A nice change at Two Sheds Farm

When I bought this house, one of the things I knew I wanted to do was put in a flagstone walkway to the front door.  I didn't like having steps from the front door down to the grassy lawn; it seems unfinished, and people walking across the lawn when it's wet out get all muddy.  I didn't want that.

We are having a party on August 6th to celebrate Arjay and Tracy's engagement, and I had a long list of things I wanted to change/fix around here beforehand.  The walkway was on the list, but I figured it was unlikely to get done.  Near the south bay of the garage was a pile of flagstones that Mom and I hauled out of the grass and lined up along the garage wall, thinking we could use them for the walkway someday.  But sadly, I had to agree with her--there weren't enough of them.  The walkway would have to be almost 40 feet long, and 3-4 feet wide.  If I bought more flagstones, they wouldn't match and it would look weird.  What to do?

Dad and Mom and I first thought about putting in a brick walk, but I would have to do all the work and didn't know if I was up to it.  Then one of us mentioned concrete.  Dad had a contact he knew would do good work, and I hoped we could put in some sort of random pattern to sort of look like flagstones, so I called him.

We had a bit of a language issue (I took German in high school, not Spanish) but he came out and looked over the area.  Dad had tilled up the pathway a couple weeks ago, which made it easy to see what I had in mind.  Tino gave me a price, I said yes, and he was here the very next day.  In one hour he cleared all the soil out from the pathway!  I could not have done that in a day, let alone an hour.  By seven that night, the pathway was laid out and ready for concrete.  He even prepared a pad for the south garage door that would meet up with the driveway apron.

The next day, the concrete truck pulled up around 10 a.m.  Tino and his son poured the walkway, then the side door pad.

Then they asked me if there was anywhere else I could use the concrete that was left over. Well, yes!  So now I have a back step, and MY GREENHOUSE HAS A FLOOR!

After all that excitement, they put the random pattern in the walkway concrete.  I had to go out around 4 that afternoon and water all the new concrete to help it cure.

The next day, Tino's son came back and chiseled out the lines between each "stone" by hand.  Once that was done, he returned in the early evening and sealed the walkway.  It looks marvelous, and way better (and faster, and easier) than I could have done by myself.

It's too dry, and too late, to do anything this year, but next year it will be so nice to have lavender lining that walkway!