Modesto house built from coffee cans? That’s just the beginning for unique structure – Modesto Bee

From the moment this Modesto house was built, it was destined to be different, from its coffee can structure erected decades ago to its pueblo-style and landscape today.

Michael and Tammy Cunhas home at 329 Santa Barbara Ave. in Modesto has garnered Garden of the Month honors for September from the Modesto Garden Club.

The original owner of the house built the structure using coffee cans back in the 1940s. The cans were filled with cement, stacked in rows that then were covered with plaster, according to a press release from the Modesto Garden Club.

Whats inside the walls is decidedly unusual and so is the exterior of the home, for the Valley region at any rate a pueblo-style complete with a flat roof. Adding to its charm, the house is painted in a contemporary dark slate gray.

When they bought the house, the landscape on the corner lot was mostly dirt and dead grass and the Cunhas have been working to rebuild it since 2001, the garden club said. Dubbed Casita de Cunha, the home has a tiny back yard, so the owners used their creativity to make areas for outside dining and socializing in the more spacious front.

A pergola stands over an outdoor seating area where the couple sit in the evenings and talk to neighbors and passersby; theres also a half-walled courtyard that leads to the front door, which provides a more private area. Bold black and white stripes decorate umbrellas in the courtyard and the seating upholstery under the pergola, adding a pop and contrast to the walls and landscape plantings.

The Cunhas were inspired in their planting style by Playa del Carmen, a coastal resort town in Mexico that they love to visit, so they brought in succulents, rock work and green grass.

There are several beds in the yard with plants such as agave, dracaena, horsetail reed, purple fountain grass and mother in law tongue. Among the cacti is one thats now over 14-feet tall that theyve harvested from to use in other planting areas.

The couple covered one expanse of grass with huge pavers patterned with black ash rock between them, among the more recent changes to the constantly evolving garden. Under the pavers is PVC pipe resting on pumice rock and black ash, designed so that any water that falls on the pavers goes to the PVC drain and washes out to the grass area.

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Modesto house built from coffee cans? That's just the beginning for unique structure - Modesto Bee