We recently planted schip laurels around our pool area to create a hedge. The schip laurel is low-maintenance and it grows under a variety of different conditions. It’s a beautiful shrub and it was a breeze to plant once we decided where we wanted it to go. We are really loving the look and feel like they’ve made a great addition to our landscaping. Schip laurels are also known as skip laurels or schipka laurels.

If you don’t want to take the time to plant grass seed, your other option is to lay sod. We did this recently around our pool and it turned out even better than we hoped! Here are some instructions on how to lay sod so you can get that instant green lawn you’ve always dreamed of.

We recently laid solid stone steps connecting our new pool area to our existing sidewalk. At first glance, a project like this looks pretty simple. At least, that’s what we thought! That is until we tried to move one of the stones. These things weigh 450 lbs each, which made this project one of the most challenging things I’ve ever done. But it is doable! In this article, I’m going to show you how we did it and what you need to know going into a project like this.