Building our QUAINT Chimney Brick Patio

We are Landscape Designers: what can I say, we love outdoor spaces.

And this terrace has been the target of our desires for almost two years.

When we first walked the property, one of the things we said was that the entire west side of the house would make for an amazing entertaining space. Of course then, it was covered by trees, brambles, ivy and an outhouse. But after the clean out, and we stood in those dirty, uneven spaces for the first time, we could see the vision in our minds of a quaint patio, surrounded by plants and light, enjoying the views of the hills we love so much.

But, as always, the process to get there was not an easy one.

There was no point in touching this space until we rebuilt the limestone walls on the house. In fact, we had to wait, because this terrace was going to help us complete the limestone wall rebuild in two ways:

First, the drainage pipe, removing water from around the foundation, had to run directly under this planned patio. So digging out the area, and backfilling it will gravel was a part of the Upper West Wall process.

Second, anytime we needed a place to dump clay, dirt and rock from under the wall. And as we are quickly running out of space elsewhere to put it, this gave us a great opportunity to dump a few wheelbarrows.

So as soon as we began the Northwest corner, we thought it was time to finally finish this terrace.

We wanted an even walking surface, but still wanted to be able to step up and down from the grass as needed. To accomplish this, while maintaining a standard step into the kitchen, we rose the entire terrace by about 30-cm. This required us to build a series of short, but stable cinderblock walls to hold back the terrain on both sides. It also increased our volume to the area to dump debris. After building with limestone for nearly 2 years, we are always happy when we get to build with cinderblock, as it's much faster.

After laying the first row of the back retention wall, we realized with an extra row, the retention wall would become the perfect height for a seat. And that would give us nearly 3 or 4 extra seats, that didn’t require any chairs or extra space. We felt it was a much smarter use of space.

Once the area was backfilled and leveled, it was time to figure out what to use as a paver.

Brick patios are much more common in the US than in Slovenia, and both of us fell in love with them while in America. In fact, Alyson used to work as a Landscape Designer in the Charleston, South Carolina, USA, where brick is a standard material. After a few years designing brick patios for others, it was time we had one.

In the winter, we are planning to rebuild the chimney, and so this one needed to be demolished anyway, leaving us with a pile of strong, colorful, aged bricks to use. Taking them down was a quick, yet dusty process. Cleaning them was an even dustier process. But we were happy to reuse the bricks somewhere visual, and the variations in color and shape give the patio a beautiful, aged and unique look.

We chose to go with a herringbone pattern, because it's one of the most dynamic ways to lay brick. But the patio also has a trapezoidal shape, and mixing it with a running bond pattern gave us the flexibility to lay the bricks with minimal cuts. It was a huge win-win.

And finally, after laying the bricks and plastering the walls, we wanted to finish off with a treatment to the top of the cinderblock. We chose to purchase sandstone slabs and cut them, because the sandstone matched the rock on the house, and gave us a unique shape and color that would weather naturally over time. We want everything in the house to look like it has always been there. This was one of the most expensive purchases on the entire project, but we think it was worth it.

It was a long build. But sitting at our table, gifted to us by the lovely Žiga and Ana Zajbec, looking out over the hills, we felt so at home. We fantasized about having our morning coffee here, watching the sunrays bathe the hills in gold, and listening to the birds chirp. And for, maybe the first time, we felt truly at home on our little property.

We have several thank you’s for this project.

Ladi Bajde of course, for all his continued support throughout the project. This time, he was able to do some of his favorite activities, plastering and painting.

Valentin DaSchitzi for his help constructing the middle terrace almost a year ago.

Luke Hanson for helping demolish the remnants of the old cook house.

Mathilda Elkær Asta Dalga for helping demolish, dig, mix and pour concrete, backfill and more on the terrace!

Žiga and Ana Jazbec for the beautiful table.

CHAPTERS:

Introduction: 00:00 - 00:52
Middle Terrace Wall Construction: 00:53 - 02:40
Upper Terrace Wall Demolition & Excavation: 02:41 - 04:28
Upper Terrace Wall Construction: 04:29 - 06:58
Reclaimed Brick Patio: 06:59 - 09:28
Finishing Touches: 09:29 - 13:16
Final Reveal: 13:17 - 14:15
Credits: 14:16 - 14:29