Maison Mansard - Exterior Before and After

At long last, the Maison Mansard is complete.  It took 9 months from start to finish - someone suggested I should call it my 'house baby' 😂.  Seems appropriate!   

As always, there are lots of 'Before & After' photos to share.  For this blog post, let's start with the exterior.

The first time we looked at this house, we knew it was special.  The curves on the roof, the big windows, there was so much potential!  Second Empire homes, with their mansard roofs, are architectural treasures.  But this one had been hidden under vinyl siding and aluminum trim for a long time, hiding a lot of detail. 

We had hoped there would be some fancy trim hidden behind the vinyl/aluminum.  But sadly, details were long gone and with no photos of the original house, we weren't sure what it looked like in the 1880's when it was built.  So with the help of Portland Landmarks, who provided a list of notable examples, I did a tour of local Second Empire homes to create a plan for what might have once been on the house.

There are so many Second Empire homes in Portland

That led to a blitz of replicating brackets, refinishing antique balusters and creating a color scheme that would have been typical of the era.

Countless hours were spent stripping these antique balusters and repainting them

Original bracket design was used to create these new ones for the house

This antique double tombstone front door is so welcoming!

Finished balusters 

I had hoped we could just paint the siding, but it was in such rough shape, we ended up replacing all of it.

Look at those brackets under the eaves of the roof.  Aren't they a fabulous detail?

And let's look at that front porch!  It was a bit tired when we started, but look at it now!

Front Porch - Before

Re-creating the front porch

Front Porch - After

Of course the back of the house needed some attention too.  

Rear elevation Before

Once the ground froze, the guys got the shed moved away from the kitchen window.  My biggest fear was having it collapse in a pile of giant toothpicks, but thankfully it's well built and moved pretty easily.  And the new location is a big improvement! 

Rear elevation after - the new, taller kitchen window looks so much nicer!

The time and cost to do all these updates was considerable.  But in the end, all that hard work was worth it.  The home reflects its architectural heritage and we are so thrilled with the result.  

Sources:

Front door and balusters - Portland Architectural Salvage

Siding - LP Smartside (smooth finish) in Summit Blue

Trim colors - Ben Moore - Garden Sage, Nocturnal Gray, Harvest Honey

Foundation - Ben Moore - Navy Masterpiece

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