This Old House · Season 25 · Episode 12

Access to and Visions of a Beautiful Yard - The Concord Cottage

Saturday, December 27

Kevin and Norm arrive at the jobsite to find the base coat of the driveway down, and the new fancy cut shingles finally up on the gable end of the cottage. Roger shows Kevin how he's laid out the new brick walkway and raised the grade by the front door to allow for a comfortable 6-inch stair rise. The homeowners have already secured permission to add a ramp for added accessibility should it become necessary in the future. In the kitchen, Kevin's surprised to find there's no outside cabinet company on this job - the kitchen's so small that Tom's crew is building everything on site. Tom and Norm build the base cabinet for the pantry out of veneer plywood, while Roger takes Kevin to see a recently renovated garden center that's currently growing plants on more than 650 acres. They meet owner Wayne Mezitt to select, tag, and dig some of the plants for the Concord project, including Japanese tree lilacs, stewardia, and several spectacular pink diamond hydrangea. In the first floor bathroom,