New Facade

Alex will be writing this entry, and Jenn's comments will be in purple.

WOW! That's a whole lotta...brown! (Huh?)

Like my better half pointed out, with the new exterior wall up and plastered we are now the owners of a huge brown block! (No, I said Orange. Now, I see the problem we have been having, you are apparently color blind.)

One thought was to make the wall in a different color in order to break up the space and to create a more playful village like structure. The other thought was to use the same colors and materials in order to make one cohesive unit, and to draw together the house/wall/entrance-way.

The Architect then went into long discourse as to why they need to be one unit and how a pergola will tie it all together to create a blah, blah, blah...

In the end he convinced me, and the work had already been done, so we went with it. I think the fact that it was already done is really the point here. When we began discussing the wall, or as I like to call it- the great wall of Sternes- our beloved architect made a quick rendering on the equivalent of a napkin to let me know the foot print of it. Did he mention the height? NO.

I actually think the wall and the entrance doesn't look so bad from the inside courtyard, and since this is the view we will be seeing more often, why not? I personally like to be able to see a little out onto the street, to wave at passing neighbors. Ask Sianna, it is too tall.

Here the workers made a wall separating our yard from our neighbor's. There was an existing wall here but it wasn't as tall, so that the neighbors could peak into the back yard, or so that our neighbors mom could come over and yell at them through our yard (yes, this DID happen, I witnessed it first hand!). Obviously we needed some kind of barrier here to stop that, and I am sure our neighbors are happy that the mom has been blocked. But, had I been more informed, I would not have redone this section at all, and used greenery, a vine to separate the space. So much concrete.

Does this make us anti-social, not sure? Do I care, hmmm.........

This is the view from the other neighbor's yard (the MOM). The large balcony window looks into the bedroom. Note to self: get curtains ASAP. So they can't see in, and so I can't see out...I don't know which is uglier, her corrugated roof on her shed, or ours on the barn space...