Incoming Exterior Makeover

I don’t think I’ve been as nervous as I was last night since I presented my thesis in college.  We had to go to the Architectural and Historic Board of review and discuss the renovation plan we have had in the works for months.  Up until I knew we were putting the final plans in place I didn’t want to mention it here.  There has been a roadblock almost every step of the way.

We were finally ready to go apply for our building permits and I discovered we were technically in the historic district, which meant any changes needed to pass review.  Yikes.  We had to wait a whole month to get our paperwork and samples in order and the meeting public meeting finally took place last night.

We showed up early and sat on the steps waiting for city hall to open.  We were the first ones in the meeting room and watched as architects and contractors on the agenda as well filed in with blueprints, huge sample boards, etc.  I felt grossly under-prepared.  The board grilled the first people up to bat, which only made me more nervous.  We were up third and they were very kind to us.  I would guess the fact that we were so young (and I was clearly terrified) helped a little.  Not to mention, ANYTHING is going to be an improvement.  They went over some requirements with us, such as all corner boards and trim has to be at least 4 inches wide.

They didn’t have too many concerns and seemed pleased with the choices we had made.  We were very open and asked for their input.  It was pretty painless.  In the end our project was “deemed appropriate” by the board and their waived the 2 week waiting period.  So change is on the way!

This is what our little house looks like as of this week…

It’s pretty stark.  Much like the inside of the house when we moved in, it has been stripped of any character or charm.  It’s not a very big or busy house, and it never has been.  You may notice we have some new corner planters and removed that awful railing (as pictured in my post about the porch from April).  The three middle planters have also been moved.

And here is a (very quick and dirty) mock-up of what the proposed finished product will look like.  Please excuse the unfortunate clone-stamp work.

Some notes on the plan…

• The Door //  The ugly storm door pictured is going to go.  We are going to replace it with a white framed all glass storm door.  As far as the color goes, I’m not set on a color yet.  I have always dreamed of a yellow or orange door, but a mint blue would also be so pretty.
• The Lighting // Once again I have not pin-pointed the exact fixtures we are going to use yet.  Something barn-light inspired and in a black-ish finish.  I’m debating on putting one light over the door or one on either side.
• The Roof //  One thing you can’t see in these photos is the awful roof.  It’s a pale green/gray right now.  It is also being replaced with a slate almost-black dimension shingle.
• The Siding //  One thing that I wasn’t able to change in this mock-up was the scale of the siding.  Currently on the house we have about 8″ aluminum siding.  We are replacing it with 4″ wood-look vinyl.  So the scale of the slats will be much more proportionate to the size of our house.
• The (lack of) Shutters //  Yes.  The shutters will be gone.  The ones we have are vinyl shutters that are faded and warped.  The AHRB was concerned about the silly shutters on the big picture windows (obviously if you closed them they wouldn’t cover that big window…).  So we are going to take them off for the time being.

This is only the beginning.  I’m sure this won’t be the last obstacle.  But it does feel good to finally have to go-ahead from the city and now it’s in our hands.

I would love to hear your thoughts about the proposed changes and details I am still debating.