Building a Patio and Walkway at Smith Mountain Lake – Part One

At the beginning of January, before I found out about my cancer and life seemed to be put on pause for many weeks, I mentioned that we planned to have a patio installed behind our Smith Mountain Lake house.

I’ve shared this view from our deck with you before but it’s worth sharing again.  This will also be the view from the new patio.

The light was so pretty when I took this picture Saturday morning.  If you look across the cove, you can see that a new house is under construction.  We’ve been enjoying watching its progress.

My Cancer

Speaking of my cancer, thanks to all of you who wrote messages of encouragement to me when I first shared about it.  I’ve been diagnosed and have started a targeted therapy medication.  I’m feeling better and am cautiously optimistic.

The Makings of a Patio

Construction of a patio and a walkway to our dock are set to start this week and I’m super excited these project are finally starting.  This is definitely not a DIY and will be completed by our favorite landscape company, Southern Landscape Group.  They have done a number of projects for us and we consider their work to be top notch.

SLG (Southern Landscape Group) made marks in the yard making it easy to envision where the patio will be.

This picture shows where the SLG team will access the backyard from the driveway.

For reference, “Access” is spray painted where the driveway ends to the right of the house.

The arrows point the way to the patio site.

Mr. SP and I constructed the retaining wall to the left of the back of our house before Christmas and have yet to complete it.  We don’t have a lot of work left to do, all we need is a free afternoon!

The white line shows the edge of the future patio.

I already have plans to hang a swing (or maybe two!) beneath the deck.  Who wouldn’t want to swing in the shade and look at the water?

This view of the project was taken from the deck.  The patio will extend to the corner of the house although the white paint line doesn’t extent that far.  You can better see the new retaining wall from this angle.

The white flags show roughly the path of the future pathway that will lead from the patio to the dock.  It’s going to be so nice to have a pathway to use after walking though the grass and mud for a year to get to the dock.

The shoreline is rough and we are hoping that the SLG team can use some of their equipment to smooth out the ledge between the yard and shoreline.

Sherman at the Lake

Sherman never misses an opportunity to swim in the lake.

Here he is swimming in after chasing a flock of geese from our neighbor’s yard.

The View from our Deck

I have shared the view from our deck in the past and can’t resist sharing it again.  The pictures below show the view of the lake from the left to the right side of our deck.

What Else is New at the Lake

I have a few more changes at the lake that I’m eager to share with you.  Mr. SP has been busy making four Adirondack chairs for the deck.  I’ve helped a bit but I haven’t wanted to be around too much woodworking dust due to the state of my poor lung.  We also have a few interior updates that I hope to share very soon!