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How to Choose Pavers + Our Biggest Backyard Renovation Ever! {Video}

See the before photos from our backyard, and learn a bit about our renovation plan. Plus, watch the video below with our shopping trip and learn tips for how to choose pavers for your own patio makeover. This post is sponsored by Belgard. 

For those of you who have read my blog for any amount of time will know that we rarely shy away from an interior remodel. We don’t like the kitchen layout? Swing a hammer at it. Don’t like a tile job? Away it goes. Wall cramping my style? Let’s cut a hole in it. 

Well, you get the idea. 

After 6 house flips in 8 years, we moved into our current home, had a baby, and have enjoyed a nice breather. We’ve done some stuff here and there and fixed a lot of trouble areas, but there was one spot in particular that left us a little dumbfounded.

Can you guess?

Our Backyard – Before

It’s our yard. You see, while we feel confident to rock a remodel, once we set foot outdoors, those talents abruptly stop. I honestly have no idea what to do with a yard. Truly, I envy people who can lovingly plant bushes and shrubs in the right spot with the right amount of sunlight and give it the right amount of water at the exact right time (side note — how!?).

I am not that person. Sadly, neither is Scott. 

Here’s the visual proof. Embarrassing, right?

Why We Started to Care About the Backyard

Plus, I never really cared about the backyard. It wasn’t a place we really hung out—we were too busy working on our remodeling projects to put down roots and build a great yard!

All that changed this year because of three reasons:

  1. We decided this home is where we want to stay. No more moving!
  2. We had a baby. We need somewhere for her to run around like the wild child she is. Plus, a huge chunk of our friends also had babies, so it made sense socially. 
  3. I connected with this incredible company, Belgard. 

Outdoor Living by Belgard

If the name Belgard sounds familiar, you probably know it as an incredible outdoor living company that makes beautiful pavers, walls, outdoor kitchens, and accessories. They are the best in the biz!

Plus, you may remember them as the company that invited Scott and I out to Montana last year to view the HGTV Dream Home 2019. It’s still one of my favorite trips I’ve ever taken!

HGTV Dream Home 2019 in Whitefish, Montana

I was fortunate enough to connect with the marketing department at Belgard following that trip, so I pitched them an idea. What if we worked together to highlight Belgard offerings and showed readers how even a clueless homeowner like me can learn to love her backyard?

Backyard Makeover with Belgard

I am SO excited to share that they loved the idea as much as we did. So…big, giant, massive news…we are working together to give our yard an incredible makeover!

There are going to be two major components to this project (and of course, I’ll be sharing the entire thing with you all!).

1. We have partnered with a professional contractor in Dallas. 

There are parts of this project that a homeowner cannot (or should not) do. For these phases, Belgard sorted through all their contractors in the Dallas area and picked the contractor to pair us with, Precision Pavers.

Even I, who knew literally nothing about pavers, have heard of Precision Pavers. They are an institution in the Dallas area—they’ve been in business for over 35 years! I’ve been really impressed by every interaction with Bob, the owner of the company, as well as every member of his crew. He was incredibly helpful for every step of the process, including walking us through how to choose pavers. 

If you want a sneak peek at what he and his crew can do – check out their website! They are simply the best patio company in Dallas. 

2. We will be doing a DIY project. 

Additionally, we will be completing a fun DIY project using Belgard products. We will be building a beautiful firepit area that we’ll be building ourselves using one of Belgard’s fire pit kits

There will be more DIYs in the future as well as we make the space our own. I can’t wait!

How to Choose Pavers

Once we had all agreed to take on this project together, we got to meet up in person, at one of the Belgard stores in the Dallas area. There we were able to view pavers and make our selections regarding which one we wanted to use. 

How to choose pavers with Belgard.

It was tough, I won’t lie. I loved them all! But, we had to choose one to use.

Choose a Paver That Accents Your Home 

Probably the biggest factor in our paver selection was the style and color of our home. 

We have a red roof that I’m not crazy about, along with a cedar fence that we had put in ourselves (LOVE it). So, we had quite a good amount of warm red and orange tones. 

I prefer more grays and creams, but we had to choose something that made sense with our home. After all, it’ll be a looong time before we change our roof or our fence. There were so many beautiful pavers to choose from, though!

We narrowed it down to two options, then relied heavily upon the expertise of the Belgard and Precision Pavers teams. They suggested we think about the Catalina Paver for it’s clean, modern lines. 

We loved the Leuders Gray within the Catalina line because it has all that creamy, gray color we love, along with hints of natural rust color in some of the stones. It was the perfect way to tie in our roof and fence and bring them into the more neutral color pallet we wanted. 

Catalina Grana vs Catalina Slate

The Catalina Pavers come in two finishes, the Grana and the Slate. 

The Catalina Grana is a smooth, flat finish, while the Catalina Slate is a textured finish. It was a tough call, but we ended up going with the Catalina Slate in Leuders Gray for the natural texture and finish. It’s SO beautiful!

Watch: How to Choose Pavers with Belgard

I put together a quick video to show you all how gorgeous the paver options are, not to mention all the store offerings. Take a look and see what I mean! 

Next up? I can’t wait to share our blueprint for the backyard with you all! It’s pretty incredible. I’m definitely never moving now! 

 

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Tania Griffis is an accomplished writer, blogger, and interior designer with a Journalism degree from the University of Oklahoma. She started her popular blog, Run to Radiance, in 2011, demonstrating her design expertise through the personal remodeling of six houses to millions of readers across the globe.

Tania also owns The Creative Wheelhouse, a respected ghostwriting agency for bloggers, further showcasing her talent for creating engaging and informative content.

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One Comment

  1. I’m planning to make a renovation in my house, and I can say that financial problems are quite major for me, so your article can be actually helpful for me!

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