Early spring nest building

I live in a small neighborhood of homes built in the late 1960's and early 1970's.  They were all built by the same builder and although there are variations on the ranch and raised-ranch style homes, few of the homes appear similar and there are even a few relatively daring departures in style.  This was the first neighborhood built by this developer, their first homes in fact, and they were obviously still "finding" their style.  Of the things I like about the neighborhood is that it does not entirely, at least from the position of my home, look like a cookie-cutter suburban neighborhood.

But a few things are changing.  The house above me was definitely in need of some repair and this winter the house was resided and the deck rebuilt with new railings.  This is a good thing and it looks all new and shiny and nice.  

And yet I quibble.  The house itself is not distinctive:  a variation on a raised ranch or split level (I haven't been in it in about 20 years), it could disappear in any neighborhood.  What I liked about it was that it had the same T1-11 siding as my own house and several others in the neighborhood, and a cantelevered deck, also much like my own house.  I liked the clean look of the siding with its vertical lines, and the deck with its minimalist apearance.  Since I see this house everyday from my sewing room/office window  I want it to be something I enjoy looking at.

Now I appreciate that the cantelevered decks are a problem.  Many such decks built by these same builders have proven to be unstable in recent years and it did need to be repaired and replaced with some kind of supporting structure.  And I fully understand that vinyl siding is so much easier for the homeowner than wood siding, and if one is going to really take the siding issue seriously, one needs to order the heavier grade of T1-11, (which took months for my own house).

Nonetheless, although the newly sided house looks lovely, I wanted something more contemporary to look at.  The horizontal seams of the vinyl siding, the white colonial-plastic railings, and even the windows all look so mundane and "every house".  

And why should I care?  Isn't it pretentious of me?  Well I suppose it is.  The new double hung windows make sense (all the windows were replaced) although they completely change the style of the house. Even as I understand that these new windows are easier and probably more practical (and cheaper than large single panes of double-glazed sealed windows that open out in their entirety and were heavy and cumbersome to use) I miss the old house.  Stylistically it was nothing new but even so, it flirted with modernism.  It had a bit of style, whereas this house is just another house.   

Perhaps I would be more pleased if they would build a deck around the pool so I didn't look up at its underside everyday, or perhaps cleaned up the downed trees that litter the hillside below their house, but which I did try to eliminate in this photo.

 I wish the view from my window was of the house of my neighbor below.  I have heard the work going on down there as well but it wasn't until I was down the hill cleaning brush and directing some tree removal that I really got a chance to see what they were doing.    The downhill neighbor did a lovely job, and in fact I wish I had been that creative with the siding of my own house even as I acknowledge that the same treatment would not be suitable.

They have the same T1-11 siding as I although you can't really see the vertical lines of the siding on the photos, even if you click and blow it up, which I can see clearly IRL.  I am impressed by the way they have taken the necessity of having a horizontal piece of lumber masking the seam at the top of the house to mask the seam between the pieces of plywood where they are not quite long enough for the entire length needed, by painting it white to contrast, and repeating it in a fixed pattern around the house.    I also like the alternate white and gray stripes on one wall and which provides an accent and also echos the same pattern on the chimney which was redone a couple of years ago.  Really, this is a thoughtful, clever design which enhances the style of the house.  The other detail that I love, although it is really quite a small thing, is the blue beam, which echoes the blue of the deck chair below it.  The house has post-and-beam ceilings, as all three of our houses do.  I am intrigued by what the new residents have done with the inside of the house, although it is also quite possibly true that they may have spent all their money so far on the outside of the house, as we have done (and apparently are still doing).

The deck and the path around the house are also new and these have really stuck in my imagination.  Partly because they fit so well with the house, and partly because I want a walk like that.

Well that is not entirely true.  

I need a new front walk.  I love that walkway and my first thought was indeed "I want that" but I realize it would be impractical for a front walk.  The gravel will not stay in place over time and will get in the garden and the yard and the driveway and will be impossible to shovel during the winter.  This is fine for a side path to a deck, but not for a walk to the front door.

But as we have been discussing and planning our need for a new front walk, it got me thinking.

Our front walk has long been a source of problems and contention.  It is slate.  The slates are placed randomly in the soil.  They were placed directly in the clay soil with no gravel, sand, or whatever to help protect from frost heaves and the like.  After all these years, many of the slates have broken.  Each year some slates rise up,others sink down into the mud, and much reshoveling and cursing takes place only to have the same thing happen again the next time winter rolls around as it inevitably does.

But what kind of walk?  G refuses to have brick.  And really there is no brick around our house except for the two chimneys.  Brick really wouldn't work with the house anyway.  Most of the people in the area who do walks prefer to use pavers, but neither one of has really seen pavers that we like that much either.  Last year, when we put bluestone around the corners of the pool, G commented that he would love a bluestone walk, even though for years he has said he only wants slate, despite the fact that slate is slippery and cracks easily.  And so it was decided.  Bluestone it would be.

But some part of me had a love/hate thing with bluestone.  It is nice.  It is elegant.  It is such a standard upscale/nice thing to have.  I must have some contrarian part of my soul that struggles with the idea that a bluestone front walk is the "expected thing".  

Is there some way a walk inspired by the downhill neighbors path would work with our house, and still be easy to maintain?  Would it work with our house?

And this brings me back to my original plan for this walk, back when G said he didn't want brick and he didn't want pavers, and he didn't want stone……..

My original idea was for a concrete walk.  Yes I know boring, boring, boring.  And yet not.  I wanted concrete, in discrete sections, with cedar between the pieces perhaps, or something else I haven't gotten that far.  I wanted a stone aggregate for the top layer, with the concrete brushed away and perhaps glazed or polished; just rough enough that it wasn't smooth and yet still smooth enough I could shovel it and the remaining bits of snow would melt.  Into each rectangular piece of walk I wanted to place one square piece of the same Indian Slate that covers our front stoop.  This would give G his slate, and would provide some consistency as we eventually intend to have the same stone inside the house as well.  I didn't want the slate to be symmetrically placed in the center of each square, but more randomly, in a different place in each piece, flush with the polished gravel or stone, and a highly polished black or dark gray stone could work well here.  

I've included various photos and angles of the house from the south and east sides because I need to think of how the walk would fit and the more I think about it, I think this aggregate and slate idea fits in well with the varied angles and pieces of the house.  Bluestone is almost too staid and grounded.  And perhaps, the more I think about it, centering the slate in the pieces of the walk is almost too symmetrical in an asymmetrical house.  A random placement adds a bit of a touch of jazz, a touch that is much more suited to the surroundings.

But no decision has been made yet, and it isn't going to happen this year anyway.  As you can see, there is far too much to be done:  painting, patching the foundations, more painting, cleaning up junk and various detritus, landscaping, planting, and so much more.  

I am way behind and even though I have been very busy these last couple of weeks, I know that just catching up will take more than one season despite the fact I am mortified at how much is to be done.   I am still fighting my inner tendency to want to hide all that is not perfection, and I suppose I am making headway as there is no perfection in any of these photos. 

We've come a long ways though.  We put the peaked roofs on what was originally a flat roofed house, we jacked up the cantilevered living room and decks and put supports underneath.  Even though they will never be truly level they are much improved.  We have cut down and ripped out the huge spruce trees that flanked the front walk when I first moved in, trees so large that walking to the door was like spelunking in a dank dark cave.  And even though some of my early attempts at ground covers for the front yard were misconceived and need to be replaced, it is still better than the fields of moss that lived here when I arrived.

The crooked slate walk and random steps will have to go, but I think I finally have the inspiration I need to create an inviting front yard and walkway.

Stay tuned.