So you have your concrete paver patio in place, now to amp it up a notch and make it the backyard oasis you’ve always wanted. Follow along here to see what we did.

If you haven’t read part 1 on how to build your concrete paver patio – you can do that here: DIY Concrete Paver Patio [pt. 1]

When we built out our patio, we took into account the size of the gazebo we purchased and the 4 squares the posts would be sitting on. During the paver installation, we dug down an extra ~2 feet and filled with solid concrete. It’s very very windy here and we wanted to be sure we had a deep solid base to anchor the gazebo into so we didn’t have any issues in the future.

As mentioned in part 1, we do plan to stain and seal the concrete pavers this Spring, so I will be sure to post about that.

After the concrete was cured, we built our gazebo. This is the gazebo we purchased. We purchased the largest available in this style, but it does come in smaller options. The directions were very clear and easy to understand, it only took about 2 people to build all of the pieces, but did take about 4-5 strong men [and myself] to get the structure and roof into place. Essentially, you build all of the supports and roof pieces first, then start assembling together to form them into the structure rectangle, then using lots of muscle and ladders, pop the roof in place and secure! As you can see by the time lapse video below, a lot of planning went into how to get the roof up. We were able to accomplish the gazebo built from start to finish within a weekend.

We then anchored the gazebo down using a concrete drill, heavy duty corner brackets and 5″ concrete anchor bolts. Each gazebo leg has 4 brackets and bolts on it. We’ve had some crazy storms since it’s install and it hasn’t budged!

Lastly, we purchased a half barrel and filled the bottom with 1 bag of remaining Quikcrete to secure a 4×4 in the center. We filled the rest of the barrel with dirt and I have my herb garden planted here. We purchased 3 sets of LED Outdoor String Lights and using hooks, strung these up in a zig-zag pattern between the house, post and gazebo.

All that’s left is to decorate to your liking! We added 4 outdoor swivel rocking chairs with a gas firepit under the gazebo, and an outdoor dining table with chairs on the open section. We’ve spent many nights out here and it’s simply perfect.

What color do you think we should stain the pavers?