As you might have seen from last week’s post, we bought a house! It’s one that we had been eyeing for many many years. We would deliberately go out of our way to go on walks by it (it’s on a rather isolated street) and I’d imagine what I would do with it if it was ever in my hands. Not knowing exactly what the interior was like I could only imagine the exterior and now, even though we are familiar with the interior, I still mostly dream about changing up the exterior.

I thought I’d share some thoughts about it and get your ideas too because I need all the help I can get!

Colonial House Inspiration

Our house was built in 1991 or 1992 (all the records are different!) so clearly not a true Colonial (1700s-1800s). Plus, we’re in Utah so the colonial style is very much only inspiration. The House was designed very simply without too much adornment so there are a lot of directions it could go, but we plan on keeping it true to the style, but maybe just a bit more dressed up.

The first question is, where do we take it?

Here’s a reminder of what it looks like from a different angle. This was before we closed.

Inspiration #1

Because the shape is boxy and flat, a bit boring if you will, my first thought is to go all out à la Inspiration #1. We would do that by doing the following:

• Add in dormer windows up top
• Add some depth to the facade by adding in a portico and extending out the front door, rather than invert it
• Widen the top middle window perhaps
• Either paint the facade or lime wash it.
• And, of course, LANDSCAPING, which gives me a goosebumps just thinking about it. But that’s a post for another day!
• Adding in beautiful paned windows (ours need some help!)

Inspiration #2

Inspiration is quite similar to #1, but with the addition of shutters, which I do love, but would need to measure to see if it’s feasible for ours.

Inspiration #3-5

Inspiration #3-5 are more of a toned down version, which I also love. Here, there are no dormer windows or too much adornment. It feels like you’re more out in the countryside. I dig it! I can imagine going more in Georgian/English countryside direction with a beautiful wild garden.

Inspiration #6-7

I lived in Georgetown in Washington, DC for graduate school, which I will forever call the most magical years of my life. I walked to school and passed houses like these every day and I pretty much pinched myself every day. I spent hours examining the neighborhood. I even wrote my graduate thesis on one of the homes, which was the inspiration behind this blog. I guess it’s all coming full circle now! The houses in 6 and 7 remind me of my old neighborhood. While ours clearly isn’t as stately, I think it could be developed that way. Once again, dormer windows enhance the facade, with shutters, and keeping the brick as is.

Our Brick

The problem with our brick is that it’s manufactured brick that deliberately added in texture, or, what I like to call worms. I had to zoom in on one of our photos so it’s a bit grainy but you can see the gist. Not ideal!

My concern is that any type of paint or lime wash might create some funky town shadows. Anyone have any experience with this or suggestions on what to do with it?

Priority list

Ok, now that I’ve shared all my inspiration, I have to admit that the exterior is WAY low on our priority list. Who knows when we’ll come to this part, BUT because I’ve been thinking about it for so long it was the easiest to get excited about. And to be honest, I haven’t even begun to day dream about the interior. Because of some factors, we basically need to get our under construction interior back in business so that we can move in ASAP. So I’m not thinking of pretty things…for now.

Your help

Now, I’d LOVE your feedback! Basically, I’d love to hear what your thoughts are about the exterior. What would YOU do? And based on my thoughts above, what would you do? Looking forward to hearing them!

Photos: #1 from here, #2 from here, #3 from here, #4 from here, #5 from here, #6 from here, #7 from here