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Orangecamera's Updated House

orangecamera
last year


Updating the front of the house · More Info

Many changes! All the landscaping was removed except for the Japanese Maple. Wood siding was replaced with Hardie board, and painted white. New front window. Double front door was replaced with a wide single door with sidelight. All the lighting in the front was replaced.


There are a few minor things left to be done on the house, and in spring we'll have new landscaping installed.

Updating the front of the house · More Info

And we finally got the front steps redone. Now when you step out there's a nice landing, and the steps are all the same height, and to code (the old ones weren't).

Comments (15)

  • K Laurence
    last year

    Nice !

  • Kate
    last year

    Steps look great!

  • Mrs. S
    last year

    Great job. Those steps appear much easier to navigate. Must feel good to have this work done! I love the front door.

  • orangecamera
    Original Author
    last year

    @Mrs. S, yes, those old steps were terrible. The youngest person living in our house is 62, so we wanted easy-peasy steps. There's a new concrete pad on the side of the house to accommodate a ramp if one becomes necessary.


    We're SO happy to have this work (almost) done, and the door makes me happy all the time!


  • orangecamera
    Original Author
    last year

    @cat_ky, I agree. I'm really looking forward to putting the finishing touches on with landcaping in the spring.

  • Sherri
    last year

    This came out so good! Where are you located? I love the color palette

  • cpartist
    last year

    I do prefer the new steps.

  • orangecamera
    Original Author
    last year

    @Sherri Thanks! We're located in northern Delaware.

  • sheloveslayouts
    last year

    Looks great! I love an orange front door. We've had two different front doors in our marriage and painted them both shades of orange.

  • Sherri
    last year

    It came out SO great, glad you stuck to your own tastes. I'm researching exteriors right now -- did you post more details about this anywhere -- like your sources for the door, siding and paint colors?


  • orangecamera
    Original Author
    last year

    @Sherri, thanks for asking.


    The siding is Hardie Sierra 8. We'll be adding battens to give a bit more "texture" when the sun hits it right. The siding (and all the rest of the exterior that you can't see) is painted Hardie's Arctic White, using Sherwin-Williams paint. It's slightly different than SW's Arctic White. Hardie's a very slight gray cast to it, which we like since the roof is gray and the driveway is gray (someday will be black again!)


    The door and side window came from Provia, through my contractor. It's a 42" wide steel slab door, which I had factory painted to match Sherwin-Williams 6892 (Carnival). The hardware on the door is by Emtek, the style is Davos, in flat black. I LOVE the door so much, I can't stop looking at it! The hardware was worth paying extra for, it's so much nicer than anything I've had in previous houses (stuff from HD or Lowes).


    The steps are concrete with Pennsylvania bluestone treads, and bluestone on the landing up top and walkway at the bottom.


    I looked high and low for lighting, and actually found what I wanted between Lowe's and Home Depot, for very reasonable prices. I saw very similar items for 5-10 times the price at lighting stores.


    We put up new gutters and downspouts all around the house, but new fascia and soffit only in the front, just to keep everything in front new.


    I'll suggest that when you hire anyone to do anything on your house, get it ALL in writing. I hired one of the "best" and most well known companies in my area, and they left some things out of the contract. I read contracts VERY carefully before signing, and made them put things in writing that had been verbally promised. I'm glad I did that. If they won't put their promises in writing, go find someone else. Best of luck with your project. Do you have a thread going somewhere?

  • Sherri
    last year

    Thank you SO much for the detailed specs -- that's exactly what I'm looking for. I'm also in the Northeast -- I'm getting ready to do JH siding, so I'm researching right now.

    I love love love your whole entry way. MCM is my favorite style -- sadly it doesn't go with my house (boring colonial) but I still take inspiration. But it's helpful to know you are in the Mid Atlantic! I'm just north of you in NJ. Can I ask you a few more questions?


    What made you go with "Sierra 8" vs. all the other JH options?

    Like the panel vs. the planks?


    And I need to replace a few exterior lights as well -- what did you end up going with at Home Depot and Lowes?


    I'm deciding between more of an up and down style https://www.homedepot.com/p/Eglo-Riga-2-Light-Black-Hardwired-Outdoor-Wall-Sconce-200033A/207136443?ITC=AUC-183859-23-12140


    https://www.homedepot.com/p/C-Cattleya-11-75-in-2-Light-Black-Die-Cast-Aluminum-Cylinder-Outdoor-Wall-Sconce-CA1906-W/314409518


    They will be covered so no light pollution



  • orangecamera
    Original Author
    last year

    We moved from Monmouth County, NJ to Delaware 2 years ago.


    We chose Sierra 8 installed vertically, to mimic what was originally on the house (wood paneling). To be honest, I thought the "lines" would be more prominent, and it looks very flat in person. We're adding battens every 16" to give it the texture we were hoping for (although what we really wanted were for the "lines" to be indented and not extended the way battens will be). I'm still going to be happy with the final product. If you're going for vertical lines, choose either Sierra 8 or flat panels, and add battens to either one. It's called "board and batten". You can find plenty of pictures of that online.


    If you have access to some sort of program where you can "paint" your house with different options, it's really helpful. I used an app called Procreate on an iPad. You need one with a pencil. Try taking away anything you think of as colonial, and replacing with more MCM stuff, and see if it looks good, before you do anything. As you can see from my prior post asking for input here, I tried a zillion different combinations and got a lot of great feedback from the houzz community before making any final decisions.


    On either side of our garage, we put the Riga lights you're looking at from HD. Same ones! You have good taste. :) In our case, the lights are on the stone areas, and the up-down feature looks great at night. They provide what I'd consider "soft" light, but we have a motion sensor light above the garage for safe walking at night, and a really bright light over the front door. (https://www.lowes.com/pd/Project-Source-2-Pack-10-in-White-Modern-Contemporary-Integrated-LED-Flush-Mount-Light-ENERGY-STAR/1001042560)


    I hope you'll make a post about your project. I'd love to see it!



  • PRO
    FrameMyMirror
    last year

    It looks amazing! Great job!