How It Started
Been obsessed with Portuguese cobblestone paths lately. Saw pictures of Santa Catarina stuff online and thought, “Man, that looks cool and sorta easy.” Figured I’d try making a tiny version in my backyard patio corner. Just a small spot, y’know? Went down to the local hardware store and grabbed what I thought I needed: some bags of coarse sand, a bag of that cement stuff, a few small bags of mixed colorful pebbles, and a basic trowel. Spent way more than planned. Dammit.
The Messy Middle Part
First thing: cleared out this dusty patch near the back door. Raked it flat, or tried to. Dug down maybe two inches deep. Felt my back complain already. Made a simple wooden frame kinda thing with scrap lumber to hold everything in. Mixed the sand and cement with water in an old bucket. Looked like lumpy oatmeal. Proportions? Who knows, just eyeballed it. Poured that mess into my frame. Slapped it down with the trowel. Didn’t look smooth at all. Annoying.
Now the fun part: pressing in the stones. Picked out the blue ones first, tried to mimic some wave pattern I remembered seeing in photos. Bent over for ages, placing each stupid little rock one by one. My knees were screaming. Halfway through, realized the colors were clashing badly. Too late to buy more, so just shoved them in random patterns instead. Hoped it would look artsy. Probably just looked messy. Arms felt like jelly.
Left it to dry overnight. Checked first thing next morning. Sun was already baking it. Panicked – wasn’t it supposed to stay damp? Sprinkled some water like a crazy person. Whole surface looked patchy, some spots dark, some pale. Not promising. Kicked the frame off gently. The edges crumbled a bit. Sigh. Used a stiff brush to scrape off the extra cement junk stuck to the tops of the stones. Took forever, dust flying everywhere. Drilled my fingers with a tiny pebble shard. Cursed loudly.
How It Ended Up
After a full three days, it was rock hard. Well, mostly. A couple pebbles were loose. Poured water on it to “clean” it. Looked… different. Not exactly like the pictures from Portugal, that’s for sure. Too chunky in places, colors kinda clashed, one corner had sunk a little. The neighbor kid asked if it was a hopscotch grid. Ugh.
But y’know what? Walking barefoot over those cool stones feels kinda nice on a hot day. Looks unique. Mine. Messed up the fancy pattern, but got something resembling a path down. Won’t win awards, but I don’t hate it. Took a beer out, sat on the step, and just looked at my lumpy little patch of Santa Catarina wannabe. Good enough. Who cares if the colors clash? I made a damn stone floor.
