Buy a lot. Check.
Design a house plan that fits our needs. Check.
We’re off to a good start, and while we didn’t browse hundreds of house plans (Eric and his dad designed ours themselves) we did scour the internet to narrow down the exterior look of our house. And we also drove around and creeped on other people’s house, noting what we liked and disliked when it came to the exterior design of our home.
It was pretty easy for us to narrow down our exterior to the “modern farmhouse” look. Eric and I like the look of the wide plank siding and it’s a good choice for us due to us choosing to build a wood framed house. We will have a metal roof to give a little bit of old Florida flair to the house. I honestly thought it would have been a lot harder for us to agree on a style for our home, but so far we’ve been on the same page regarding the exterior. Maybe it’s because we both like to watch Fixer Upper?
Like I said when we were designing the layout of our house, we originally wanted to have a one story house, but due to lot size restrictions we chose to add the second story above the garage area. Now, after the design process, I actually prefer having a second story and think it adds a New England farmhouse feel to the house. I’ve always dreamed of living in New England, fall is my favorite season, so having a farmhouse style home is the next best thing.
Here’s a look at what we’ve designed exterior wise so far:
The exisiting oak played a big role in the shape of the house, which is one reason why we couldn’t just pick a house layout straight off the internet. If you look close you’ll see that the house sits on a built up foundation, we have to do this for flood elevation reasons and if you look at the right elevation drawing you will see the rock wall we built along the creek a few months ago. Small design elements will most likely change as we progress through building, but we’ve started to pull together a design plan for our exterior to make the selection process go smoother.
Originally we wanted a white exterior, but we are both drawn to gray hues so we are planning on a light gray house color with white trim. Who knew that there are so many gray color options – some lean towards beige undertones while others have blue undertones. We most likely won’t pick the final shade until we can get a larger sampling on our siding. I pleaded my case for a black door like the one pictured, but we ultimately decided that the gray and black combination wouldn’t work with the over all look we are going for, so most likely, we will choose a blue colored door. But, if you see any fun colored doors on Pinterest, send them my way!
Our house will sit fairly close to the road so I went back and forth with having glass in the front door, but with the addition of the wall to create a foyer in the entry you won’t be able to see in to our house through the door if standing from the road. Having lots of natural light was high on my wishlist so adding the transom and side lights to the front door was a good choice – it will naturally light up our foyer and hallway.
One of my favorite things to pick out are the light fixtures, they can inject so much personality. And what farmhouse would be complete without barnlights? This one comes from Barn Light Electric and comes in a variety of sizes (up to 28″) and colors. We are choosing the 16″ all weather gooseneck barn light in black. There will be one above each garage door, which we designed virtually over at Clopay. It was a great way to visually see various garage door options. The garage has no windows so to bring in light we chose garage doors with a row of top windows.
The pendant light that will hang on the front porch has been the biggest challenge. It’s been hard to verbally say what my vision is for that space, but I’ll know it when I see it. I fell in love with the shape of these exterior lights, they come in two sizes, which is nice because we can have the smaller size on the side porch and the larger size on the back porch. But I’m keeping in mind that once we are building and get a better feel for the space we might opt for a different size at each location.
The finishing touches will come in time and I will share our deisgn decisions as they unfold.
If you’ve ever built a house or remodeled a home, I’d love to hear how you pulled together a cohesive look for the exterior of your home – please share with me in the comments below!
Til next time sweet friends,
kaitlin
Leave a Reply