hard on grass.

More Pergola Progress

 

We got a good start on the pergola this weekend. The goofy boards on each corner are just braces we used to hold up the corners until we got some of the top pieces on. 

 

There will still be six timbers that run perpendicular to the ones you see going right to left in this picture. The notching of each board is taking longer than we thought and the next course of timbers will be harder as each one will have six places to notch and not just the two we have now. 

 

The shade this provides will be very dappled as the spacing was a touch wider than I thought it would be but it should work great. I plan to grow grape vines and maybe mingle those with some type of climbing rose and that should help with the shade a lot. We also ran into a small snag when we dug the 2 ft. deep holes for the cement tubes and brackets last week. Our pergola is not a square shape as originally planned but had to be 1.5 ft wider than my little plan called for because we found our gray water line leading to the septic tank, right where my holes were going. At least now we know where it it :-D No project around here ever goes without a hitch. Hitches make it interesting. I am hoping we will be done with this project by next weekend. 

In the spring I will build some flower beds around the patio and it will be harder to notice the rectangular shape it ended up being. Can't wait to get this done, I have so many other things that need finishing before the snow flies. Where on earth did the summer go?

Pergola Timbers

 

The need for a pergola started with the need for a spot for the outdoor fireplace. The first time we used it, it singed a nice hole into my lawn and into storage it went. Then we decided that we really needed a patio. So after a year with a hole in the yard, questions about our plans for said hole, and the subsequent building of the patio the year after that, we are finally going to put a pergola above it. Yeah us!  I know this picture makes us look plenty redneck, what with the green plastic furniture and all. But those were really just temporary. Why put pretty wooden seats or something equally fancy out in the sun to bake? You can see the corner posts (not up yet) have cement corners poured down two feet. Eventually I will build  nice flower beds around the patio, but this in and of itself is a big step.

 

My husband's friend owns his own mill. The guys milled all the timbers for us from local trees for no cost. I love that part the most. No money involved.

 

This portable mill is the bee's knees. Jaime, the owner has a logging outfit too so he is actually equipped to easily get trees, haul them to his mill, lift them onto the mill with a Bobcat, and mill until his little heart is content. Thanks Jaime!

 

This is what most of the timbers look like stained and ready for the construction phase, which I have slated to begin tomorrow. I am really excited to start but nervous that my mind's image won't be what we end up with. I will show progress pics.... I promise. Hopefully we'll have a great start to show you tomorrow.

Patio

For many years I have wanted a patio in my yard. Of course, I want a pergola over it with beautiful vining plants growing up the corners and over the top. But step one of this plan of mine was to simply get a patio. We excavated the area in early spring 2007 and then looked at a big hole in the yard for the next year. Everyone that saw said hole asked if we were installing a pond or building a pool. The nice pile of dirt just beyond this crater was a harsh contrast to the large hollow we were living with. I was desperate to build my patio. If you remember from the last post, I was anxiously awaiting drain rock for this project when instead I randomly received goats for my birthday. I still wanted this space either filled back in or a patio constructed. My brother and his girlfriend came to help and brought rock smooshing stuff with them. Our project went rather quickly once it actually began. After many wheelbarrows full of road grade followed by sand and lots of compacting between layers, the pavers finally went down. Only one injury occurred and no one died because of it. We finished it off by dusting sand into the grooves and back filling around the perimeter with dirt. I would recommend to anyone wanting a simple but nice looking patio, to consider pavers. We used the Harvest Blend tumbled variety from Home Depot and it picks up a nice assortment of colors from the surrounding area. Grass grew up to the edge quickly and it now looks like it has been there a while. Well, now it is covered with snow, but in the summer it looked like it was supposed to be there. We added an outdoor fireplace to the center and this coming year we will add nicer chairs (I am thinking Adirondack chairs). The big pile of dirt left over from the original excavation was mostly carted away and the remaining shape was the perfect outline for a butterfly garden. I will show that project later.