It's as messy as they say.

Mark off and prepare the area, and buy pavers or other materials as you can afford them. Start with a small pad at the door and work out to the sides as budget allows.

A wooden ground-level deck might be more affordable, and it's certainly not difficult to build

Thanks Lazygardens. You've probably just saved me a boatload of aggravation. I will get out the checkbook (sigh) and get some pavers.

Have to agree with Lazygardens here. I just bought a house that had a "pebble" patio in the back. I cant stand it. This weekend, I will be building my first paver patio. If you do go that route, I would call around to alot of places to get prices. Here in foothills of Skyline Drive (Front Royal), the prices at the big chain supplies were about $.58 per paver. I called a local stone supply company, and they have them for $.25 a piece. That price difference made the project affordable for me.

I just found this thread which was originated several months ago but relates exactly to what I am considering right now. I am wondering what Twinkle ended up doing and how it went (or is it still going?)
I have a town house with a small deck that is in bad shape and down about 4 steps begins our mud and weeds. Grass has been a real problem to grow for us because it is such a small space and when we first moved in the people before us loved fruit trees, planted far too many for this little space and all of them consequently died. SO now we are left with stumps, no trees for shade, and the space gets mid day sun. I wouldn't mind replacing my current deck and then making the rest a patio, or maybe a multi level deck if that would be more cost efficient. We also read about colored asphalt which seems considerably less expensive than concrete or pavers, but I have no idea how it looks. We'd love to have a patio and bring in big pots and plant flowers that way rather in the ground. I am looking for any advice or sites to see pics or to get info. So if anyone out there can help....thanks!

Out of curiosity, if you don't mind me asking, how many square feet is did you cover with the pavers? Did you end up doing this project yourself, or did you hire someone to come in and do it, and if so was the labor extremely costly?
I really want to do this and the idea of asphalt, colored or not isn't very appealing to me--nor is the gravel. My pocketbook might not allow me to do the pavers though.
THanks for the info.

I covered about a hundred square feet. I wound up doing it myself - it's really easy. I spent a weekend digging up grass, grading, leveling, and compacting the base. Then it was just a matter of moving the pavers into place and sweeping sand in between the pavers. You could do this in another weekend, or do as I did and spend a little time after work each night.

I cannot imagine that asphalt or concrete would cost less than what I spent. I purchased a ton of paver base, a ton of sand, and some special pavers (cost more than regular pavers), and even with deilvery my total was under $800.

Wow, you are really inspirational Twinkle and I am really considering this more and more. Do you have any pictures? I really appreciate your sharing your information with me. Thank you. I guess shopping around for price on pavers rather than just going to the big boxes would be wise. ANy other tips greatly appreciated.

JillyM, you are too kind. See what pavers are available in your area (lower shipping!) and look at the websites of those manufacturers for installation photos of their products.

I would also advise reading some books or watching TV shows to learn how to go about doing the project. It's not hard if you understand the steps. The most important thing is getting the base layer exactly level, but with a 2% slope for drainage.

Thanks Twinkle. I'm hoping we can do this though our area is about twice that which you did. I'd like to do it this summer, but we'll have to see how practical it will be for us to do so. Thanks for all your info.

We had a small rock type of patio for 5 years. It worked well because we had it lined with landscape ties and it kept the stone in place. We did eventually put in a ground level wooden patio that worked out very nicely, but 5 years ago we did not have the money for the pressure treated wood that is now a lower patio. The original rock patio only cost us $30.00 since we already had the landscape ties left over from a project. The stone is very inexpensive and the truck that delivered it, just dumped it in sections and we raked it to where we wanted it. We also had laid black plastic before adding the stone to keep the weeds from coming up. I would recommend that to anyone who is looking to save some money. We definitely got out $30. out of it.

like others we are thinking of putting in a gravel patio, much of which will eventually be covered with a deck next year (fingers crossed)

what kind of gravel did u use that seemed to work so well hoerlel? anyone else what kinds of gravel worked well or poorly? we are planning on framing in the area.

I don't recommend gravel at all. I live with it all around me. The former owners of my house used it as a driveway, a walkway and a patio. I am constantly picking up gravel in my house. Especially when I wear sneakers or shoes with grooves in the bottom. When I wear sandals I am constantly kicking gravel out from in between my toes or under my feet. And forget going barefoot! I hate gravel and don't recommend it. Save for a better solution and do it when you can afford it. UGH!

I'm with RiverBed. When we arrived at our current house four years ago, all terraces, walks, steps and driveway were covered with gravel (around 1/2"-3/4" diameter pieces). It is awful in a snowy climate: the snowblower throws it everywhere, and I'm picking pieces out of the lawn and beds from spring to fall. In addition, weeds can grow easily through it, especially if there is no landscape fabric beneath (as in our case).

Gravel possibly could work for a small area that would be beneath a wood deck. Otherwise, my advice is save up for a more stable and pretty product. We are gradually, slowly replacing every bit of gravel (except in the driveway) with bluestone or goshen stone flags/slabs.