The 50’s House is Coming Back to Life!

Hello my friends – I apologize for the lag in updates on The House in the Woods….we’ve been very busy finishing up the exterior, and are now making big strides inside as well! Our “project” is beginning to look like a house again, and we couldn’t be more excited watching it emerge ~ hopefully I’ll be able to convey some of the excitement to you in progress photos!

I had to jump ahead because I’m so excited about the exterior paint colors and cedar shutters! The image living in my head is finally beginning to emerge, and though there are a few more exterior details that will add to the story, this part is fun to watch!

If you’re considering painting the exterior of your home, I strongly recommend testing several shades first (see below for ours). Picking colors from tiny paint chips is an art any time, but it can be especially difficult when you’re choosing for the exterior. Your color will be distorted by all of these things:

• Type of siding material
• Direction of sun exposure
• Amount & height of trees providing shade
• Secondary colors (roof, shutters, windows and doors)
• Gloss level of paint and/or stain

I was looking for a color that would allow the house to “melt” into the woods; my goal is that it look like it’s always been there, belongs there & does not detract from the beauty of it’s surroundings. Finding just the right shade of warm green/gray proved to be more difficult than I expected: here you see where we tested the 3 finalists chosen from among dozens of contenders. The cedar board is leaning up against the wall to represent the shutters and outdoor living area trim: since the ‘red’ in cedar would be complementary to our color (think opposite on the color wheel) it provided an important element in choosing the final color. In chip form, all of these colors looked very good; however, the one to the right of the cedar board looked very green outside, much to my surprise! The color all the way to the right went up looking very light and more blue gray than we wanted. The color to the left seemed way too dark, but I had tested it for contrast….and I bet you guessed it already: that one proved to be the hands-down winner! It still looks different throughout the day as the light changes, but it definitely has the river rock effect I was looking for. The dark strip above the sample is the color we sampled and used for the trim, garage door and outdoor living area ceiling. Here are the colors in case you’re curious, both mixed using Benjamin Moore paint:

SW Enduring Bronze 7055 & Benjamin Moore Wildwood Crest 1538

Since the last progress post, we have also finished all the electrical and plumbing rough-in, had the finished roof installed, had foam insulation sprayed into all the exterior walls and attic areas, had all new sheetrock installed, and have had it taped, bedded and textured. The cabinets and built-ins are all being built now, and should be getting their lacquer finish sprayed this week; once they are installed, we can have templates made for all of the countertops.

This week the carpenters will be back to do the interior trim-out, which includes all door and window facings, cased openings, and closet detailing throughout. They will also finish installing the deck boards. For both beauty and ease of maintenance, we are using a composite decking material; while Trex is the best-known brand of this product, we chose Armadillo brand, which saved about 1/3 on the cost.

One of the most difficult parts of remodeling/building right now is gathering the materials; the supply chain is still an issue, and the oddest things are nearly impossible to find! For example, on my last job we used Leviton switches and outlets in white: they were in short supply everywhere! I had to get very creative to find enough to finish that job. This time we’re using the same, but in the color Biscuit, which is apparently not so popular at the moment: I ordered all we needed at once!

While we have sourced our share of products through Home Depot and Lowe’s, we have also been fortunate enough to use 2 smaller local suppliers for most of the “big stuff”, and they have cheerfully delivered each load as it was needed. When I ordered the sheetrock, Lowes had the best price, but I had to wait a few days for my delivery since every other builder in town was doing the same. As it happened, the roofer was having shingles delivered the same day from Home Depot, which I didn’t know. We had also ordered a new giant dumpster 4 days before this, which involves a big truck coming to drop it off. I always sweat the deliveries, as logistics on the job site can be challenging; but this time it was really a circus! The Lowe’s truck showed up 2 hours late to offload 300 sheets of sheetrock; as we were discussing where he could best put it to leave room for the eventual dumpster arrival, the Home Depot truck pulled up with the roof shingles. This is a very narrow residential dead-end street with drainage ditches on both sides, so there was no possibility of both trucks getting close to the house at one time. While they were discussing HOW to offload both trucks at once AND where to put everything, the dumpster truck pulled around the bend! All 3 trucks lined up down the street, which was comical in this tiny neighborhood! Then the across-the-street neighbor picked that moment to leave the house, but literally couldn’t get around the caravan of trucks until the 2nd and 3rd trucks backed up.

Below I’ll post a few progress pics that got us here, but here’s a preview of some of the rooms with first foam insulation, then sheetrock:

Next week I will share the design plan for this home, including the overall concept and how you’re about to see it come to life through colors, texture, tile, lighting, flooring and fabrics. For now I will leave you with some photos of progress in the last few weeks….I hope you’ll find some ideas or inspirations along the way – and please feel free to reach out in comments if you have questions or observations! As always, I wish you all the blessings of the season, as we enter not only Autumn, but the beginning of “the holidays”! Dig out those sweaters and rain boots!

By the way, look at that difference in roof pitch!