Amping up the Curb Appeal!!

Okay, so this is an attractive house, BUT there is still some opportunity to improve the curb appeal!  We need a bit of drama to balance all the white siding.  As we've gotten it cleaned up - it's just so overwhelmingly white.   I need sunglasses to look at it on a sunny day.  So I started planning some changes.

Curb Appeal Plan

Centered Front door mockup

First, I wanted to center the front door. A new door would bring in lots of sunlight (sounds simple, but there were lots of challenges per this post).  So I did a quick mockup of the idea to give me an idea what it would look like.  The door was great, but sidelights will make it even better.  With that decided, we ordered the door and got to work.










Once we moved the front door, the stairway was in the wrong place - as well as the big bushes.  I hated to just chop down the Alberta Spruce, so I posted them for free on Craigslist and a nice man named Dan came and transplanted them to his house.  He got it done before the summer heat got too crazy, so hopefully they're doing fine.

We wanted to match the windows that were already in the house, so we ordered new Paradigm windows (Made in Maine!) to balance the front porch space.

Or course we needed to tear out the old concrete steps and walkway, since they led right up to the middle of the wall.  Instead, we built a new mahogany staircase and added a paver walkway.  That was a big job, but looks oh so great!!





But the biggest change was all about color.  It's just so white!!!  The front door can add a pop of color, but how do we offset that big bank of white?

There is just so much white!!!!

Part of the challenge is the white, boring windows.  I'm a fan of the new trend of black windows on a white house, but can't see changing out all the nice Paradigm windows in the house (and I worry that like any trend, it will be passé in a few years).  So instead, I wanted to paint the window casings a gray to make them pop a bit.  Cityscape by Sherwin Williams blends nicely with the gray roof.  I did a couple of test windows and really liked the look, so we started to paint them all.

And I know this sounds crazy, but I'm in love with the red/orange twin bed that I bought for one of the bedrooms and think it would be the perfect color for the front door.  I carried the footboard into Sherwin Williams and had them color match it.  And voila - we have a front door color!!!  Kind of a Blood Orange meets Robust Red color, that will really pop.

Barn Lights - Restoration Hardware

And the result?  Well, we still need some more painting and landscaping - and of course the new barn lights.   But I'm pretty pleased with the progress!  Farewell boring white, hello farmhouse!!

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