It’s not quite finished yet so I haven’t taken the “best” pictures, but I am so excited that I gotta post these!

The sidewalk leading up to the house has always been in need of repair. I’m not talkin’ a couple cracks… I mean it was sunk down so badly that every rain produced a deep puddle that was too wide to even jump over. And when it wasn’t raining, it collected mud, dust, and dirt from the chaotic dog and kids playing. It was literally a dirt pit. See for yourself!

Now, I love country living. I love getting dirty and living a more “rustic” lifestyle. But this was too much. I needed to work on a different project in the yard but I could not leave the baby on the ground in that mess. That was the final straw. I had seen a stack of old red bricks behind the shed so I quickly googled how to lay a path. Travis ordered a small jackhammer.

The boys helped haul some bricks up and I laid them out to see how they would look.

This was tricky. I’m not sure how old any of these are, but they’re all slightly different sizes so it took a lot of puzzle work to get them to fit together. After playing around with them for a bit we realized we only had about half of what we needed to fill the whole stretch, so we found and purchased some new pavers that seemed to fit the general size and color as the rest. Once blended together, I think they worked out really well! Under the sidewalk there was a good solid layer of crushed stone, so we covered that in a layer of bedding sand as a foundation for the bricks, and then I went to work (in the rain) laying them out. We especially love the ones with the company name stamped into them.

I was thrilled at this view. I wasn’t standing in a mud puddle anymore!

We were planning on leveling out the dirt on either side and planting grass seed, but didn’t have much hope that it would keep the dogs and kids from tearing it up all over again. (Look at that dang trench from our spastic dog running back and forth!) So we decided to put in a flower bed along each side. I was team hostas, he was team hydrangeas. We ended up with both!

We leveled the dirt, put down landscaping fabric, planted our pretty things, and mulched while our oldest so kindly played with our youngest. That’s a big task in itself. But what a result! This is definitely more attractive than beat up grass! I’m glad Travis insisted on the hydrangeas- the hot pink blooms really bring out the warmth in the bricks. The wee baby hostas are adorable, I hope they grow and fill up the space nicely. We were running out of daylight, but we threw some rocks around the edges to hold it all together. I’ll go back through when I get a chance and arrange them more carefully.

I couldn’t even sleep, I was so excited. Ended up going back outside and taking a night photo, lit up by a large moon, our yard light, and fireflies. Downright cozy! Pictures don’t do it justice.

So here we are currently! Pay no attention to our messy yard and broken gate. 😂 Our to-do list continues.

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Even the baby loves these bricks. I was a little nervous that the kids wouldn’t like the bumpy surface with their tricycles and toys, but we can barely keep them off of it while the polymeric sand does its thing. They set up their little lawn chairs at the end and keep telling me what a perfect idea it was. We’re all soaking it up. I’m so thankful for this beautiful walkway to welcome whatever feet may come to our door! And knowing that it’s built with history from this same property is so special too.

🧱❤️