P-A-T-I-O

As a home owner one of the fun and hard parts are home improvement projects. Now as most of you know I bought a house that had been flipped on the inside but the outside still needed a few updates – a few being the landscaping and the patio. My first project ended up being my 388 square foot patio. It appears to originally been covered in patio carpet and then painted over with grey concrete paint.. When I first bought the house the (fugly) grey paint that covered the patio was perfect. As summer went by the paint chipped, cracks split, it became a hot mess…. Not to mention my patio furniture was circa 1975 pool furniture. In other words, very unattractive. But my friend gave it to me, and at the time free was what I needed.

So the process of fixing up my patio began. I called in a couple of people to take a look at it. I got a bid for a 100% lifetime guarantee for $2300. I thought about it. I know nothing about this kind of thing, but found out I could practically build a brand new concrete patio for that price. That was out. Then I talked to a guy a work that got his degree in concrete management. He told me to strip the paint, fill the cracks and either seal or repaint. Sounds easy enough right? So my DIY project began.

First day on the job. Stripping the paint. Awful. But now my patio looks even worse so I guess I will have to finish.

Next day. I hate this. The old carpet left glue residue everywhere and the paint is so hard to get off.

Day 3. I think my back is breaking. I burned myself with the acid paint stripper. I am so not down with manual labor anymore.

Day 4 I bring in additional help. The power washer.

Day 5 OMG then there was concrete.
Day 6 Filled the cracks, starting painting

Day 7 I hate this color… and I have blisters on my hand.

Day 8 New color and I actually got help from my roommate and a bestie on the last coat of paint! :o)

Day 9 New furntiure... NEW PATIO!

After all this is now said and done I am SOO proud of myself but I must admit it was some of the hardest work I have ever done. Now I understand why people get paid so much in the manual labor occupations. I can't wait to have people to enjoy my new patio with me! :o) happy fall yall!