For years, our poor ol' mailbox has stood out in our front yard with no walk leading to it. :(
Our beautiful brick front steps have led to nothing but a sea of grass.
When we purchased our home, it was 16 years old and we could not figure out how the previous owners had gone so long without a front walk. Or WHY a front walk wasn't put in when the house was built. It was very high on our to-do list when we moved in. But then we had a baby and then another one and the front walk slid down on the priority list. Still, I cringed every time the UPS guy or our postal lady had to carry a package through our wet grass, or I hosted a shower and guests tromped through the yard to get to the front door.
I knew I wanted a front walk, but I also knew when we got one, I didn't want it to just be a strip of bright white concrete. I wanted a brick path that would match our front porch and steps. Obviously, that kind of path costs more. So we waited and saved our money and as we got bids from contractors to screen in our porch and pour a new patio in the back, we added this to the list. Might as well have it done while all the big equipment was at our house anyway, right?
You can slightly tell from the picture above that the brick on the face of our house and the brick on our steps (and the top of our porch) are not the same. Antique bricks were used for the porch and steps and we opted to have those matched for the walkway. Luckily, our contractor was able to find them pretty quickly and could get to work!
We had no idea they were starting the front walk the day we arrived home to the view above, so it really was a fun surprise to drive up to. We quickly consulted Thomas's big book of trucks to identify the machinery parked in our yard. I think we had a mini excavator and a skid steer.
Here are my superheroes surveying the scene.
And the blank stares I got when I asked them what they thought.
The walkway crew was already hard at work when I left for work the next morning.
And by the time I got home, we had a concrete path!
I'm not sure if you can tell from the photo above or not but it was raining that evening when we got home. I'm glad they got it poured and it set up before the rain came!
After dinner, the rain was gone so we walked around to the front to check it out. The kids were really excited to be the first ones to run up the walk!
Shortly after that picture was taken, Thomas fell down while running on the walk, officially making him the first person to scrape his knees on the walkway too.
The pathway stayed like that for a few days until one morning I noticed some supplies had been dropped off (like, before 6am).
That afternoon we got to watch the brick masons hard at work. I'm sure they didn't love us staring over their shoulders, but we were all pretty glued to it. It was fascinating to watch!
When they left that day, they had the brick laid on the top half of the walk and the bottom three steps were left to be done.
I loved getting to watch them fill the cracks with mortar (I think?) because it looked like they were icing a cake.
It took a span of three days for all the bricks to be laid, set up overnight, and then get cleaned up. Before they left, the filled in around the sides with dirt so that our grass will grow right up to the edge of the steps. We are SO pleased with how it turned out!
Look at the beautiful herringbone pattern. Sometimes, like last night, I just go outside to stand on it and admire it.
The new walkway is even Lolli-approved. But she and I both agree that it will look EVEN better once the grass fills in through that dirt.
I have already had two Mint Tulip customers drop stuff off on my front porch and comment on how nice our walkway is. I'm so glad no one has to traipse through the yard anymore! Next time you come visit us, park out front and take a walk down our new front path. :)