June 27, 2008 (Day 152)

How Now Brown Coat?

The exterior of the house got a major facelift today with the application of the stucco “brown coat”. The brown coat is the thick layer of underlayment that is applied to the metal mesh as a base for the final coat of stucco that will contain the final color and texture. Areas that required brown coating include the new first floor addition, the rear of the second story, the exterior of the south end of the master bedroom where a window was moved, and of course the new garage. A crew of 10 from Donnelly Brothers completed the entire job in one day -- just in time for a little rain shower.

Jay was home from work today and attacked the vegetation in the front of the house. We haven’t attempted any landscape work on the front of the house since we bought the place 6 years ago. The existing shrubs concealed much of our front porch (which was sort of a good thing). Now Jay feels it’s time to replace these large evergreens with smaller shrubs. It took him about five hours with a hand saw and shovel to do the job.

Jerry is making great progress on the interior painting. The cellar, powder room, hall, living room, and dining room were painted today. That just leaves the foyer, second floor landing, green house, and one wall in the office for next week. It looks like he’ll be done by July 4th as planned.