Many of you have asked, so even though we are frustratingly not ‘done,’ I wanted to provide an update on the #presslerhouseproject, the process of breathing new life into the exterior of our 60 year old Midcentury Modern home.  The concrete portion of the project was finished in 19 days.  The crew at Ed Bryant Construction did an excellent job in realizing the vision of #chrismageearchitect.  We have now begun the intricate dance steps of the ‘reconstruction’ phase of the project.  Between the bobcat and the insane amount of fill dirt needed to level the garage and patio slabs, our lawn (such as it was) was completely destroyed.  They left us with a lovely icing of top soil, so after some research on seeding lawns, we headed over to Newtown Feed & Seed to stock up on shade seed (for the back) and all purpose seed (for the side and front).  Somewhere along the way, we lost sight of what this project started as – a landscape project.  The hardscape is lovely, but the landscaping is what will tie it all together.  So before seeding, Arlen defined the planting beds around the floating steps and cut in a little round bed for a pink dogwood tree that will be nicely visible from the kitchen window.  

Determining the ‘dance steps,’ with winter right around the corner, has been a challenge.  Once the planting beds were defined and the grass seed planted, we had to keep the seed well watered through a 10 day dry spell.  That meant  dragging sprinklers around and creating a whole lot more mud in the process!  It also meant that we can not walk on the lawn areas at all.  So no wheelbarrows of rock, and we were limited to planting the minimal amount of plants that we could find this late in the Fall season.  The rest  of the plants and the accent rocks will have to wait until spring.  

Perhaps the most frustrating aspect of the project was emptying our garage onto the covered portion of our brand new patio so the new garage slab could be poured.  The new garage walls are being constructed now, and once the interior of the garage is painted, we can move the garage contents back in and seal the new aggregate concrete patio.  See what I mean about sequencing?!

And of course, there is Mother Nature and her agenda.  We are experiencing a bumper crop of both black walnuts and acorns this year, along with our yearly mega onslaught of leaves.  As they warned us on the day they finished the concrete work, wet leaves and black walnuts will stain the fresh concrete, especially before it is sealed.  And it can’t be sealed for 4-6 weeks.  And how do you seal a massive concrete job when mega oak trees are dropping their bounty?!  Arghh!!  

Next up yet this Fall is finishing the reconstruction of the garage, painting the exterior of the house, and hopefully getting a coat of sealer on the exposed aggregate if not all of the new concrete.  Additional landscaping, rockscaping and screened porch improvements will have to wait until Spring.  Here are some progress photos from various stages along the way.