I recently bought a 600 square foot cottage/casita nearby my mom in Northern California. I love the backyard, it has a huge lawn space for my dog to run around and I’m working to make it my own. There’s little concrete path however, I’m looking to try to turn this area in a place to just hang out besides on the lawn. I’m considering renting an excavator and trying to dig up the lawn here and work to lay down decomposed granite, pavers, rock or something solid and flat besides concrete for a little space to be able to hang out in the back. Ideas? Here’s a pic of it in fall and summer. The garden bed may also be moved to another area especially since there are no water line hookups as easily accessible and I’d prefer to have a drip system setup but I’d have to explore that a bit more. I welcome all suggestions and recommendations.
by Owlgirlkitten
5 Comments
Yeah hide that A/C unit.
With dogs, I think making that whole thing concrete would be easiest. We’ve got 4 20-25lbs dogs and they are constantly kicking up our slate chips for our fire pit area as they make their laps.
We just recently had a 35’x15’ patio poured and got it stamped to look like stone. If done right, it takes people a while to realize it’s not stone. It’s been wonderful hosting on it. I feel like you could something similar and since it’s concrete it will tie into the concrete path, effectively making the space bigger if you have more people over.
You can place a fire pit at the top of the arch (furthest away from the house) and put a few chairs. It will make a natural congregation area. Keep the planter boxes for some greenery to dress it up.
If you’re really opposed to concrete, you can do pavers or flagstone and either fill in the gaps with mortar or pea gravel or even a low growing ground cover. Get a shovel and get to it to remove the sod.
I am able to remove lawn, and in some months turf turns into good soil but concrete is tough stuff. If it’s going, I’d pay to have someone remove the walk but do the rest myself. If there’s budget for it I choose solid natural stone.
https://preview.redd.it/v8a49oazuo5g1.jpeg?width=1080&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=3ac99a61e241caca6c22ca914712db1fcd41da5e
Look at concrete refurbishing they do a great job you know you could just put in a few native flowering ground covers for that area. Also garden screens to cover the air unit and pipes or planters with trellis in front of both, just google it there is a wide variety.