Thought I’d share what the last four years of our garden renovation have looked like.
It’s taken four years because it started as “we’ll just change that little bit over there” and, as these things always seem to do, it slowly grew into a much bigger project.
It all began when our neighbour accidentally cut through a root from one of our trees. The tree came down, luckily into the garden and not into the house, but it made us realise that the area where the trees and shrubs were wasn’t really being used.
So we decided to remove the other three trees and shrubs and put some decking in.
I planned it all out so the decking would run from the conservatory down to the end of the garden, using 6-inch boards. Then I accidentally ordered 5-inch boards, which meant I didn’t have enough to finish it all. The plan became: get the first section done, then order more later to complete the final stepped-down deck.
That was the plan, anyway.
When I went back to order the rest, timber prices had shot up, and the remaining decking alone was going to cost around £2,000. At that point, I started looking at porcelain tiles and realised I could replace all the old ugly flags, do the bar area, and transform the rest of the garden for only a bit more than the cost of the decking.
So I ordered the porcelain, bought a cement mixer and a wet tile cutter, and got to work.
Ten tonnes of MOT and twenty tonnes of topsoil later, this is what we ended up with.
The wife is absolutely made up with it, although I’ve definitely stitched myself up, she now knows I can do DIY well enough for the house to be next.
There’s only the grouting left to do now, so I thought it was finally time to share.
Hope you like it. Any questions, just ask. Criticism is expected and appreciated too, especially if it helps anyone else planning something similar in the future.