Patio project at Boston-area home inspired by West Roxbury project; couple walked by and saw it in person, then used same Pine Hall Brick Rumbled® Beale Street pavers, same designer, and the same installation team to add outside living space to their home. All new photos courtesy Jennifer Nawada.
It turns out you CAN learn a thing or two from watching public television.
A husband and wife who live in the Boston area were watching when the This Old House team—landscaper Jennifer Nawada, mason Mark McCullough, and Tom Kelleher and his crew from Kelstrom Landscape Inc.—were putting in a new patio.
Inspiring This Old House episodes:
Beale Street goes to Boston on PBS’s This Old House for a timeless paver patio
Rumbled® Beale Street pavers play big role as PBS’s This Old House reveals “A Modern Victorian”
An urban oasis – a clay paver patio built with Pine Hall Brick Beale Street pavers by This Old House
Close-up of work-in-progress by Nawada.
At the time, Rumbled Beale Street® pavers were chosen to build a “new old looking” patio as the ideal complement for an 1894 Victorian home being renovated in West Roxbury.
The couple loved the project and wanted their own version at their house, so they set out to make it happen. They contacted Nawada, who, in addition to being the landscaping expert on PBS’s This Old House and Ask This Old House, has long been the principal of a landscape design/build firm, Nawada Landscape Design, Inc., located in Boston, and she often works, off-camera, alongside the crew from Kelstrom Landscape, Inc.
Installing the patio created an inviting outdoor space and made their yard feel bigger. There were no challenges working with a high-quality brick!
“They saw the patio on This Old House – the West Roxbury house, and they walked by and saw it in person,” she said. “They loved it and decided to wait on the pavers to come into stock. The funny thing about all of this is that Tom Kelleher and his team helped Mark (McCullough) and me install the West Roxbury patio.”
Same designer, same installers, and same pavers, but a different design.
The goal
“They really wanted to create a space in their backyard to entertain, relax with their family and eat outside,” said Nawada. “Installing the patio created an inviting outdoor space and made their yard feel bigger.”
Part of the area had been an asphalt driveway that extended into the backyard, beside a planting bed crowded with overgrown shrubs. To reclaim usable space, the shrubs were transplanted to the back hill, opening the area for the new patio.
Nawada also re-designed the backyard to accommodate a dining table for six, a connecting walkway to the deck, and a landing at the bottom of the deck steps.
“All the old asphalt and concrete pavers were removed, and the entire area was unified with new brick pavers, creating a seamless, cohesive outdoor living space,” said Nawada.”As part of Boston – Roslindale – the brick gave the space a historic charming feeling of an old Boston courtyard.”
Nawada, Kelleher and the crew used a conventional crusher run and sand installation and laid the patio in a herringbone pattern at a 90-degree angle. And the installation went well.
“There were no challenges working with a high-quality brick!” said Nawada.
