It’s hard to beat that new paver feeling, when you linger in your driveway a few extra minutes just to admire how great it looks.
Or, in rarer situations, you move your bed out to the patio because you can’t bear to leave the beauty of it all.
Paver projects add a huge visual boost to your home, but they won’t continue to look great without occasional sealing.
If you’re standing in the backyard with a ruler and your Pinterest patio printouts trying to decide how big your new patio should be, you might be overwhelmed.
You don’t want your cool new outdoor space to be way too big and cost more than it has to, but you don’t want things to feel too cramped, either, and have your party spill over into your pretty petunia beds.
What size patio do I need?
Ground Source landscape designer Eric Frisch says there’s no average patio size — the beauty of patio design is creating a space that perfectly suits your lifestyle. But he offers some helpful tips:
If your walkway could talk, it might be kind of grouchy.
“Why do patios get all the attention? Why so much fuss about driveway pavers? Why doesn’t anybody pay attention to meeeee?!”
You might need a retaining wall and not even know it. Or maybe half your backyard is tumbling down a slope and you’re covered with dirt as you read this. So you absolutely know you need one.
If you’re sitting on a patch of dirt in your backyard, perched on a wobbly busted lawn chair, you’re probably pondering a landscaping re-do. There’s definitely room for improvement, right?
There are signs that prove you need a fire pit:
1. You’ve been making s’mores in the microwave. (We all know that’s a crime against marshmallows.)
2. You’ve been frequently sneaking over to enjoy your neighbor’s fire pit, sometimes wearing disguises so he doesn’t know how often you’re coming over.
3. You daydream about being a caveman.
Some paver driveways are so impressive, you can host a party out there. The problem: everybody will spend the whole time looking down and not even notice your great new haircut.
When you daydream about your beautiful new paver patio, you don’t imagine somebody tripping over a crooked paver and tumbling into your avocado corn salsa.
That’s because in your daydream, your pavers are expertly installed. No uneven pavers sticking up, or sunken pavers, or cracked pavers.
If we check your Instagram, will there be photos of you smiling and posing, draped across a retaining wall?
Probably not. Retaining walls aren’t very exciting.
Once you know what hardscaping is, the word makes perfect sense.
It’s the hard elements in your landscaping — the paver patios and walkways, the fire pit, the structures like decks, pergolas, and pavilions.