Making the House a Part of the Garden

We have been having some remodeling work done on our home. Mr. Fix-it and I absolutely love our home. Since we moved here six years ago, we have been continually updating it to suit our needs and desires. This is something we will do until the day we die I am sure. We haven't made many changes-just a few cosmetic add ins like the garden but now have started on the house itself.

Our latest endeavor involves adding faux stone to the outside of our home. The area where Mr. Fix-it comes from in the mountains of North Carolina has many homes with stone on the exterior, to include his childhood home. My home state of Maine also has many homes with stone on it-both areas in the two states have an abundance of stone available so it is a natural choice for homes (just my guess). Stone reminds us both of our homes in other states, so we wanted to add it to our Tennessee home.

I have spent most of my time planting shrubs and trees because I know they take a long time to grow in and make a difference. Mr. Fix-it spends most of his time working on cars and his boat. The house has kind of taken a back seat-until now. Making changes to houses is so much simpler and faster than making changes to gardens because you can get instant satisfaction gratification. It is not like planting shrubs and trees which take years to grow in and show some results. So we have waited to change our home instead focusing on the garden. We contracted with Centurian Stone of Nashville to change the siding and have been pleased with the results. The picture above shows Carlos (the man in the cream colored shirt) and one of his crew working on the east side of our home.

The other picture shows the south side of our home. This is the side we use the most since it faces our parking area and we have a little basketball hoop here for our children.

We went with a faux stone because it can be custom made to our specifications by both cut and color. It is guaranteed for a full 30 years by Centurian, goes on the house easily and quickly and should provide a maintenance free exterior for many, many years. I feel like the stone makes the house more a part of the garden and I tried very hard to pick a color which would match both the existing vinyl siding and the plants already in the garden. The workers took great care to not harm my plants and I appreciate it, but the work was a small disruption in our lives that we are glad is finished.

I did check with a neighbor on Woodlawn Road who had the faux stone added to her home a few years ago. She said she and her husband have been very pleased with the results and the work Centurian did for them. Hearing this from another satisfied customers makes me feel more confident in our choice of contractors and we look forward to a great looking home for many years to come.

If someone reading this likes the look of the faux stone and decides to go with Centurian because of this blog entry-don't forget to put my name down as the person who referred you. Centurian does give a monetary reward for referrals and it sure would come in handy:) Actually, my friend Geri referred me to Centurian and I am waiting for her to get some more work done so she can put my down as the referring person like I did her...what do you say Geri?

in the garden....