Backyard Renovation: Day 2

Not a lot to share today.  We (finally) got some rain last night. Great for Austin, not so great for curing concrete.  Since the new patio had to be covered in plastic I wasn't able to get any photos after work.  Jon snapped a couple during the day, but he was trying to stay out of the crew's way so they don't show the whole area.

Freshly poured concrete where the wood deck used to be. The deck was also built a step higher than the covered patio so it will be nice to be able to just walk right across it now.

Stain and stamping have been added to the concrete.  The stamping isn't very pronounced, but when I can I'll take a closer photo of it.  The stamping basically gives it some interest and makes it less slippery when wet.

Another view of the stained concrete around the spa.

A few things we still need to work out:

- Steps from the patio down to the yard (off to the far left in the middle photo above).
- How to manage the slight drop-off to the yard from the patio area beyond the spa. Right now there is about a 2-foot drop. Not a huge fall, but enough to twist an ankle or ruin a kid's day. We may add a poured concrete bench that will also act as a little wall. A step down to the yard there is not ideal because the strip of grass between the patio and the fence is already pretty narrow. I also have four huge terra cotta pots just sitting unused around the yard. If steps or a bench or whatnot are not in the budget, I may plant some nice palms in those pots and line them up along that portion of the wall.