Coolstone Tricks

This entry to the dining room is made by using a synthetic product commonly referred to as coolstone.  Our stucco contractor applys this and the great thing about it is it doesn't carry the weight of actual stone.  One thing as a contractor you have to be really careful of though is that it doesn't look fake.  A cool trick you can do is once the material is applied, you can grind it afterwords, to have less pitting of the material and fake people out.  The base parts of the arch entry are applied directly on to the lathe with a trowel, and the crown pieces are actually made of foam.  It all hardens to a stone-like feel once completed, but this picture doesn't do it justice on how dramatic it is.  You can use your imagination on where to put coolstone, but people use it in all kinds of areas.  In my opinion it is a great ROI for value when considering areas of the home to get high visual payback for the money. 

Breaking Up a High Foundation

One fear that we frequently encounter from homeowners  when building in the hills is how to break up a high foundation in the backyard.  I wanted to show you a picture of a house that had that same problem and how we tackled it.  Just so you know, this home's outdoor living is 6' out of the ground.  It makes for an awesome view, but if we don't plan appropriately, it can feel like you have a sheer wall there.  I have a motto that I like to "use what the land gives us".  You could also say "make lemonade out of lemons".  We decided to add planter walls in varying heights to offset the sheer wall descent that we would have had if we had left it alone.  Now I'm not going to lie to you, this is not cheap.  I think as a rough ballpark planter walls, done right with concrete bricks and concrete footer as a base can run in this case as high as $10-12,000 all in.  That stings when you're writing the check, but the finished product is well worth it in my opinion.  In fact, I think the back of the home in some ways is more beautiful than the front of the home.  As in all home building, you have to look at ROI, and ultimately do you feel like you gain a return on certain decisions.  In this case I think so.  Of course the ultimate validation was this home won a Summit Award for best landscaping in all of San Antonio for 2010.   Remember, you can make anything look amazing if you use what the land gives you.