Before.....
During.....
Wall up on both sides.....left side done.
My daughter and son-in-law live in Ohio.....young...both working. We helped them buy a cute cute little bungalow as their wedding present. The wedding was small-the money saved went towards the purchase of the house.
The bungalow is about 60 years old....and had been owned by one couple. Although the house was painted inside before they purchased it.....remnants of sunny yellow and pink walls remain. The bathroom tile and tub remains a deep pink....the kitchen counter top a rather funky speckled pink and tan. The landscape hasn't been touched in years....the yews in the front of the house are as old as the house....and some of the wood around the windows inside and out needs to be replaced. It's really in good shape for a home that age...but obviously was not updated by the previous owner. It's in a great neighborhood and they bought the house during the recession so paid less than the appraisal for it.
So the house needs updating....it functions perfectly fine....but as you can image a pink pink bathroom or spotty landscaping needs to be addressed. Since my hub and I have owned numerous homes in our life traveling around for work and education, we are pretty handy folks. So each time we visit them.....we help them do a little work....a project or two.
Last time when we visited, we paid for a landscaper to make a plan for their yard. No use spending money on plants or guessing what grows where especially since neither of them knows anything about gardening. One of the crucial details for the remodeling of the outdoor landscape was the placement of a garden wall to stabilize the slope in front of their house and provide a planting bed for "easy" to grow plants.
So I said to my handy husband, "Oh I bet you could be that wall....you're so good at things like that....how hard can it be? Besides I know they won't ever be able to afford putting in a wall for a while....if you did it....why we can help put in part of their landscaping."
To my surprise, my husband nodded. I must be really convincing at times.....so on this visit to Ohio......my hub watched You Tube videos on wall building, read DYI on walls etc etc. Being Mr. Math, he calculated the amount of stone....brought a few tools....and off we went.
Three tons of stone arrived the day after we got to Ohio. It wasn't a very big pile....but the stones...whoa....each of them weighted about 80 or more pounds. The crucial....absolutely....crucial point of any stone building projects is the first layer or rock....it has to be level...absolutely level or everything above is off ...forever. Even I knew this point, after having watched enough History Channels specials on ancient architecture. Those pyramids would not be standing yet if the base was askew.
So the stones arrive....my husband digs a small trench and the leveling begins. Perhaps there is an easy way to level....but my hub certainly didn't find it. The first stone on the slope...the key stone in the corner that everything else would be angled out from took him two hours to set. Two hours to get it perfectly level....and to the correct depth because of the slope....and angled just right because of the driveway. I was worried...we would only be here a week and at this rate.....things did not look good. It happened to be a really hot and sunny day...so we set a patio umbrella up in a stand near hand and my daughter went out to help him. They groaned each time a rock had to be moved because of the weight. By the end of the day ....my hub had only about 6 stones placed on the base....and was a wreck....dripping with sweat...sunburned....and with a wild look of a man who was a little challenged by a project that may have been a bit over his head. I suggested we call the landscape company to finish it....his eyes blazed....."No"....geez....now his ego and manliness was involved.
The next day he and my daughter carefully placed more stones. I was inside....restoring some of original wooden windows ...sanding...staining...and polyurethaning. Slowly....little by little....the stones were placed and then I heard some shouts of joy as the first layer was absolutely stone mason level. The rest of the wall was easy in comparison although not exactly quick work. Stones had to be assessed for size and fit and color. Wall cracks had to be staggered. They'd ask me to come out and assess the wall for aesthetic purposes. I was booed....when I told them they had placed too many large stones together and had to add more stone length variety...and hence take apart a section.
4 days into the project the wall on the picture left side of the house was completed. We shoveled a tone of dirt in....and with landscape plan in hand.....bought the plants needed to complete one section of landscaping. Then my hub started on the other side of the house. Because of the slope, and his recent experience, he finished the other side of the wall with my daughter in one day. But we called it quits at that point.....our visit was ending....everyone was pooped and so the other half of the planting and yew chain-sawing will have to wait till our next visit.
We actually got to spend a day...vacationing....looking at antique shops in town and enjoying some meals out. We marveled at all we had accomplished when we waved good-bye to the kids. My hub did such a good job calculating that there was only one stone...about 18 inches long left over. Out of three tons of stones....one was left. Damn.....we need our own HGTV show!
