This past year we have ssssslloooowwwlly been making improvements to the outside of our house and building an addition which includes a new kitchen and dining room, laundry room, and school room. Sliding doors were replaced with windows and other older windows were also replaced. Finally all the outside structural improvements were done so last week the troops rallied together to add the gray coat of stucco to our house!
As you can imagine it took a lot of work over several days to stucco the whole house. There were several “teams” dividing up the work. One team put up the tar paper and chicken wire.
Another was in charge of mixing up the special stucco cement to the right consistency.
A couple of teams worked together, one putting on the cement, while the other brought trays of cement from the wheelbarrows for the “mudders” to use to add cement to the walls.
They used the genies for the mudders and the forklift to raise the wheelbarrow of cement to stucco the second floor. Thankfully they aren’t afraid of heights like I am!
This girl followed after the the cement dried just a tad to add the texture to the stucco. Talk about an arm workout!
The gray coat will be left to cure all winter and we’ll add the color next spring when the majority of the hard working crew is back from college. Our house looks HUGE now! And kinda, sorta like a big concrete prison….
Before: A light aqua color with siding falling off
After: A concrete house
Now to choose a color for the stucco as well as for the trim. Any suggestions?
What *I* would like would be a butter yellow with white trim, with touches of black (shutters) and a bright colored front door. (Red, probably)
Yes, it may scream early 2000’s, but it’s still my favorite. 🙂
Ha. I don’t do color choices! In fact, there is a lovely women in our neighborhood with such a great eye for color that I totally exploit the friendship! She’ll be over next week to help choose the final colors for our hallway and den.
The house looks wonderful! Are the oldest off to college for the year? I know you will miss them (and all the help they offer!)
We are driving them up there tomorrow! There will probably be a post about it next week. 🙂
Wow! You’re right, it looks huge! I never noticed that pink sandstone that so many houses have here in town, before. I’d pick something to compliment that and bring it out more. There used to be a big quarry of it down by the river, and so many homes have it, including my m-I-l’s where Fitzgerald’s live now. Her fireplace is out of it, as well as a big indoor planter. I used to not like it, but, now I find it pretty, especially since it is local and rare, now. There used to be some wonderful Basque craftsmen in these parts! Kole Johnson’s house has quite a bit of it inside, and I’ve noticed lots of the older homes on Bridge St. have it as well.
Oh is that where it comes from? I never knew that! I do like and it. I have always wanted a red door but red actually clashes with the pink sandstone. Hence, my problem of choosing some colors. I think I’ll drive around town more and look at houses, especially those with the sandstone and see what they look like.
I’m terrible at color choices, so can’t help ya there. But I’m so happy for you to have more space in your home! Also, I love the family all working together on the project. My family did so much of that growing up and I have fond (and not so fond) memories of it all. I’d like to do more of that with my kids so they learn some skills and how to work hard, but they are too little right now. I’m excited to see pictures of the inside when you are done.
My favorite colors are orange and bright lime. Does that help? 🙂