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Landscape Design

concrete squares for a nice patio design

Marinka-Quarryville

13 years ago

I have 50 squares 23.5 by 23.5 size. I almost gave them away on craigslist for free... but would like to try to use them the best at my own patio. Do you have any ideas haw can I design them? Can I paint concrete in other colour?

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Comments (5)

sunnyca_gw
13 years ago
I painted my garage floor 40 years ago with paint for garage floors, it's held up but now formulas have changed so much don't know. However my Son just did some fancy concrete steps up to his house,rolled edges on 4 ft wide by 8 ft long steps & after they were completely dry he used a beautiful stain so they look like old walkway in Italy, he mosaic-ed the risers. He got idea off the web. Think he just looked under concrete staining. It is really beautiful so check it out. I'm sure it comes in a number of colors to go with the paint on your house. You would have to get the patio in before you do the staining. It is finished by a sealer I think. Son was so pleased that he planned to do a back patio the same way.
karinl
13 years ago
You can totally stain or etch them or what have you, but you can do a good design without doing that too. I've done a lot with that size of slab; I love them. The width is enough for a pathway to the patio you make, so there can be a seamless transition and a gradual arrival, and also, they can be cut (check at a local stoneyard/countertop place if you have one) diagonally to create angled edges.

You can also leave small gaps into which you plant a ground cover such as the little Ophiopogon grass, as you might with flagstone.

KarinL
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My thoughts are exactly along catkim's lines. But I would just leave a very small opening (because it's only hard to pry out the first brick, and then you can always enlarge it). For a vine, you actually need just a very small opening into the ground. If you leave just two bricks out, let's say, you will be able to enlarge it if you like and the majority of your patio will be well-laid and leveled, plus the space for those two bricks will be pretty exact. Leave a bigger space than that, and it will be tricky to fill it in well. The thing about leaving a full bed the length of the stairs is everything from mess to weeding/making more mess (and dirt on patio = weed seeds sprouting on patio in the cracks), but also the risk of dropping a chair leg off the edge of the stone into the dirt. This patio is going to feel SMALL for the furniture you have in mind. I don't think you should shrink its effective size. Also keep in mind that your doorway is recessed and quite dark. A vine will make it feel and look more closed in, in case that matters to you. And these big perennial vines can get pretty overwhelming. I personally love clematis and would probably put one there, but I'm not sure I would put it in the ground. You could leave it in a pot, and always cut it back to the ground (or bottom two buds if a B-type) every year. And once it gets too vigorous (as many do after three or four years), you might like to put in a new one. This is very tricky to do in the ground adjacent to a patio without damaging the patio. Maybe some annual vines would be more fun. Again, way easier in a container. Plus, the container gives you another decor item to have some fun with. On the other hand, it takes up some space. So I would lay and tamp the whole patio but for two bricks. Undoing it later from there if you want a bigger bed is way easier than filling it in. You can minimize the crush layer in that area if you really feel you will want to open it up. By the way, is there a basement here? If so, you want your subgrade to tilt away from the house. Karin L
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um, black concrete decks? do you have to wear asbestos slippers or do you go out only after dark? :-) well anyway. maybe you can substitute something of similar effect for the lawn squares. glass tile? (but not overly bright or flashy, and not necessarily green). visually the tile will add more of a "griddy" look, so may want a simpler alternating layout instead of checkerboard layout. you can maybe attain similar balance of greenery vs hardscape by other methods, tho (e.g.) using pots (presumably rectangular, perhaps shallow) would visually break the "ground plane" while grass squares would not. checkerboard of ponds would be hazardous, imo. plus the install costs (as mentioned above) would still be higher. the funny thing about modern is that there's a very fine (esthetic) zone between "clean" and boring. the problem of table, chair legs (feet) sinking despite "grasscells"... one way to prevent this could be to use furniture that has continuous "pipe" (don't know the term for this, so see it in this pic:) http://www.volusiapatio.com/pvc/patiochairgliderBIG.jpg swivel has circle base: http://www.alu-mont.com/images/Century-4600.jpg or a little bulkier: http://cache.gizmodo.com/assets/resources/2006/11/Tank%20Chair.jpg :-) but being restricted to only that type legs will horribly limit your choice of purchasable furniture. btw, the peril of indiscriminate photoshopping: http://www.alu-mont.com/images/Rio-4800-Sling-Series.jpg
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Hi Thanks for the suggestions. There will be lawn but not actually in the "corner" because eventually that triangular area will be filled in with an alpine bed. The home is fairly modern, with square windows, but a curving batten above the window. The yard is square. I will try to figure out how to post photos if it helps. The person who drew the plan for us doesn't do it anymore, unfortunately and previous attempts to contact regarding questions about the plan have been unfruitful. I may have to get out there with some string or a garden hose I guess. If it makes any difference the patio will be fairly large, 560 sq ft.
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A view of the general area - as you can see it's inside a little doorway...and walls on all sides. the hole is getting filled with concrete and if we do a putting green the raised rectangle will get a gentle slope up to that section.
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missingtheobvious
13 years ago
Decide what size patio you need.

50 pavers is (7 x 7) +1 -- so an area about 14 - 14 1/2' square (depending how much space you leave between the pavers).

50 pavers can also be (6 x 8) +2 -- so about 12 - 12 1/2' by 16 - 16 1/2'.

If this amount of space isn't enough, you can buy a few more pavers or stepping stones at a building supply or home renovation store (take into consideration any needed walkways, as karinl mentioned). If your same pavers aren't still available, keep in mind that a good contrast is better than a bad match. (You could also use four 12" pavers instead of selected 23 1/2" pavers; I don't know how well that would work, though.)

You can have a different color border, or a design in the middle. For instance:

M O O O O O O M ..... O O O O O O O O ...... O O O O O O O O
O O O M M O O O .... O M M M M M M O ..... O O M O O M O O
O O M O O M O O ..... O M O O O O M O ..... O M M O O M M O
O M O O O O M O ..... O M O O O O M O ..... O O O M M O O O
O M O O O O M O ..... O M O O O O M O ..... O O O M M O O O
O O M O O M O O ..... O M O O O O M O ..... O M M O O M M O
O O O M M O O O .... O M M M M M M O ..... O O M O O M O O
M O O O O O O M ..... O O O O O O O O ...... O O O O O O O O

[On the left: 48 original pavers (2 left over) and 16 new pavers. The other two use 44 original pavers (6 left over) and 20 new.]

Here's how v1rtu0s1ty did it (begin at the back of the thread to find the paver design more easily).
http://forums2.gardenweb.com/forums/load/design/msg0802193616658.html?76

Make mock-ups of the designs you're considering. You can color on graph paper, or make your own graph paper in Microsoft Paint and fill in each square with a click of the mouse. (Paint is part of every Windows operating system; you'll find it under "Accessories" -- though it's been pointed out to me before that if you've never used Paint, it takes a while to learn.) Or take contrasting colors of construction paper, cut them into 1 or 2" squares, and lay them out on a tabletop. Or take two colors of 3x5 cards and cut them into squares.
gardengal48 (PNW Z8/9)
13 years ago
50 almost 2'square pavers is only 200sf - not a very generous patio area. When designing patios (outdoor entertaining areas) I tend towards larger than you'll think you need -- small patios make you feel cramped and make it hard to place both the furniture/BBQ/accessories plus leave enough room to move about comfortably. And if this is an area that you want to accomodate patio furniture, you'll want to set the pavers as close together as possible. Nothing more annoying than a table leg sinking into the groundcover!!

So you might want to use the pavers instead for a paved seating area somewhere else in the garden and perhaps include some as pathway material as well. Or get more pavers :-)

And yes, you can stain concrete pavers. Those with a lot of rough surface - exposed aggregate - will only absorb the stain on the concrete portions. Also, you might want to make some of your own pavers (not a hard DIY project) that you decorate with tiles, shells, broken pottery or other found items. Intermixed with the standard pavers, these can add a lot of personalized character to the end result.
clg7067
13 years ago
I am looking for exactly what you have! I'm having a hard time finding them. Where did you get yours? Home Depot has 16". They have 24", but with aggregate showing and I just want plain.

{{gwi:12006}}

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