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Dreams + Coffee

North Carolina Healthy Living + Style Blogger

Build a DIY Patio for Under $120

June 1, 2018 Comments : 9

Home projects are my favorite – I love taking our inspiration and turning it into reality…especially when we can do it on our own inexpensively! At any given moment, I have 10454549 things I’d love to do around the house, but with summertime just around the corner (or is it already here? Let’s settle this Memorial Day vs. June 21st debate), we’ve been primarily focusing on the exterior of our house and the yard.

We have a really nice sized backyard but we’re still working on getting the grass to grow (and getting rid of weeds!), and there’s a spot in the yard right off our covered concrete patio that gets so muddy whenever it rains, causing all of us to track our dirty feet into the kitchen when we go inside. We also have had a brand new outdoor pizza oven in our garage since last year (thanks, Mom & Dad!) and haven’t set it up yet, since we hadn’t spent much time focusing on getting the backyard ready.Build a DIY Patio Under $120

While at Lowe’s looking for flowers, we found some basic patio pavers on sale but didn’t love how plain they were – but also didn’t want to pay an arm and a leg for the expensive stamped concrete pavers. I went home and started researching inexpensive DIY patio ideas and found an idea I really loved – and the best part is, it only required those cheap square pavers and some pea gravel. We ended up spending around $120 to build a 14′ x 7′ patio area, which was way less than it would’ve cost to buy the fancy stamped pavers. Admittedly, the patio will probably never look neat and clean because the girls are obsessed with picking up the little pebbles and playing with them, but not having to deal with muddy feet has been such a lifesaver!

How We Built a DIY Patio

First, my husband dug several inches to remove the top surface of grass and to smooth the dirt before placing the pavers. This actually took a while and was pretty tiring, at least that’s what he told me 😉 Meanwhile, I lugged the heavy pavers and bags of pebbles into the backyard using the kids’ wagon…and then he finished up the other half of that when I quit. 🙂

To create even spaces between the pavers, we used several pieces of lumber we had in the garage. FYI, I know you can grab scrab lumber from Lowe’s for free, if you don’t have any laying around at home.

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Once all of the pavers were laid, we (I mean my husband) poured the bags of pebbles in the spaces between the pavers. He used a shovel to move it around to fill all of the spaces and then followed behind with a broom to move the rest of the rocks off the pavers. Lastly, we rinsed the patio with the water hose to remove the dirt and dust that were on the pavers and rocks. Super simple!

Pavers we used: Gray 12×12 Pavers

Rocks we used: Pea Gravel

For a 14′ x 7′ area, we ended up using 72 square pavers and 12 bags of pea gravel. The grand total was $119.

If you’re looking for an easy and inexpensive way to revamp your outdoor space, consider this DIY patio idea. A little sweat equity will pay off in a big way with this cost-effective project!

Build a DIY Patio Under $120

For more outdoor ideas, be sure to follow me on Pinterest.

brittany worrell boyce

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9 Comments Categories: Home

Comments

  1. Darryl says

    June 26, 2019 at 11:28 am

    Love the idea. How has this held up as far as any settling or paver movement? Did you put anything under it like landscape fabric or sand? Do you still like it? How do you like the spacing? Are pavers too far apart or does it work for your purposes. We would want to put some patio furnishings on ours.

    Reply
    • Brittany says

      July 1, 2019 at 7:47 am

      It’s held up really well! We did not put anything underneath but I’d recommend landscape fabric because we did have some grass pop through that we’ve had to maintain. It’s actually been a lot more kid-friendly than I expected, too – no one has tripped in between the pavers, etc.! We have sat patio chairs on it as well and it works fine. Overall, highly recommend! 🙂

      Reply
  2. Michelle C says

    April 8, 2020 at 5:26 pm

    How much space did you put between the pavers?

    Reply
  3. Michelle C says

    April 8, 2020 at 5:27 pm

    How much space did you put between the pavers? Typo in my previous email!

    Reply
    • Brittany says

      April 9, 2020 at 8:53 am

      We used two pieces of scrap wood to measure the distance – I️’m pretty sure the spacing was two 2×4 pieces sitting up!

      Reply
  4. Mar says

    May 24, 2020 at 12:17 am

    Where did you get the pavers, and how much where they?

    Reply
    • Brittany says

      May 25, 2020 at 5:37 pm

      We got ours from Lowe’s and they are around $1 each.

      Reply
  5. Melodie says

    July 8, 2020 at 10:09 pm

    How long did it take to complete the project?

    Reply
    • Brittany says

      July 9, 2020 at 10:50 am

      It took two days – my husband leveled the surface by removing grass and smoothing the dirt and let it sit overnight and then we placed the stones and filled in with pebbles the next day. It is totally a day project, but we have kids and had to take a break!

      Reply

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About Me

Hi y'all! I'm Brittany, a wife, mama to three little ladies and the creator behind Dreams + Coffee, a North Carolina lifestyle blog. Grab a cup of coffee and catch up on my latest family, food, health and lifestyle posts.

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brittanywboyce

Wife | Girl mama | Pure Barre & Peloton obsessed | Dairy + gluten free | Blogger | Freelance writer | Owner @somethingbleuclt | CLT

Brittany | Mom Life + Style
I’m not sure what to do with my hands 🤷🏼‍♀️😆
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These cuties worked so hard with @girlscouts cooki These cuties worked so hard with @girlscouts cookie sales and earned tickets to @frozenbroadway with their troop! We had so much fun and would go see it again in a heartbeat! ❄️❄️❄️
Last Day of Kindergarten & 1st grade for these two Last Day of Kindergarten & 1st grade for these two ❤️😭 We’ve had the best year and I can’t believe how it’s flown by! Pretty sure they’ve grown a foot taller since the beginning of school 🤪 They’ve learned so so much and are looking forward to a little summertime fun ☀️
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The best first year with @girlscouts Troop 2997 😘 Blair moved up to become a Brownie and Blakely is continuing her Daisy journey 💚💚
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S’mores….but make ‘em patriotic 🇺🇸 . . S’mores….but make ‘em patriotic 🇺🇸
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Pool szn is here and we couldn’t be happier ☀️☀️☀️
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Lucky to be their mom 😘 They did not, however, Lucky to be their mom 😘 They did not, however, get their craziness from me (ahem, @mboyc001) 🤪
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Another home project complete 💕 The girls’ ba Another home project complete 💕 The girls’ bathroom got a complete makeover…we decided to tackle theirs first so we have a nice bathroom to use when ours is under construction 😂
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