Outside Reveal

As stated in my last blog post, two years ago our family moved into “The House on Almonte.” This house, built in 1937, is part of the historical area of town and to us, is the perfect mix of older character and newer updates. We loved this house and area, and it was exciting to think about putting our own touches on it, someday…. Well, that someday came a little sooner than expected when the roof started leaking two months after moving in. After replacing the shingles, it only made sense to keep going on the outside finishing touches:) This meant we needed a new paint color. One would say at times, I can be a bit indecisive about decisions and this felt like a big one. When you paint your house, it is definitely somewhat permanent. Where to even start? I can tell you where not to start, the paint samples at the store. Talk about overwhelming!

So I started with a different option, my design books I have collected over the years. I began looking through them again and flagging the pages with advice I connected with and colors/pictures I liked. I read in one of these books that when choosing the color scheme of your house, you should look at the main colors in your closet. Well, I can tell you that I certainly don’t own much of what our house originally was painted as, so that confirmed the need for a change. Most of my wardrobe contains white, brown, and black which is exactly what our house has morphed into! So my first piece of advice for home makeover… if in doubt, go spend some time in your closet. That, combined with a couple inspirational pictures (see below for example) and our outdoor house project had begun!

After talking with locals about who to hire, we ended up with Caya Painting, known for historical restoration. Chad Caya’s team is amazing and has painted pretty much most houses up and down our block. We soon found out they were actually the ones to paint our house last. Now that we had the painter hired, it was really time to narrow down the colors. I knew I wanted our house to resemble the black and white look. However, with the age of the house, a stark black and white didn’t seem to be the feel I was going for. Therefore, I chose a warmer white and black/grey. I had originally chosen Benjamin Moore’s Acadia White and a different shade of black. After part of the garage was painted in these colors, I felt it revealed too much of a brown undertone. The painters agreed and we were back to the drawing board for a new shade of black. I ended up choosing Bengamin Moore’s Wrought Iron and I have not regretted the color combination for a second!

When fixing up an older home, I feel it is important to decide what is character to the house and what is simply outdated. One decision we went back and forth on, was the curvature at the top of the door. It certainly did give the house a little character, but I wasn’t set on keeping it. Our painters did not think it was original to the house, which was one point towards taking it down. I also felt that with the area of that space, taking it off would open it up a little more. So that was it, the decision was made. It was coming down. The next step was to get someone here to stucco that part in order to match the rest of the house. I happened to be home at that time and was amazed at what an art this project was. Piece by piece, the painter would place stucco on the house. He would then get down off the ladder and examine the job to make sure it aligned with the rest of the stucco look. We also needed to decide whether to paint the trim around the door black to match the rest of the trim or white to blend in. Again, with the space around that area of the house, painting it white felt like the right decision.

In addition, we took the shutters down to give more of a clean feel. We also cut the vines and replaced the screen around the porch area. This screened in porch quickly has become one of my very favorite places in our house!

After a couple months of hard work by Caya Painting, our outside was complete and I was in love! Our final touch was to replace the light to the left side of the door with a bigger statement piece. It is amazing what a a little paint can do to the look of a house! Now when pulling in, it certainly feels like home to us!