Jun 24, 2010
Build Your Own Avant-Garde Patio: Brick Scavenging
A couple weeks ago, Abraham got the idea that he wanted to make a little brick pad underneath the hose on the side of the house. There were a few busted-up old bricks there from God-only-knows-when (there have been lots of owners since this house was built in 1900), and so he decided he would try to use them somehow.
Then the idea kinda blossomed. He decided he wanted to do the whole pad with “found brick.” Very artsy, huh?
But where were we going to find enough bricks? I’d like to tell you that this was a very well-thought-out process, but…it wasn’t. But here’s what we did:
1. Choose a fearless leader.
Ours was the unstoppable Abraham Piper, Urban Scavenger. Behind the wheel of a Swagger Wagon, he is a force to be reckoned with.
2. Assemble your crew.
3. Start scavenging.
This might mean that you drive (what will feel like) aimlessly through old industrial areas of town, through abandoned train yards, etc. We also drove along residential alleys to pick up any extra bricks people might have had from ripping out an existing patio, or any they had leftover from building a new one.
4. Don’t be afraid to ask.
After awhile, we started getting bolder. We pulled up into a couple landscaping businesses and just asked them, “Hey, do you have any old bricks left from a job that you’re not going to use?” We didn’t care if they matched, or if some were a little broken.
I was amazed at how generous those folks were! If they order too much brick for a bigger job that they can’t use for another one immediately, they probably don’t want it sitting around taking up space. So they gave some to us!
5. Celebrate success.
Make sure your crew feels like part of the process or they’re gonna start grumbling from the back seat.
6. Play Tetris.
Abraham did all the digging, sand pouring, etc. to prep the area for the bricks. It was a little trickier since many of them were different thicknesses, but since it was a patio area that wasn’t going to be walked on very much, it didn’t really matter if it was absolutely perfect. I think he did a great job keeping it level, though. And then you just have to fit them all together into the space you have.
7. Voila!
I really like the randomness of it. And the best part was, we only paid for some sand!
My next urban scavenging project is to find some old spools and do this with the hose:
[Photo via Design Sponge]
What do-it-yourself projects are you doing this summer?
That is way too cool!
I love it! That is exactly how our front patio at the MN house was created. Summer projects I’m doing? Building a few patio areas, a fire pit, ripping out the carpet in two bathrooms and putting in new no-plug toilets, scrounging up enough bookshelves for this 13 man crew…other than that? Fixing whatever breaks next and NOT kniting sweaters for my friend Molly’s twins!
Laying landscape rock around the front and side of house. Ripped up old deck and putting in a new deck with tek-decking and paver brick. Thanks for hunting idea. We are going to pursue that one.
we call the landscape rock…permanent mulch…wish we had this idea years ago…would have saved us a ton of money and lots of work…although the rock is heavy and laying it is time consuming-it alleviates shot gun mold and looks fabulous!
I love it! What a fabulous idea.
I love it! How great that you were able to make something useful out of stuff that would have gone to waste otherwise! We just redid our patio a couple of weeks ago, and we totally redid our family room/teaching studio last month! I just posted pics on my blog yesterday. It was a big project, but worth it.
I’m building a toy chest from fir pallets and a 60 year old cedar fence from St. Paul.
Hey Molly, don’t forget to check Twin Cities Free Market. It’s a website where people post their give away stuff. I got a huge load of sand once. And you might even find those spools. (Look under the “crafts” section.)
It’s amazing at what people will throw away! I always drive around and get stuff. Last week I got 7 medium-large terra cotta pots! I like the spool idea- very pretty!
The garden on the East side of my house was the biggest project we’ve done this year. It was tough to set up, since my husband was suffering from crippling arthritic joint pain and I had to pound the t-posts in pretty much all by my lonesome. But now the garden is luscious and green and one of my favorite places to spend the morning! I plan on embellishing the fence with fun art and giving it its own unique little “personality.”
Awesome! It looks very cool. For your second idea, there, btw, it looks to me like those are antique sewing machine bobbins. I could be wrong, as it’s a little hard to judge size, but just thought I’d share in case you need a starting point for a search!
we put in a patio. Not pretty, not easy to put in, but hey…it works! :)
Wonderful job! I’d love to try it myself!
Hi Molly….this is Molly!
I just found your blog and I’m so excited for you that your twins are here and healthy! WoooHOOO!
I was reading some of your posts and saw where you wanted to get some spools to put up your water hose.
Let me tell you what I did. I called electric repair companies and lighting companies to see if they had a spool big enough for me to make a table. (I’ve included my blog for the day I posted pictures.) All I did was spray paint it and put it out! You might try that, cause they have all sizes and just get rid of them!
http://mollywoodall.blogspot.com/2010/05/mothers-day-2010.html