old country house blog

MONDAY MAKEOVER – the NEW/OLD WHITE HOUSE

MY OLD COUNTRY HOUSE IS ALMOST 135 YEARS OLD.

And not once in all of those years, through all the life that has taken place here…was the exterior ever painted.

THE OUTSIDE OF MY OLD COUNTRY HOUSE!
THE OUTSIDE OF MY OLD COUNTRY HOUSE!

The Outside walls are stucco, layered over 3 rows of brick and scored to look like “ASHLAR”…which are masonry blocks which were worked until they were smooth and rectangular and stacked like gigantic bricks…THIS “faux” treatment of the stucco was a common design practice back in the day. How cool is that!

ASHLAR MASONRY
ASHLAR MASONRY

I always felt the exterior was fine “as is”…the gray stucco did not bother me …In fact I felt that it could be  a disservice to the history of the house to paint it.

But when we had the exterior structural issues addressed and repaired the normal wear and tear of an 135 year old lady…it made MORE sense, practically and financially…to go ahead and paint it, rather than to try to match the color of NEW stucco patches to the 135 OLD  stucco….

KEVIN THE MAGIC MASONRY MAN!!! HE WORKED MIRACLES!!!
KEVIN THE MAGIC MASONRY MAN!!! HE WORKED MIRACLES!!!
NEW FACE
THE “PATCH” WHICH IS SPECTACULAR..YOU CAN ALSO SEE ALL OF THE CAULKING DONE…YEP! PAINTING WAS THE WAY TO GO!!!
FRONT WALL REPAIRED AND PAINTED
FRONT WALL REPAIRED AND PAINTED

AND WHAT A DIFFERENCE MAKER!!!

MYOLD COUNTRY HOUSE FRONT
MY OLD COUNTRY HOUSE FRONT
MY OLD COUNTRY HOUSE FRONT
MY OLD COUNTRY HOUSE FRONT – IT IS LIKE DRIVING UP TO A NEW HOUSE

I agonized over the WHITE color – AS YOU KNOW THERE ARE JUST SO MANY – and finally after trying many many whites (my decision making post here)

MY OLD COUNTRY HOUSE FRONT
MY OLD COUNTRY HOUSE FRONT

…we chose BENJAMIN MOORE SIMPLY WHITE

SIMPLY WHITE
SIMPLY WHITE
THE MIRACLE WORKERS!!!
THE MIRACLE WORKERS!!!

THE PREP took longer than the painting itself did…not a surprise to those of you who have undertaken painting an old house…there were days and days of scraping and caulking…and caulking and scraping but thankfully the weather this autumn was beautiful with little days off for rain and as the leaves changed and fell…our old country house was transformed.

HOUSE "ADDITION" BEFORE
HOUSE “ADDITION” BEFORE
MY OLD COUNTRY HOUSE BACK
MY OLD COUNTRY HOUSE BACK

BENJAMIN MOORE SIMPLY WHITE.

BIRDS EGG BLUE CEILING DARK GRAY FLOOR
BIRDS EGG BLUE CEILING DARK GRAY FLOOR

 THE PORCH CEILING IS PAINTED BENJAMIN MOORE BIRDS EGG…I DID A POST ONCE ON THE HISTORY OF “HAINT” BLUE PORCH CEILINGS. 

FRONT DOOR - BENJAMIN MOORE MAJESTIC BLUE
FRONT DOOR – BENJAMIN MOORE MAJESTIC BLUE – THE LIGHT FIXTURE IS FROM SCHOOL HOUSE ELECTRIC AND WAS IN OUR KITCHEN BEFORE WE CHANGED THOSE FIXTURES.
MAJESTIC BLUE
MAJESTIC BLUE

THE Door has been painted Majestic blue for a while now and I have thought about a change…LEHIGH GREEN. THOUGHTS?

LEHIGH GREEN
LEHIGH GREEN

I love, Love, Love, LOVE the RED roof!!! The whole roof did not need RE- painting and in the interest of saving wherever possible (for as you know….any structural work undertaken in an old house is like opening a giant can of musty smelling worms…) we JUST did the porch roof…and chimney in the RED,

WHICH IS A SHERWINN WILLIAMS color CALLED  “FIRED BRICK”

RED ROOF
RED ROOF

THE DIFFERENCE IS SPECTACULAR …SUCH A CHANGE THAT WE FIND OURSELVES SAYING…”WE SHOULD HAVE DONE THIS 10 YEARS AGO!!!”

spooky BEFORE
spooky BEFORE

AND AFTER…

EXTERIOR AFTER
EXTERIOR AFTER
AFTER!!!
AFTER!!!

YOU CAN SEE HOW THE YEARS HAVE SMOOTHED OUT THE “SCORING” SOFTENED THE LINES AND FADED THE INDENTATIONS…KIND OF LIKE THE OPPOSITE OF WRINKLES IN PEOPLE…DON’T YOU OUR SKIN SMOOTHED OUT OVER THE YEARS!!!!

MY OLD COUNTRY HOUSE FRONT
MY OLD COUNTRY HOUSE FRONT

…NOW IF I CAN ONLY FIND 12 SETS OF SHUTTERS…BUT EVEN IF WE ARE UNABLE TO REPLACE THE SHUTTERS….THE IMPROVEMENT IS SO UPLIFTING!!!

 

 

5 thoughts on “MONDAY MAKEOVER – the NEW/OLD WHITE HOUSE

  1. I love that you kept the ashlar stucco. You’ve stayed true to the history of the house, which is not easy. It’s always more expensive but old house lovers will rejoice. I never met an old home I didn’t love and I love seeing yours as well. Thanks for sharing.

    1. Thank you Bonnie..I have never known the name “Ashlar” and now I feel so great to have more knowledge about our home. I love the loo of the scoring…it is really neat in the old sleeping porch which saw very few years of outdoors and is almost like new…the grooves are deep and very clean…I did a post about that room last week…

      I am now going to go check out cityhomecountryhome!!!! xo

  2. You may not want to move – you’ve spiffed things up so much 😉 We did the same thing to one of our houses that we sold and were rethinking why we hadn’t done everything sooner….. It looks amazing!

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