In 2013, my husband and I built a modest home amongst beautiful, aged Oak and Walnut trees overlooking Midwestern cornfields with the intent of adding a patio/deck in the near future. The land was still rough, and we (mainly him- bless his heart) spent the next few years taming the property and slowly making our house a home.
FIVE years later (sigh!), when other, more pressing projects were complete, it was finally time to imagine an outdoor space where we could comfortably enjoy our surroundings. As I would soon come to learn, patios/decks are not cheap and neither my husband nor I are handy. Also, I am not particularly crafty, thus my complicated relationship with Pinterest and its’ “simple” DIY plans. Cue the sad music…
Here is a list of our criteria (in no particular order) when weighing our options:
- Low maintenance
- Larger square footage
- Aesthetically pleasing
- Under $2,000
- Simple design
At the time, I honestly didn’t think that I was asking for too much, until I began pricing out different materials. Pavers, composite decking, stone and bricks were all out of our price range and beyond our skill level/time commitment to install ourselves.
Let’s look back at our criteria and how this material ended up checking off every box.
- Low maintenance
Concrete is virtually no maintenance barring the occasional sweeping up of natural debris.
- Larger square footage
Our house is on the smaller side, so we wanted to have a patio that would accommodate large groups of people. The patio ended up being 21x15 ft.
- Aesthetically pleasing
Stamped concrete was not a substantial difference in price, and it makes the patio almost look as if it’s stone! Now, we could have added a color or stain, which would have looked lovely, but that was out of our price range.
- Under $2,000
- Stamped concrete patio= $1,600.00
- Wooden Step= $50.00 for materials/stain
- Landscaping= Free Hostas
- White bench, pots= Free, Used
- Simple design
A simple, rectangular design worked well with our existing home design, plus it’s easy to mow around.