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Friday, October 29, 2010

portico in progress 2...


The portico is all framed! Now the eaves just need to be built, roofing installed and then it will all be covered in white azek. That's all! That's all? Not sure if it's a lot to be done or not. We'll see...



Here's a shot of the partially finished walkway kissing the freshly finished stoop. Aren't they a lovely pair?

 The husband and I nearly completed the walkway last Saturday with lots of help from the children. Really! They actually were a great help. The Boy transported stacks of brick from the driveway to where we were installing them and Cha-cha handed me bricks and ran for various items as needed. Princess babysat Pinky in the house which was a very difficult and crucial task as Pinky was unrelenting in her effort to escape. Ocasionally I did have to work with my 25-pound baby on my hip. Ah, the joys of motherhood! But with everyone's help we made great progress.



We worked late into the night, 12:30 to be exact. We only stopped when it began to rain and we realized that we were going to be short by 16 bricks. Argh! We used this tutorial from This Old House. It's a great one and worked smoothly once I convinced The Husband that yes, we did need to follow instructions of some sort. What is it with men and directions? So cliche! We wasted a nice chunk of the day trying to do things The Husband's I-don't-need-to-follow-no-stupid-directions way. That's okay it all worked out in the end... once I stomped my foot and took over. It's okay, too because in the end The Husband sheepishly grinned and told me I was right. Let's all remember that... I'm always right.☺




Pinky and I took all of the above photos yesterday morning in a balmy autumn breeze. I swept some more stone dust into the nooks and crannies. We'll have to do that repeatedly over the next couple weeks. Don't mind the ugly wood braces they'll come off in two weeks and be replaced by edging that will buried under the back-fill. And all the messy strings and piles of stone dust and various accoutrements will go away, too. It'll be all neat and pretty. Yes, it will.


This is a scan of my inspiration portico. It's from the August 2000 issue of Better Homes and Gardens. That's right 2000. I've been drooling over this page for ten years. Actually in August of 2000 we were still shopping for houses. We nearly bought some land and were going to build a sweet little cape like the one in the article. It didn't work out which is good because we would've outgrown that cape a long time ago. Darling, isn't it though?




For your viewing pleasure, a close-up of the inspiration portico detail. Hopefully mine will look like that except for the railings. We decided we didn't need them as our stoop is lower.  Ah, now I've immortalized the photo by posting it to the internet. It's a good thing because I think The Husband and my Dad would probably like to torch the magazine, They seem to be pretty tired of me clutching it and pointing and saying things like "Is that trim going to be as wide as the trim in the picture?" and "Are you sure those columns are the same size as these ones?" I'm a bit of a control freak that way which is okay 'cause I am always right.☺

7 comments:

Alissa Nicolau said...

Looking forward to more portico installments! It looks beautiful and you were oh so right to hold onto that page from the magazine to compare and keep those lovely men of yours on their toes. I secretly believe, that without the womenfolk around, with their many magazines in hand, they'd soon go back to cave dwelling creatures!

LaughAtMe-Laurel said...

Now I'm dying to see the finished product! (which I'm sure you are too!)

Cristin said...

I found your blog by way of Pinterest and had to tell you I have had that same picture on my frig for YEARS! It always seems that some other home improvement project comes first, currently it is my kitchen, but some day I hope to finally have my dream portico too! Yours turned out beautifully!
Blessings,
Cristin

Anonymous said...

Saw this picture on Pinterest and recognized it immediately. 13 years ago, I based the new paint on our (then) cape cod on this same magazine photo! I LOVED that house and the way it looked when it was complete. We have since moved to a larger home, and I wish I could use those colors again. Thanks for taking me back in time today!

Dani said...

Anonymous, what color did you use on the brick?

Anonymous said...

I did the same as "anonymous" above! I loved that color combination in the magazine and in 2002 had the faded light blue slate siding on our cape cod painted a beautiful taupe color with bright white trim and black shutters. It was gorgeous! We've since moved to a larger home, a dated white 70s neo-colonial and I wish I had those colors again.

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