Here are the latest exterior renovation updates to our Roof, Gutters, Paint and Windows/Doors! Wow, I can’t believe we are still in the thick of our exterior renovations. We have been busy getting quotes for the roof and gutters, exterior painting of all stucco and trim and also Windows and Patio Doors!
Update – September 28th, 2021: Our Windows are in! To see next post see: The Muntins are In!
To see my previous post, see Renovation Update – Let there be light! –.
When we bought our house in April, I knew it had potential to look a lot better than it currently does. I was calling it our ugly house, lol! I hate saying that but it is definitely an ugly duckling that needs some work!
Before picture:
Believe me, I know how fortunate we are to have a stable home in a great neighborhood, with all the heartache going on in this world! I thank God everyday for all our blessings.
This house is our home we have selected for our retirement, in a lovely neighborhood, backing onto forest. We have renovated 4 other houses together. Now that we are in this stage of life, we are looking forward to a smaller house, with less upkeep, but still with some of the features we like.
Downsizing our home for our retirement is definitely stressful in this market and adjustments had to be made as to what we really need. We have thrown out the preconceived notions about what style and type of house we should have at this time in our lives. We looked for the neighborhood we wanted, a good street with greenspace and a house that had potential. Perfection is no longer required, only simplicity, lower maintenance costs, contentment and overall stability. On top of that our main living area is all on one level. YAY!
I like a good challenge and fortunately when we bought we had some room for renovations in our budget.
See my previous post about refinishing our hardwood oak floors: New Home and Renovation.
Now we are moving on to the exterior renovation of the house.
Here are a few more pictures from the outside. Our backyard truly was the selling feature of the home.
Backyard with our patio furniture:
We have had the roof and gutters all done, including gutter guards.
Exterior Paint
The paint choice is a huge part of any exterior renovation. We looked at many samples online and kept coming back to the gray and white look. So after much deliberation, we finally selected our paint color for the exterior. The two greys we looked at were Dulux Diamond in Steeple Grey (top) and Dover Grey (bottom), both a flat finish. You can see how different the paint looks in the bright sun (first photo) versus the shade (2nd photo).
We chose the bottom grey as we thought the top color was too blue for our liking. The white is just untinted white exterior semi-gloss by Dulux Diamond. Interestingly enough, the Dulux paint specialist agreed that the Dover Grey was a better choice if we wanted it to look like the pictures we showed her.
The trades are so busy right now! But we are happy that we found a painting company who appear to have good references and because they are still relatively new in the market, seem to have a lower cost. Here’s to hoping all goes well.
Windows and Patio Doors
Our windows have also been ordered as well as our patio doors. Initially we wanted French doors, but the budget would not support that as they were twice the cost! Also, if we wanted to leave them partially open at night we wouldn’t be able to with French doors.
Here is what the new vinyl windows look like in the showroom. Ours will be white with the white muntin bars, like in the picture with 2 rows of muntin bars. We will have full muntin bars top to bottom on the new white patio doors.
Update – September 28th, 2021: Our Windows are in! See next post: The Muntins are In!
Our vision:
I decided to try to do a vision picture of what I wanted the house to end up like, using Microsoft Paint. Here it is … our little house. We really like a craftsman-style home. Hence the windows with the muntin bars, the white trim, the darker grey paint with grey roof. Fortunately, our window trim is quite wide, 4 inches. We hope to make other tweaks after the basics are complete. As you can see the roof is already done in the picture below. So I added the new windows and door color, new paint color with the white trim into my Microsoft paint view of the uploaded photo. Then I found some similar windows and cut and paste those in, plus a door 🙂
I can’t wait! By the end of September we should have the new windows in, and all the painting!
Here’s a couple pictures of the new roof and gutters and downspouts from the back of the house.
Our plan is to use the same blue paint color on the front door that we had used at our last house. Check out: Our Front Door Renovation.
In the previous vision picture, you can see our plan to replace the top section for our garage door. It will be painted white.
The garage door is already a Clopay garage door and luckily they can exchange the top section. The price of a new garage door is close to $5K and we were able to get the top section ordered for about $1600, with some negotiation. Ours is 18 feet wide, so the price was a bit higher for the one panel. The new section will have the long panels with windows and will be closer to Craftsman style garage door.
Here is my previous post for this renovation on refinishing our hardwood oak floors: New Home and Renovation.
Don’t forget to check back for my updates on our exterior renovation after the new windows and paint are complete…So excited!
Update – September 28th, 2021: Our Windows are in! See next post: The Muntins are In!
🙂 Bonnie