Stone Patio

A couple of guests have commented on the limestone patio that we added to the West side of the house. I thought it might be a good idea to post an update since some of the guests that saw the whole work in progress may find it interesting to know that yes - it is completed now and was done some time in June of 2007. This was much more work than I expected but was so worth it. Just a little recap - we had to remove a 180 year old Basswood tree because it was actually hollow. It was sad because the tree was incredibly big, perfectly shaped and from the outside it was hard to tell that it was very dangerous to have the tree standing. Once the tree was removed it created a lot of space and it happens to be that this area gets the most afternoon and evening sun. To take advantage of this sunshine we took large pieces of limestone from the quarry in Garson, pieces that were lying around the yard and some extra pieces from our neighbour after they completed a limestone patio and created a 30 foot by 7 foot sitting area. The limestone from our neighbour was actually off the facade of the Winnipeg Convention Center when it was renovated so it's pretty cool to have that make up some of the materials for our patio. Some of the pieces were 5 or 6 inches thick and it was quite a task. Again, our neighbour Doug came up with the finishing touch of adding some coloured brick around the RGI we had planned to put into the middle of the patio. All in all, it took longer than I expected but the results are really great. The bistro chairs and tables make the look great and we've had a number of people enjoying the area as a quiet place to read or chat a bit.