The
Power
of Curbing.
1st impressions & curb appeal matter. If your outside is nicely designed and welcoming, then folks will want to come inside!
This old house needed a mega face lift. The bumble bee yellow had to go. The siding was old but in ok shape. Flowing the interior colour theme outside, the house was repainted inToucan Black by Benjamin Moore. While simple and elegant, she felt instantly refreshed and contemporary.
Next big reno was the walkway. Since the pink flagstone path had heaved and cracked due to Quebecs freeze n thaw cycle (i’d tripped several times) it was time to redesign, beautify and make safe!
Spring eventually sprung so I commissioned some hardscaping quotes. All were pretty dang expensive (8k-12k) so I set to work planning my next (and cheaper) DIY project.
Obviously I wasn’t gonna dig out the walkway all by myself, so I found a wonderful local guy (Mack) with his own mini excavator who carefully removed the old flagstones, and advised me on correct base gravel to buy (0-3/4”). Following my rendered designs, Mack excavated 10”, dropped in the base, packed it, then left me to lay the new paving stones. Easy peasy right? Er.. wrong.
It was brutal hauling bags of stone dust & laying pavers. Not wanting to loose a finger, I chose a ‘no cut paver pattern’ to accommodate each paver size (4”W / 8” L), then ordered 130 charcoal + 600 pale grey pavers.
After Rona had delivered the materials, I started the install. It took 3-4 hrs of hard labor each day, and required 2 days of recovery from achy thighs and hands! Once pavers were installed, I taped down, swept on polymeric sand, wetted, then poured a large glass of vino to admire my work. Woohoo not bad for a DIY gal!
When everything had settled, I added some border plants, re-seeded the grass, and et voila..a new walkway with a nice flow.
So if you’re willing to put in muscle power - here are the real costs:
Excavation $800. Pavers $800.
Gravel & Polymeric 400$.
Soil & Grass Seed $100.
Grand Total $2,100