Do you enjoy dining outside? Some people are more die-hard outdoor dining enthusiasts than others, to be sure. But almost everybody can remember a pleasant experience at some point in their lives that involved sipping on some coffee, tea, beer, wine or other beverage in an appealing outdoor setting, whether it was at a friend’s house or at a cafe. And now you want a patio of your own.
Or perhaps it is reading a book or chatting on your smartphone that you find enhanced if the experience occurs in an open-air setting? Regardless of the activity, improving your outdoor space is the key factor in making it possible for you to enjoy yourself to the fullest. The ideas illustrated here will help you cover all the bases in planning your new patio.
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Sit Around the Fire on an Elegant Flagstone Patio
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The material that you use to create your outdoor patio depends partly on your tastes, but also partly on practical considerations. Most homeowners choose hard surfaces, such as the flagstone patio shown in this picture. But as we will see later, there are some instances where a hard surface is not necessarily the best option.
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Build a Brick Patio and Get Back to the Things You Enjoy
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Another popular material for patios is brick. They may not offer the dazzling appearance of a flagstone patio (such as in the prior slide), but one of the virtues of building a brick patio (assuming that you are doing the job yourself) is that the work is relatively easy for beginning DIY’ers. Some brick patterns are easier to lay than others (as will be discussed in the following slides)…
