New Exterior on an Old House
by
Kendall K.
We bought our first house about 4 years ago. The house was built in 1954 for dairy farm workers. It's very solidly built but has had some pitiful renovations done. Thankfully I can see when something has potential! I couldn't take it anymore so we fixed it up last summer!
We started by replacing all the wood on the front porch. We got the balusters and brackets custom made in Washington which I painted in Behr exterior paint in white. The posts were painted with "classic burgundy"and the wood railings were stained a dark brown.
I used a technique called water staining on the grey concrete to made it brown. It was a messy process that I'm not sure I would do again but it'll do for now 😊
Now for the scary bit..finding out what's under the ugly vinyl siding! Would it be plywood? Newspaper? Something so rotted you can't tell what it was??
Hmmm..dark brown paper..
My contractor Mark decided to torment me by taking his time taking the brown paper off.
Lo and behold! 3/4 inch thick, 10 inch wide tongue and groove planks! No rot anywhere! We let out a big sigh of relief I tell you!!
Since the rest of the house is stucco and in great condition, we decided just to replace the siding on the front. So now we replaced the wood around each window, painted the ends of the house and the garage in the classic burgundy and prepared the front for the siding.
Time to replace the front door! We decided to go with a fiberglass door and I designed the glass inserts.
I wanted to have a cottagey look, so I decided to get primed Hardieboard staggered shingle fiber cement siding and paint it. A heck of a lot of work but well worth it!
Almost done! Now just a few final touches
We had put in a border garden and some trees the previous year and it makes such a difference to the final outcome! I love my house now thanks to my contractor Mark and his crew! Thanks guys!
Added an outdoor rug and a funky hand painted bench and chair to make the porch fun!
Since we've done this, our surrounding neighbours have either painted their house or got new front doors! Lol!
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2 of 172 comments
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I absolutely love this. The design is beautiful. Wonderful job.
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Beautiful!!!!!!!!
Frequently asked questions
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Hi
Any idea where I can find railings similar to that in the picture?
Thanks
Norman
What company did you find that let you design your glass insert?