Rose Cottage Ltd

Or maybe I should say, “Re-pour!”

I began what I called the “Stucco Series” a few weeks ago and then immediately realized I had started in the middle of the process. I also didn’t have the 9 months worth of info well-organized so…

…starting again – with the paver stones that began this latest round of DIY home improvements.

We started off wanting to make some of these:

We ordered a package of molds from The Mold Store. They’ve been a really handy resource and have been able to answer our questions about mold sizes and concrete colorant.

As you can see from the image above, we’ve been experimenting with various color effects – the latest being true white – which was harder to achieve than might be imagined. More on that later…

The pavers look like this in their raw state:

We weren’t super happy with this so decided a coat or two of polyurethane might bring out the texture and color variations to make these pavers look a bit more natural. It worked!

I was particularly pleased with the black pavers.

The stucco thoughts began as we were studying the “before” back of the house. This is the area intended for the new patio (and pavers), but there were obvious problems.

First, the house is about 50 years old. Various prior owners have added bits and pieces to it and then moved on. The Euonymous had already been massively trimmed but had been planted too close to the house. The ground cover needed constant management and was a major snake hiding zone.

Water came from, (right of the picture) higher up the hill, and straight down towards the house and the back door. We also needed more light inside and all the windows you see here needed to be replaced.

All this from a few paver stones and a couple bottles of Heineken on a September 2010 Sunday afternoon! I should have just stayed inside and watched NASCAR!

So while we’re working like Santa’s little elves making paver stones, we called our go-to earth-mover expert to dig us a ditch:

November 2010

These guys have WAY too much fun if you ask me!

They also put in a French drain to aid drainage and divert the water around and away from the house and out to the lake.

French drain

Where is the stucco you ask?

Getting to this:

June 2011

…hasn’t happened overnight but we’re making progress. First we had to replace those nasty windows and add a new window to gather more light for the living room…that will be coming soon!

Have a great and safe 4th of July weekend!