903 days later and our front exterior is finished…well almost!
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Here we are near the finish line and it feels so good! It’s been a minute since we talked about our plans for the front exterior of our home renovation project, so I thought I’d share a little overview of the 903 day journey.
This house and its angled wings! It is such a long, narrow house and needed some updating in a MAJOR way but the thing I just couldn’t get over the most was those angles. We had a few contractors come out after closing and one’s advice was to buy another house. Not what we were hoping to hear after just purchasing, but we didn’t give up.
Tom sketched out a couple ideas and we landed on this one….but the wings were still a problem. We talked and researched and talked some more and came up with a plan.
We purchased this house on October 31, 2020 and demo began in May 2021.
First up was framing out the front portico.
There we all are. Two parents making their kids live in a complete mess. There was A LOT of demo going on on the inside too.
All the siding was off, windows were out and boarded up, portico was framed and it was time for stone!
Starting to see our vision come to life.
Next up was that left angled wing. Boy did we have a hard time figuring out how to make it appear straighter from the front. The right angled wing wasn’t as much of a concern for us because it is smaller and is hidden by a big magnolia. But this one! It’s all I could see when I looked at our front facade.
The left wing is our bathroom and closet so as strange as it sounds, we decided on making a bump out of stone here, similar to the front portico but smaller. So, it’s a porch off of our bathroom now. We got lots of hate and were told we would never use a porch off of our bathroom. We didn’t know if we would either. Honestly, it was purely for aesthetics but guess what? We use it! It’s perfect for morning coffee on the porch or an afternoon hiding spot where no one can find you.
Stone on, new dark bronze casement windows in, brick work done, dark bronze metal roof on, new vertical siding and trim installed, white oak ceiling installed, new lighting in place - time to start the dormers.
After the dormers, it was time to choose a paint color and I had the hardest time choosing a paint color. We knew we wanted dark. We knew we aren’t gray people. We didn’t want black. We knew we wanted it to look like it had been here for a long time. But even knowing those things, choosing a color for the ENTIRE loooong house, detached garage and pool house wasn’t easy.
We wanted a dark, rich gray-brown, brown-gray. Among a few others, I tried the ever popular Sherwin Williams Iron Ore but it just wasn’t working. The undertones were too blue, maybe even purple. We landed on Benjamin Moore Dragons Breath which has been used by both Jeffrey Dungan and Christopher AI, two of my favorite architects. Other than the two of them, I couldn’t find much on Dragons Breath in all my crazy rabbit hole research but we decided to just go for it anyway.
My little mood board
I just love the stone and vertical siding color together so much! Sometimes I just go outside and stare at it. You know, like you do with your first newborn baby.
We kept the original front doors and saved thousands. They are solid mahogany but had the ugliest glass in them I’ve ever seen. More on the front door transformation later…
I really really wanted Bevolo gas lanterns here but after getting a quote from a plumber to run the gas, we opted for electric instead. I do adore the lights we chose. I love the shape and that they patina in the elements. I am all about the patina!
Those cute little casement windows are one of my favorite things.
Side note: We, yes, we, owners of The Hardwood Co. let our white oak turn orange. The thing we hate the most, we let happen to our own porch ceiling so we are actually sanding it and applying poly this week. We didn’t do anything to it after it was installed so we are just now getting around to sanding and protecting it. You know, the cobbler’s children thing.
And here’s our little porch off of the bathroom. We still need to add flagstone on the floor and I’d like to get some new chairs out there and benches on the front porch but after 903 days we are ALMOST finished!!
The exterior remodel of our 1970s house, complete with natural limestone, white oak paneling, salvaged and updated front doors, beautiful lighting, the perfect moody paint color and new dormers.