Tudor revival + patio + architectural sanity = ?

Here's the house:

The man deals wood!

Build a friggin deck. Import a container load of Sugar gum.
These are friends of mine.






Ok, sorry Mr B. Concrete it is.

patterned pavers on top of the cement

Think of me as ms. loud opinion. Do not mess up this house with stamped concrete, so faux. Though I have often specified colored concrete, and there are two types, integral and dust-on, I might not do that now; if you do that, I'd stick with a match to the house stucco color. You'd figure I like stone, and I do, but the stone in my old area of the northwest was quite dark grey and putting it there might be a shade too cute to me, even if you wanted to spring for the money.. unless the house was a different color. Non local stone looks like hell.

Regular concrete or concrete somewhat tinted in the range of the house makes sense to me. (I'd probably pick regular, I shy more away from faux with every passing day.) But... you may in the future want a brick overlay, which brings up the matter of old real brick as opposed to a thinner veneer.
I mention this because you need to pay attention to final grade, possibly accounting for future wishes. You also need to make sure it is properly built re joints, etc.

Not to push landscape architects, but you might want to interview some local ones, re both drainage and this.

There are other more rustic solutions. My business partner's house had walks and patios that were made of broken concrete placed on sand and mortared, with brick surrounds. Very good looking when done by a good mason. But her's wasn't Tudor, so recommending that gives me pause.

I'm ordinarily not drawn to walks and patios with brick stripes or spacers.. too eye catching re the whole ambiance, especially in some fight with tudor revival.

I'm the anti-deck person in this house. It is just too wet here. Decks get nasty quick. I hate decks.

These days you can stamp and/or color cement to get just about any style you want without the muss and fuss and expense of having someone lay stone.

I like that tile-work but on a small scale (like 12x20) would it still work? What about a kind of cobblestoney type thing?

We're talkin' faux "Tudor" here, folks. You can do any damned thing you like. That is about as pallid an imitation of a
half-timbered house as one could imagine.

Below you will see an actual half-timbered house. Oh certainly it has been renovated in the
last 400+years, but i wanted you to see a comparison so that you could understand just how
"un-Tudor" your house is.



The Tudor era was from 1485 to 1603. They didn't know from patios. My advice is that anything
you and Mr. B can live with, which Mo cannot destroy, and which does not glaringly clash with your
house and yard will be fine.

Ugh, says me. That's about as bad as those stackable retaining wall uglies.
Also looks like a streetscape in Europe. Yes, I'm for permeable paving solutions in general but not so much in this situation.

Honest concrete is good. Topping the concrete is questionable aesthetically. Your designer should make the scorelines relate to the house tudor-boards, if not as a complete copy, relate in some way. (Don't make me come over there...)

Sure, Tudor Revival is faux. We used to call it too too Tudor. I've designed wierdly complex roofs...

However, a lot of building is playful and the tudor revival houses are loved.

My aunt had a strange sort of spanish tudor, which my old boss and I would call span-itch.. but that I loved. I miss that house, long torn down. One of my rings is still on that lot, since I didn't want to feel under the wood steps to find it, black widows, y'know.

But, past nudging Set, he's right.

Also, you could look at Tudor estates and see what they did for paving.... (stone, I presume).

Why is Mr. B opposed to stone? Bluestone or flagstone would be historical correct and beautiful.

(and please don't do a deck, it would be an anachorism)

Here is a patio I would put behind this house:

Well jeez, Set. You know I love you but I did try to make it clear that my house is not Tudor but tudor revival and that it was built in the 20s and though I didn't expressly state it I think most people know I live in America so.... okay....

I like that patio, GW! And don't worry, I would NEVER do a deck.

I'm not sure exactly why Mr. B is opposed to stone. I pointed out our courtyard is stone (we also have a herringbone brick path just inside the back gate) but he is opposed and he does have a say in this so I'm just going with the flow.

Ok, my last 2 cents and then I'll be quiet (maybe):

1920's American Tudor's were meant to harken back to a time of craftsmanship with an emphasis on local, natural materials. Their creation was an architectual revolt against the cold march of industrialism into our everyday lives. The use of poured concrete, or anything like it, would work against the spirit of the house. The use of industrial materials could damage the feng shui of the original design. Explain that to Mr. B., then show him some pictures of lovely bluestone patios. Tell him I made you do it.

Here is an old Tudorstyle house for sale in our neighborhood and they
use brick extensively.

TUDOR

All right, OK ENOUGH ALREADY

No deck. I like wood OK.

The bluestone is nice.
It would probably look crappy but a cement bluestone lookalike might....

Nah do it properly.

Redgum is bloody near as hard as bluestone. What about wood block pavers?

Just a little deck?

I like bluestone too.. not so local here, I mean, there.
I guess I should be quiet, as I don't know the range of stone that is local to Portland. All I'm against is a dark dark grey or a flagrant flaming orange...

I know I mentioned you might want to put brick on top of concrete later, but I prefer stone... and sooner. Point is, if you do do concrete, leave room for mortar and (stone).

Don't take it person Dadpad, decks are fine and appropriate on more modern types of housing. It's just that they are somewhat of late comer to the world of architecture. It makes me nuts to see them hanging off Victorians and Colonials where a porch or patio should be. To me, they can be as out of place as gingerbread trim on a Bauhaus steel and glass home.

No worries greenbitch. she'll be right.

I meant green witch

''

Liar.