The garden was untidy and although functional it was pretty basic. A cement base in the side return of the property and concrete slabs down to the bottom of the garden which is very standard for a terraced property. The previous owner had spruced up the mis-matched fencing with some wood treatment and laid a matching red wood chip border in the side return and in the bottom corner. There was nothing particularly wrong with the garden, but I couldn’t see us socialising out there much and it certainly didn’t show our style as a family. The patio area was made of breeze blocks and slabs, it wasn’t until looking through the deed paperwork to the house we discovered there used to be a brick shed type building standing there. We don’t know who knocked this down, but I can only imagine that it must have took up the whole garden.
I had read online about composite decking and thought it was amazing. My sister Aleta has decking in her garden, and its really slippy when wet and has to be treated regularly. I knew that composite was a much better match for us, less hassle and a bit more hardwearing. I started my search for samples in various colours and had them delivered so I could choose and test. It was still a bit above our budget, but Andy wanted to make the outside of the property as nice as the inside and I had images running through my head of the kids falling all over the place in the wet. Composite decking is generally a lot more expensive than wood decking, but I was drawn to the benefits as they far outweighed wood.
- Does not splinter, split, rot or warp
- Do not need to regularly seal, stain or paint
- Low water absorption rate, does not attract mould or fungus
- Resistant to attack by insects
I knew we may have to use a mixture of composite and wood to try to cut costs though.
We found a lovely guy through Facebook that had laid decking and patios for other local customers, his Facebook page had a lot of really good work on there. We messaged him and he came to visit while we told him what we wanted and what budget we had. He set to work looking for composite decking at a reasonable price for us, he had never laid composite decking, so seemed quite excited to use it. We got the decking from https://www.wpc-decking.co.uk.
It was a very cheap price compared to other retailers, however there was a large delivery fee of approximately £150 because it was being shipped from Devon, which was a little annoying.
We also wanted to jazz up the patio area and cover the horrible cement blocks and slabs. I was browsing through a few magazines and saw this:
I loved the above ‘Sahara multi paving‘ because it was so colourful, but also had those shades of grey that I love so much. We all know I’m mad for the grey colour palettes 🙂
Work started and the garden looked horrible and had me panicking that I had made a huge mistake, there was wood and decking everywhere and the cement base below had been cracked and broken, so it was too late to change my mind. We also had to replace 2 fence panels as they were falling apart and had to be removed as the decking was being laid. We had labourers mulling around drinking tea and listening to Radio X while the kids would be jumping about getting in the way too, it was really stressful, luckily I had Andy to vent at! It took approximately 7 days to get the decking and patio down with 2 labourers, although we did have 2 full days of rain which put a stop to the proceedings.
The decking looks totally awesome and we had decking lights put in the steps and an outdoor switch for controlling them. There was enough spare decking left over to knock up a lovely 2 level flower box we placed by the step and shed door. I’m hoping to plant some bright flowers to add a pop of colour. We are over the moon with it all.
The separate decking area at the bottom of the garden was a nice touch we added for the BBQ and eventually the bar. I can’t wait for the summer, its going to be awesome socialising out here. We kept some patches of lawn so Andy had a bit of grass to mow although I am thinking of putting down artificial grass to make it totally maintenance free.
The sandstone paving looks brilliant but we have had a few issues with it moving and lifting and I think we may have a few more problems with this. Fingers crossed!
We also splurged and got the kids a trampoline, they had a big wooden climbing frame with a swing/slide/sandpit at our previous house, but it was a little too big for this garden, so we sold it, much to their upset. We surprised them with a trampoline though so we aren’t completely bad parents.
Yep. the trampoline was for the kids, not for us, totally for the kids!
Helloyellowdoor 