My oldest son, Gary, was here on Thursday and presented me with my combined Mother's Day and birthday present. He knew I have been wanting to have something done on my patio to provide storage for lawn chairs and garden equipment. Mainly I needed him to rebuild the flower beds where the dirt was contained by timbers that were deteriorating and letting the dirt wash on to my patio. I was constantly cleaning up.
While the old timber beds looked okay I now have this lovely cement stone bed.
On the other end of the patio the raised bed and bubbler box gave way to my new Rubbermaid storage bench.
It is big enough to hold my extra chairs and all the gardening equipment. Though it is a little high for most to sit on, it still will provide extra seating if I need it. We took out the old bubbler box that was part of that area but did not throw it away.
We repurposed it in the shade bed at the back of the property. It was rotting at the bottom so that was sawed off and the removable top which used to edge the water feature is now the base. We placed my bird house in the shade bed with the planter box around the base.
There will be two shelves at the top of the box to hold potted plants. I don't know if I will get any plants there this late in the planting season. The birdhouse is one Gary built for me several years ago and the shelf that held it on the 4x4 stand was rotting so it now has a new shelf to sit on and is once again sturdy.
It is nice to have such handy sons. I could find a lot more jobs for them if they lived closer to me.
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Comments: 22
Looks nice thanks sharing...
Very nice! What a great birthday present.
very pretty and functional too!! a wonderful present from your son!!
You tell him, he did real good!
Looks wonderful, he did good, mom!
He did such a great job, it all looks so nice!
It looks wonderful
Excellent work! It looks lovely and inviting, I wish I were there reading a book and sipping iced tea. yaya
So...is he free to do my patio? *grin*
Love the new flowerbeds and all the changes and the new box.
Each one of those stones weighs 25 pounds, I know me and the kid hauled enough of them around and even Richard got into the act a few times. It looks good and is so eady to deal with once it is in place.
Don't I know it Rose. The other two owners and I tore our an old timber retaining wall and put in a new one of these blocks 16 years ago and it is 7 high and 15 ' long. I could carry 2 at a time then. Went through 2 pair of gloves too.
Audrey,
Good on your son. They deserve a mom like you.
Gosh Cliff, you make me sound like I'm something special. I figure this is the time in my life when it is time for my children to help me out when I need it. They always seem to come through too.
One year, my son built a privacy fence along the back of my back yard for Mother's Day. Those are the best kind of gifts, aren't they?
Yes Pat those are great gifts. The privacy wall and pergola were also built by Gary and I have had immense enjoyment from them.
That's very beautiful! How nice of them to do it for you!
Wow what a really nice thing to do for you :)
I love the improvements Audrey and you are blessed to have such wonderful sons!
Thanks Vince. My sons are talented when it comes to woodworking and landscaping and I appreciate everything they do for me. I also love having them here to spend one on one time with. We get to reminisce about the olds days and laugh a lot.
It looks great! I can't wait until the day I have my own back yard so that I can do what you've done. A patio at an apartment complex (no matter the size) is very limiting. :-)
I have a townhouse condo so my patio is 6x12, but since we are an association of 3 units and self maintain our places we are not strict about using a little of the common property. Besides, I seem to be the one who does the majority of the outside work, as in the shade garden.
I do love having my own private area to use. When I lived in an apartment I had no private outdoor space.
Oh how neat...it's a great gift Audrey.
That looks so nice....a good gift