I just finished putting on the final touches on the courtyard makeover! And I will be the first to admit, the courtyard is my new favorite place to hang out.

I started with a fresh coat of black spray on the table and chairs, making sure to not get any paint on the newly stained concrete. I bought new chair cushions from Walmart for $5 each that matched the blue umbrella we already had. I ordered a new round outdoor rug from Home Depot. I also added a few new garden art pieces around the courtyard.

The final touch was adding some wall mounted planters to the walkway wall. Let’s be honest here, I kill any plant that isn’t watered by a sprinkler so I used very realistic plants that I bought on sale at Hobby Lobby (shhh don’t tell anyone).
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I am so proud of all of our hard work and I can’t wait to enjoy a cup of coffee or a glass of wine out there!

The next phase of the courtyard's makeover is to stain the new “rock pavers” on the concrete slab. I bought a one-quart concrete stain from Home Depot in the color Emerald. When I went to start staining thought it was greener than the sample, instead of going and buying a new stain color, I decided to mix it with the blueish gray I used on the back patio concrete. I also added a little water to it to make it more translucent. I wanted the rock pavers to look as natural as possible.

I started in the far corner and slowly started staining with the stain in a spray bottle and blending it with a rag. About a third of the way finished I realized I wasn’t going to have enough stain and really didn’t want to go have to buy more stain, in the two colors now. I finished staining the entire border then I picked random rocks to stain the current shade of stain. Then I added more water to thin it out and give me a little more stain. I picked a few more rock pavers to stain with that version and then repeated twice more:  add water, stain a few more, add water, and stain the last few. I barely had enough bit it worked and I really like the different shades of all of the pavers.
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Sometimes quick thinking and a little creativity and resourcefulness save the day!

I feel like I have moved thoughts of rocks, twice! Oh wait, I have. This last week I removed every single rock out of the flower bed in the courtyard. I was no longer able to clean up the weeds and knew I needed to start fresh, so all of the rocks had to be removed to lay a new weed barrier down. It took me two days to remove the rocks, which mostly consisted of me sitting down and throwing the rocks onto the concrete slap. Jack and Andrew weren’t interested in helping me and I just took my time and did a little at a time.
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After all of the rocks were removed, I sprayed them off with the power washer. I wanted to get and weeds, grass, and dirt off of them before I laid the new barrier down. Since I am hoping to not have to do this again I bought the professional-grade weed barrier that was good for 20 years. I bought only one 150 square feet roll and it was just barely enough.

Note: I did not remove the old barrier, I sprayed weed killer on the remaining weeds and laid the new barrier on top.

I planted a few new plants before moving onto the last step. Which was putting all of those rocks back! Thankfully this time my aunt and mom came over to help me. We were able to get them back in place in about an hour.
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Now the courtyard flower beds are cleaned and beautiful. Phase two complete and onto the third!

The weather has been so nice lately and it makes me want to work outside. The project that we decided to work on was our courtyard. I like my courtyard, but not in love with it. Especially not in love with it as much as I love our new back patio and I want that for the courtyard too.

The biggest eyesore is the ugly slab of concrete. For years I dreamed about removing it and adding pavers, but I’m realistic and knew that would be a ton of work and a lot of money. Then I got one of those brilliant ideas, that kind of idea that makes Jack look at me like I lost my mind. But it was genius and it worked awesomely…

We cut pavers into the concrete. It sounds ridiculous I know, but it was so easy! Jack started by cutting the border of the slap into brinks using a grinder and a diamond concrete blade. He was surprised how easy it was and it only took 15 minutes for him to cut the whole border.

Later that day, I used a piece of chalk to freehand the rock shaped pavers on the slab, incorporating any cracks. Once I was satisfied with the shapes I got my turn to use the grinder and cut out the “rock paver”. I figured since I had the image of what I wanted in my head it would be best if I did the cutting and it was fun. It also only took me 30 minutes to cut them all out.
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Phase one of the courtyard is completed, next up rocks and weed barrier!