All About Our Diamond Pavers and Artificial Grass

So much progress is being made in the backyard every day, I'm having a hard time keeping up! Last week I shared a bunch of progress photos in the backyard and compared this yard with other outdoor spaces we've had. We're just getting started with our yard here but it's definitely going to be our best one yet. With the artificial turf installation, and especially after sharing our Reel, a lot of you were curious about what the process was like! So today I'm divulging all the details about the stone pavers and artificial grass!

After Artificial Turf

While the original backyard was beautiful, it was really limited to just a small little courtyard barely big enough for patio furniture. It was overflowing with mature shrubs and plants but we were only using about 1/3rd of what the yard really is! Expanding and using the most of our property was such a huge priority. 

Before

Funny enough, the diamond paver look was part of the original courtyard and I really wanted to honor that. I remember in the beginning of our designing phase, I always wanted to incorporate turf with pavers. With so much hardscaping between the pool deck and fire pit, breaking up the stone pavers with something soft and organic was so needed. I also just love the timeless and luxurious look of pavers and turf.

We considered using real vs synthetic grass, but luckily Shea McGee advised us to go with the latter. She did real grass in their yard first but between the hot pavers, the grass burnt up so they ultimately went with faux grass. Luckily here in NC, the native grass we have (blue fescue) stays green year round so there's never going to be a time where our real grass is brown and the artificial is still green. Just one of the many things I love about living here.

The fun part about using turf? Checking out the samples.

Choosing the artificial turf

Turns out artificial grass has come a long way from the cheap, plastic looking turf at your local mini golf course. The best way to choose your turf? Bring it outside and match it to your real grass. The one we ultimately chose looked like our blue fescue the most, and we loved the variety in coloring and tone. Those brown little pieces make it look so realistic!

The clear winner was this Field Green, Olive Green mix.

All About the Diamond Pavers

We were warned by a lot of you that bluestone gets really hot but it really stood out to us as the favorite. Our contractor told us that almost every stone will be hot in the peak of summer so we should get what we want. Although we did install some irrigation beneath all the stone to help keep it cooler during the hot summer months and I love that blue tone with the warm red brick. It's downright patriotic! If you didn't know, blue and orange are complimentary colors so the blue against our warm red brick really bring out the best in each other.

Per the stone yard's recommendations, we went with the 24"x24" pavers. Apparently it's a very comfortable size for the average person's walking gait. It also gives more surface area, which will allow all the table and chair legs a better chance at landing on a hard surface. The scale is chefs kiss, especially with the 4" spacing for the artificial grass in between.

Since we've never seen this done before, we didn't know what to expect as far as installation, but we watched out the window every single day and asked the crew lots of questions so we could fill you in here.

Installing the Patio Pavers and Artificial Turf

First thing they did was install the bluestone. The crew went above and beyond to make sure everything was perfectly spaced and level. They really knew what they were doing. Once all the stone was in, they filled the spaces with some sort of gravel or sand to make it all level.

The artificial grass installation was only a day's worth of work! Not saying it looked easy, but the crew was so efficient and speedy, you could tell it wasn't their first time around the block. They used a razor blade to cut and they were able to use the lines on the back as guides!

They set all the long strips in first before moving onto the short strips in-between.

Absolutely beautiful to see come together.

To give the shorter pieces something to grip onto, they slipped these little black material strips beneath and applied some sort of adhesive before laying them in.

To secure the turf down, they hammered in about 2-3 stakes along each paver side.

The last and unexpected step? Pour sand on the turf and use a push broom to settle it in-between the pile. Since the turf came on a big roll all the synthetic grass blades were laying kind of smooshed. Apparently the sand is going to help it stand up a bit straighter! Who knew artificial turf installation had so many steps!

So in love with how this turned out!