Friday, July 14, 2006

My New Walkway

It's been a few days since I've posted and here's why. I decided to re-do my walkway. Here's a "before" short - I don't know if you can see it in the photo, but the walkway was approx. 23 feet long by 3.5 feet wide and all grey limestone gravel (3-5" depth).

BEFORE


On Tuesday, I spent six hours digging up the gravel from the walkway and putting it in a pile on a blue tarp on my (also limestone) driveway. My father-in-law expressed interest in my leftover limestone but we haven't even considered the logistics of getting it to his house yet. Fortunately, Son#1 helped for about 3 hours. He's such a hard worker, despite his small size. Son#2 helped for a bit but pooped out early on.

On Wednesday, I spent six more hours digging up chunks of clay, pouring bag after bag of paver sand to level the area, laying the stones (32 lbs each), pouring more sand between the stones. Thursday, I finished it off by adding a layer of pea gravel. Here's what it looks like now:

AFTER


There seems to be a lot of gravel, but it will settle over time. A couple of you may recognize the garden retaining wall from last summer's post. It's 90+ degrees here in southeast Louisiana. Why do I wait until July to do these projects? And do them during the week when Dear Hubby is at work? Because I'm an idiot. A very achy, tired idiot.

8 comments:

Jules said...

The walkway looks fabulous! I am thoroughly impressed!! Wanna come and do mine in my backyard? It really needs help!! LOL

xoxo

Elle*Bee said...

For a hefty fee, sure, I'll come do yours! It was a real PITA, but I'm happy with the results. I need to do some work in the backyard too. We laid a 12x12 patio (similar process) a few years ago, but we're considering ripping it up and doing something different. Hopefully I'll have the brains to wait until fall.

Jules said...

when you come up to VA and D.C. you can make a side trip.. I'll even pick you up, have all of the materials waiting and offer a room, food and good company!! LOL

~xoxo

Anonymous said...

Wow! That's a gorgeous walkway! I'm very impressed, I wouldn't know where to begin to do something like that on my own!

Nikki said...

That looks gorgeous!

Will you do mine next after Jules? I'm not to far away from DC.

(gives pleading look and contemplates giving you maxed out credit card to initially impress you)

Farm Girl said...

It looks awesome. I love it.

~d said...

LY CRAP! It looks WONDERFUL! You should be SOOOO Flippin PROUD of yourself! JEEZ! AWESOME job Elle*

Elle*Bee said...

Thanks, all! Now I need to put gutters across the front of the house so the rain doesn't wreck it, but that's job I'll hire someone to do! Actually, Jules and Nikki I'll be in the DC next week, but only for a few days. Plus you're having Louisiana weather up there! What's up with that? Maybe on my next trip, I can do yours. flipflop mamma, it wasn't complicated, just labor intensive. I spend way too much time at Home Depot and Lowes!