Concritters

Apparently, if you pour concrete for a living, you are affectionately referred to as a "concritter". Well, at least, that is what they call themselves. We had our entryway poured, acid stained and sealed this week. When we designed the house plans, we didn't give much thought to the entry, but it has developed slowly over time. Our framer was very excited about making it be the focal point and the "eye catcher" when you drove up to the house. From his lovely "trendy corbels", we have now added a concrete floor. We had initially thought it would just be decking. It would have been easier to pour it when we did the foundation, but hindsight is always 20/20.
We hired Mr G, husband to a friend who directs and teaches at a small Christian "school" that she designed and developed, mostly for language arts (The Scribbler has flourished under her tutelage and Farmer Girl has just begun some tutoring time with her). We were very happy with our decision to hire him. He was very concerned with our being happy with the finished product and took into account all of our input and desires. Not to mention he showed up early, worked hard in the hot sun, digging by hand in VERY hard cement like dirt, and shared some great stories with us. :) Thanks, Mr G!

This is the initial pour after the forms were built and set. Pretty scary from our living room window! Looks like it could just fall into our house!

Once this pour set and dried, the forms were removed. Then he spent a day filling with 3/4 minus gravel-hot and heavy work. Then he built the forms for the top side walls and the steps, before doing a second pour.Beforehand, he did up some samples for us with different color acid stains as well as some local flora imprints of ferns and pines. We chose a color, but it is very subjective to the concrete additives, acidity, alkalinity etc. He added fern imprints after he troweled and smoothed. Below is the porch as it dried and before the stain. The stain went on GREEN of all things and then as it dried and reacted, it changed colors. It has lots of variations in it with subtle shades and markings. It's a bit darker than I thought it would be, but I like it. It will help with choosing the tile for the inside entry floor so that it all comes together.

This the finished product with the sealant on it. Do you see the ferns? Today we should be able to walk on it. That will be so nice instead of stepping down onto wobbly boards in the dirt. Next up are the rocky pillars-another homeschooling friend's husband who is a renowned mason in the local area will be designing those. Looking forward to seeing what he does as he is using our own field rock from our property. Have to do something with all those rocks!

Love Ellie~