Finished stone retaining wall bench

I never posted pics of the completed stone bench in the retaining wall, so here they are:

Earth Berm Shed Doors

An earth berm storage shed I incorporated into my retaining wall a couple of years ago was still lacking some doors so I decided to take care of that.

Here is a pic of the shed before the doors went on:

And here is what I decided to do for the doors.  I used OSB with a cladding of small aluminum 'fish scale' shingles.

And here are the doors mounted to the shed.

More patio work

The fall weather has been holding out really well, so I have been able to get more done than I anticipated.

Here's a view of the new curved stairs I was able to pour to incorporate the old hot tub pad into the patio.

The stone skirt is also done about half way up.

The stone skirt is all done on the south side.

You can also see the pillars I have poured for the baluster railing I will be putting in.

New Front Patio and Pergola

So ever since we moved into our house it has had a white wooden deck on the front that has seen better days.  Many of the boards were suffering from dry rot and there was a broken hot tub.

I removed the old deck and built a new smaller one which was then covered with Silca decking plates, which allow installation of pavers as a deck surface.

I also incorporated some more columns like we used for the patio on the back side of the house and built an entry way pergola.

Here is a completed pic with the front steps having been poured the day previous.

There is still work to be done.  We plan to incorporate the old hot tub concrete pad as a lower level to the patio and will also be adding a stone skirt wall and a concrete baluster railing.

Another stone retaining wall

This summer I ripped out another rotting rail road tie retaining wall and replaced it with stone.  After my success with the fireplace, I decided to do mortared stone rather than the dry stack technique that I used for the previous walls.

This wall also incorporated a set of stairs and an alcove to store the clothespins for the laundry drying rack.

The stairs going in:

Here's a closer photo of the arched alcove:

Patio upgrade - New Curtains

Our back patio faces the west and gets really hot on summer afternoons.  I have seen several articles on the internet about using canvas painter's drop cloths as curtains and decided to give it a try.

I like how it turned out.  They really add some extra shade and privacy and class up the look of the patio.

Outdoor fireplace finished!

Well I did beat winter, but only just barely...  Here are the project completion pics for the rest of the fireplace:

2nd wood storage arch being formed.

Chimney nearing completion.

And Done!

Here's a fun pic from when I was just getting started and the young chickens were inspecting my work.