Hermann house renovation

It doesn't get much more suburban than arborvitae and juniper. Just saying.

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Originally Posted by iris lilies

And yet another thing that is pretty awful in Hermann. I range from thinking it is just sad to thinking it is hideous.



I had envisioned some thing that was at two levels. Well this is not that. At least I have no responsibility for this design, this was entirely managed by DH. He’s not happy with it either but it is what it is. It’s very suburban. The whole back of our house looks very suburban now. Blech.

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What else did you envision? If not suburban, what were you hoping for?

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Originally Posted by catherine

What else did you envision? If not suburban, what were you hoping for?

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Oh, I didn’t think the cheap-ass cement landscaping blocks would make such a massive wall. I expected it to be shorter, and tapered.

DH asked if we should use limestone, but that would have been a ridiculous amount of money. This is supposed to be a fairly modest house.

My MIL had a "roundel" (pronounced "roondel" in her Scottish accent) in her back yard. It also was a cement wall--a half-round section of the back yard that was about 3 feet higher than the regular back yard. There was a small tree in the center, and she bordered the circumference with flowers. It was really pretty, even if it was suburbanish.

How about trailing vines? It might make the yard look a little more Tuscan than suburban.

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Originally Posted by catherine

My MIL had a "roundel" (pronounced "roondel" in her Scottish accent) in her back yard. It also was a cement wall--a half-round section of the back yard that was about 3 feet higher than the regular back yard. There was a small tree in the center, and she bordered the circumference with flowers. It was really pretty, even if it was suburbanish.

How about trailing vines? It might make the yard look a little more Tuscan than suburban.

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that is pretty. A trailing plant on top, hanging down, would break up the massive-ness.

We had a short cement wall around the patio. We went to Home Depot and bought brick that was made to be cemented on and it came in sections. It looked really nice.

Here are some kitchen cabinets set up in their proper place. You can see they are a light green. This is a U-shaped kitchen, and comes out a little bigger than I thought.

I am getting used to the floors. I keep telling myself the material is lovely and the workmanship excellent. Those are the things that really matter.
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Originally Posted by ToomuchStuff

How was the floor finished?

Wondering if the clear coat could be removed (like they do with furniture that has been through a fire), with something like denatured alcohol, and then a darker stain applied?

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I seriously mulled over changing the finish of the floor, but decided with our time constraints we’re just gonna leave it the way it is. There’s probably a solution that would make it a little bit darker without major change, but I just want to be done with it. Thank you for the suggestion though.

Here is an example of why I sometimes wonder where DH stores his brain. I want to iterate that he is totally brilliant in fixing and building stuff. But his design aesthetic is —problematic.


This Hermann house is charming to me because it is on Stone Hill Highway, it Is a few houses down from the Victorian winery called Stone Hill winery. Lime stone is a feature of Hermann. My house has a charming setting where you walk down three steps into a stone covered area with stone half-walls.


Get the idea here? Stone is the theme.

If I’ve said it once, I’ve said it 500 times in DH’s hearing: I love the front view of this house. It’s charming and cottagey and I don’t want mess with it. I don’t want it modernized or made slick.

So yesterday we both went to Hermann for the day to make decisions about finishes.

DH outlined his plans for the front of this house. He’s going to pull up all the stone and make red brick patios and red brick walkways. Yes red brick.

So, yeah. Not happening. Hard no.

As an amusing aside, our Hermann house needs a final inspection from the building department.

Guess who will be doing the final inspection? The man who did the work on this house. Haha. Our contractor’s employee left his employment to go to work for the city of Hermann as building inspector.

This is small town business at its finest.