Good work!! They both look great. Do you save money making the pavers yourself? I've often thought of doing it myself but don't know how much concrete you would use for one paver, so can't compare costs. Also, if you don't mind me asking, what did you use as a mould and how do you stop it sticking?
Cheers,
Dee

Hi Dee, I don't know whether we saved money but the kids had an idea on recycling pizza boxes and using them as moulds. We have pizzas once a month or so, so have been saving them up for a while and got a couple of boxes from friends. We lined them with plastic garbage bags and used concrete mix (just add water). I bag of mix made 4 or 5 x 30cm square pavers. When we do more we will use boards though as the cardboard sides aren't really strong enough and bulge out. We will also remember to borrow the in-laws concrete mixer (forgot they had one until we were nearly finished). The kids had fun helping though, it was a good lesson for them.

I always say, you can't have too many outdoor passive entertainment areas! Now, G, how many more poincianas are there to sit under?
What a lateral use for pizza boxes....great to have the kids involved. my neighbors at Rocky did a patio with home-made hexagonal concrete pavers, must ask them about their moulds.
Rose

Good on you GH, Its wonderful to make things yourself and be able to say ""I did That"" Well Done !!!
That kind of thing is right up my alley I used to be forever trying out different idea's.
And it looks a wonderful cool spot on your decking under the shade of the poinciana tree.
Love that white garden setting thats just in the right spot too.....Cheers..MM.

Very nice GH we have done lots of working bees when the kids were young, but we never made our own pavers talked about it though,
Jan.

Congratulations on your very wonderful work.
Look great in the shade, and so do the dog and child taking a break from all that hard work.
Marion

Thanks everyone.

Rose we have 3 poincianas which we hope will eventually join up. Being deciduous and on the southern side of the yard should allow plenty of winter sun and summer shade.

We have always like doing things ourselves, it feels so much better to say 'we did that'. I think it is good lesson for the kids. We probably would've been finished sooner if it wasn't for the kids help :) but they had fun.

We also try to make use of things that normally couldn't be used. The wood we got from a friend very cheaply as a lot of it was warped but we designed the deck in 2mx1m sections to use as much of the timber as possible. It also gives us the option to move or add to the deck if we want to.