Project Reveal // Modern Exterior Wood Screen

I thought I'd share an update on the big project we've had in the works here around Holtwood House - the one that has been consuming every ounce of free space in my brain over the last couple of weeks while we watched it come to fruition. These things take a lot of thought and patience and I've been overflowing with thought and coming up short on the patience lately.

This is the one obstacle to us finally landscaping the front yard and for two years now, I've been envisioning it. But even if we temporarily fooled ourselves into thinking we could just slap some boards up on a couple of posts and call it a day, we knew in the end that nothing is ever as simple as it seems.

Fortunately, we have an ace in our back pocket and he's overflowing with both thought and patience (most of the time- wink, wink Dad). See Dad had other ideas- the kind composed of augers to make post holes deep enough and levels and nylon string to make lines straight and evenly spaced. He advised on the right screws to keep rust at bay and the appropriate poly to weather proof and add luster to our grains.

So when he showed up at the crack of dawn last Saturday to erect this most modern of screens, The Mister and I knew the day would result in exactly the look we were after, but go a little something like this:

The man is a machine.

That's not to say that The Mister and I didn't put a little sweat equity into this thing. Yours truly sanded and stained all 144 linear feet of those boards and The Mister spent the previous Saturday learning how to use that auger. Good times.

But so, so worth it, no?

So here she is in her current state: up on her legs with the first coat of poly. After some more sanding and coating and a whack or two to the blocks down below, she'll finally get some sleek address numbers, a wash of lighting and a parade of plants at her feet.

Completion of this project of course has lead to additional work we must now take on. You know how mom and dad always taught us all to take care of our stuff and it will last a life time? Well we'll be putting that into practice by outfitting the eaves with new gutters to keep rainwater at bay.  There will also be some yearly maintenance like sanding and re-finishing to keep the wood protected from both sun and water.

Two years of waiting. Two weekends of work. A lifetime of maintenance. But we couldn't be more thrilled with the outcome- or more thankful for Dad.