curb appeal :: exterior paint color?

our previous house

I'll be honest: My best ideas aren't always my own original ideas. I've usually been inspired by a photo in a magazine, a photo on a blog, or an actual real house. (see a complete house tour here.)

Many of our choices for our previous home were inspired by other houses in the neighborhood.

The paint color? Inspired by a home down the street.
The front door? Inspired by a home down a different street.
The railing? Inspired by the house right next door to us.
The carriage doors on the garage? Those were our choice, but we were probably influenced by the plethora of carriage doors in the neighborhood.
The garden? Well, that was all me.





We knew the *look* we were going for in our previous home; however, this time we're going for a completely different look. If you've paid any attention to the front door that we have ordered, or the new fence we plan to install, you already know that we're going for a more contemporary, modern style this time round.


However.





There's only so much you can do to the house exterior without breaking the bank.

The fact is that our windows have white casings. As minor as that seems, it greatly affects the look of the house. I'm not saying it's the end of the world -- I'm just saying that the white-cased windows need to be considered when choosing the exterior paint color. Another thing to be considered is that the house exterior is stucco versus siding.

I have scoured the internet for inspiration, but have come up mostly empty-handed. The two photos that I have bookmarked are...





and




both images via houzz

We're thinking that a dark, rich grey is our best choice. But which one?


Anyone want to recommend a paint color or a great inspiration photo?

curb appeal :: a new perimeter

One of the things I LOVE about this house is the fence that surrounds the entire property. Being a mom, I can feel assured that 7 and 4 are safe when they are playing outside.

That being said, John and I have plans to change the look of the fence.

image via

Yes, that is the house from Californication.

John gets full credit, because he is the one with the original idea to build a fence outside perimeter that is concrete on the bottom and wood slats on the top.

I was skeptical until I saw this house on an episode of Californication. But then, once I had the visual, it was instant love. Sign me up: For the concrete wall. For the horizontal wood slats. For the snake grass growing in front.

image via Dwell

The above image has only the wooden slats, but we will definitely be doing concrete on the bottom. Our reasoning is twofold.

One, we just like the look of it.

Two, it's a preventative feature. See, our house is located within the 100-year Flood Zone map. It's on the very, very edge, but it's there alright. Lucky us.

Anyhow, to best prevent our property from flooding (should that 100-year storm ever happen...) is to have a solid wall surrounding the property. We can just sandbag the areas that don't have the wall...

This fence/wall project won't happen for a while. In fact, it will probably be a couple of years from now. But it's nice to know where we're going with it.

house tour, part V

The House Tour ends here, in the backyard. This first photo shows the deck just off the back of the house. It is also where the laundry (currently) is.



Here is another view.



In the back right corner of the yard is the outdoor fireplace. Love it!



We have plans to eventually re-face the fireplace and bring it more up to date.


Standing at the fireplace and looking back across the yard...



The blue stairs that you can see in the background lead to the master bedroom. We think that whoever built the upstairs addition, had to add the exterior stairs because it would be impossible to get large pieces of furniture up the spiral staircase.



We will be getting rid of this staircase as well.


This is the future location of where the staircase will be relocated.







There is an additional area off the back of the garage. It will make a great place for a basketball hoop for 7. I also have dreams of building something like this for the kids.

Lastly, the side yard.



There are a lot of beautiful plants in the side yard; however, a lot of it is going to be redone. In fact, there is a LOT to do in the entire back, side, and front yard.

house tour, part I

In October, we bought a house. We didn't intend to buy a house so soon after moving to the central coast, but that's another story for another day. The point is, we bought a house. In our dream town!

Because I don't want to overwhelm this first post with an avalanche of photos, I'm going to show the entire house in a series of posts. Also, the layout of the house will make more sense once I get John to upload a blueprint of the house. And then later, I'll have him upload the blueprints for the planned renovations.

But first things first. Come on in...

Upon entering, you are greeted with this *warm and inviting* oasis of concrete. A view to your left,

and to your right.


At least there is some greenery down the side of the house... It goes without saying that there will definitely be some changes made to the front entry of the house.

Open the front door, and you are greeted with this monstrosity of a staircase.

Guaranteed, all kids will love this spiral staircase. It's like an indoor play structure. The staircase leads up to a landing/loft area (John's future office) and the master bedroom suite.

***Spoiler alert: the spiral staircase is the first thing to go.

Part II of the tour
Part III of the tour
Part IV of the tour
Part V of the tour