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Things are shaping up and looking worse! I don't think we'll see the house
looking quite this scraggly again. Here you see a rough outline of the landscaping and stone-work. I decided to
use marker to draw a stone pathway to see how it would fit. I'm glad I did it because my first attempt (thankfully
in pencil) was terrible. My second attempt (pictured) is much better. From there, I made a template so I can remember
the approximate pattern when it comes time to lay down paperclay and form the rock pathways, steps, planters, etc.
I used extra foam insulation to build up some of the foundation (and to replace some things I cut away but later
decided I wanted) and glued it into place. I used bamboo skewers again to help stabilize the pieces. |
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I spent entirely too long on this rock work. Probably two hours, as my first attempt I globbed over and tried again!
You can also see a patch of wattle showing through the house stucco. |
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Working my way around the corner, I also started the base of the chimney with large boulders. I got only
about a third of the way up the chimney today. Total hours for today for some small touch-ups and rocks in
the front of the house (2 hours) and the bottom third of the chimney (3 hours) was close to 5 hours. |
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The chimney is finally completed! I ended up doing the chimney over three days for a total of about 9 hours. The
first day was the bottom third (3 hours) that you also see pictured above. The second day I made it to the top
of the chimney (4 hours), excluding the cap and chimney pots. The third day I put on the cap stones and the two
little chimney pots (2 hours - where does the time go?). Whew!
I didn't realize that the chimney would take so long. The rest of the landscaping went much much faster. |
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I finished the landscaping today! It went really fast, maybe 5 hours total. Pictured here is the front walk way
and the pre-drawn templates I used - I think I saved myself a few hours of grief by pre-planning and pre-drawing
out the stonework! If you would like to see a large overview of the front yard landscaping, click here.
I realize now (viewing the photos) that I used my template pointing the wrong direction! The side of paper with
the note and arrow that says "brick" was supposed to be flush next to the brick walkway. Happily, the
walkway pattern works in either direction. |
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More landscaping pictures. I may add some "large boulder like rocks" at some point, but not until I get
a sense of the foliage I will plant. |
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Winding our way to the back of the house, I think we're almost ready to move in! |
