Patio and Masonry Cleaning in Seattle – Stone Restoration and Sealing
Has your patio gotten an unsightly film of moss and/or mildew that needs attention? Masonry cleaning requires a special touch from a professional who understands what makes a patio tick and what kind...
View ArticleStone Installation in Winter – The Ideal Time
I have noticed a common habit among the public when it comes to having work done (one that other landscape professionals have noticed as well): people tend to forget about their yards and landscaping...
View ArticleZen Tea Garden in Seattle
Zen Tea Garden by Shepherd Stoneworks - In 2005, I was hired to make a patio in the Madrona neigborhood. The owner is a Zen Buddhist who was interested in making a traditional Tea Ceremony room in her...
View ArticleFinding the Right Stone Masonry Contractor in Seattle
Finding a good stone mason can be a challenge wherever you live. There is always someone in the phone book or listed in Craigslist, but how in the world do you know if you’re talking to the just right...
View ArticleMy Seattle Patios – A Shepherd Stoneworks Retrospective
I thought it might be fun to go back through my photos of past stone paving projects. These are only a sampling; to see my full paving gallery, take a look at...
View ArticleWilkeson Flagstone Walkway – Paving with Local Stone
This is an entryway that we overhauled on Capitol Hill in Seattle. We used Wilkeson Flagstone, which is now only sold straight from the quarry in Wilkeson, WA, and the pieces were custom-sawed for...
View ArticleFlagstone Patio Design – Hand Mosaic
My client wanted me to come up with some kind of embedded design in this rather large patio. After drafting up several ideas, which included a sun, a saturn-like planet and a horse, I hit home with...
View ArticleFlagstone Patio Protocol – What Makes One Better Than Another?
Not all flagstone patios are created equal. Unlike roof installation, flooring, or even poured cement (all easily quantifiable and pretty much uniform and predictably priced), a stone patio will vary...
View ArticleMontana Bronze Patio – Paving Under a Deck
In the heat of summer, a shady place like this can be a great source of relief. This site had previously been a forgotten corner of the yard under a large deck. The patio stone is Montana Bronze Slate...
View ArticleBluestone Patio – Random Flag or Dimensional
Random Pattern Pennsylvania Flagstone Pennsylvania Bluestone is one of the most popular kinds of stone paving material in America. It has been quarried longer than we have been a nation, being both...
View ArticleArizona Sandstone – A Mid-Century Modern Patio and Columns
This summer we completed this patio, which was meant to utilize the area under a new, watertight deck. The house is a split-level rambler from the early 60′s that has a very nice façade of Arizona...
View ArticleModern Patio Design – Stucco, Bluestone and Cedar
This patio was installed at a new 4-unit condominium which had this walled-in and fenced-in area at the back of the property. The owners wanted to expand their living space with an outdoor room, so...
View ArticleSplit Granite Dry Stack Wall
This is a project we just completed. We took local granite boulders and split them into face stone for stacking. The owners wanted us to put in lots of quirky accents and include a bench section with...
View ArticleFlagstone Hand – A Patio With a Design Twist
I have posted shots of this before, but I wanted to revisit since it has been a few years and it’s that time of year – time to put in some hardscaping in advance of the summer months. We used two...
View ArticleHardscape Ideas – What Is The Best Time Of Year To Install A Patio?
Zen Tea Garden by Shepherd Stoneworks I find that most prospective clients I talk to don’t start planning for new landscape/hardscape work until near the end of Spring – the weather starts to heat up,...
View ArticleRaised Stone Planting Beds
Raised stone beds, made of Pennsylvania Variegated Flagstone which we broke into strips onsite. These six beds with paths in between used up around 20 tons of stone. The splitting we did using a...
View ArticleSplit-Face Cascade Granite Wall – Stone Bench In A Wall
We split up raw boulders of local Cascades Granite into wall pieces. Then we construced a dry-stack gravity wall that incorporated a stone couch bench idea. Finished the area with a patio of...
View ArticleStone Patio and Wall – Before and After
I don’t usually post “before” pictures, my feeling being that ugly images tend to muck up the overall idea people come away with when viewing your work. But I think it is important to demonstrate the...
View ArticleArgillite – Golden Bronze Slate from Montana
We are currently getting started on a large paving project on Vashon Island, WA. It involves over 1000 sq. ft. of Argillite Flagstone mortared onto the large walkways surrounding a new home. I’m sure...
View ArticleHardscaping – How to Expand Your Living Space
Landscaping isn’t just about planting things. It is the art of transforming the outdoors to suit your needs. And sometimes what you need is to create new spaces that provide comfort, usefulness,...
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