Ideas to Update the Exterior Design of Your Home

July 22, 2021
nicole

Hi! I'm Nicole

Fearless DIY. Sharing building project tutorials and interior design tips. Let’s build something beautiful together. For more projects, design tips and behind the scenes, follow me @designtobuild.nicole

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Our home exterior design has been a work in progress. Every summer, I focus on a new update or renovation to tackle. Over the last several weeks, I’ve been sharing my most popular game-changing builds and makeovers. And next week, I’m excited to share with you what this summer’s exterior design focus has been. (Spoiler alert: if you follow me on Instagram, you already know 🙂   ).  But for today, let’s look at all of the changes and builds I’ve made/added to our outdoor space.

I’ll start with my favorite. Going from this…

before pics of exterior paint colors

To this…

2 story home with white brick, gray cedar siding, white trim and black shutters/garage doors

Limewashing our brick was the best decision I’ve ever made in this home renovation journey. Going from that reddish-orange brick to a clean modern brick color has really brightened up our house. We get so many compliments and people driving by, taking pictures, all due to this one simple change. And when I say simple, it truly was. I’ve shared this many times….I started the job on a Saturday morning and by that evening, the limewash application was completely done, and I was at a graduation party with my family. I share all about it in this post….HOW TO LIMEWASH BRICK EXTERIOR-A COMPLETE MAKEOVER

Front door of a house with an American Flag, white flowers in black vases and a faux window with a flower box

Of course the limewashed brick was not meshing well with our original orange, brown and cream color scheme. So, new exterior paint colors was a must! For this one, we hired a professional. If those peaks weren’t so tall, I probably would have tried to conquer it myself….But I value my life and chose to pay someone else to take that risk.  Here’s a rundown of the colors we chose….THE BEST MODERN FARMHOUSE EXTERIOR PAINT COLORS

Limewash brick and updated exterior design paint colors on two story home

People ask me all the time if we got new windows and garage doors. Nope! That’s all the power of paint. And a little secret those windows on the garage are not real! Our garage doors were perfectly fine, but I wanted a change. So, I decided to go the less expensive route with this awesome update….EASILY UPDATE GARAGE DOORS TO CARRIAGE DOORS FOR INSTANT CURB APPEAL

Exterior design accentuated with faux windows added to black garage doors on a 2story home

All of these changes were lacking something. A new front door! The front door should be the WOW factor of your home! It should be bold and make a statement! It should scream, “look at me”. But not in a tacky way!! Rather in a way that compliments the rest of your home. Our old door was just kinda–boring and yet stuck out like a sore thumb. So, we decided to splurge a little on this one….NEW FRONT DOOR AND WHAT TO CONSIDER

Exterior design updated with new front door. Mahogany with windows

Front door open to inside of house

Before we head around to the back of the house, there’s one more exterior design change I have to show you. It’s a good one! I have always been at a loss on what to do with this faux window. I love the look of it and for several years now have tried to find a way to accent it. Finally, a couple years ago it hit me…well, my sister hit me with it! 🙂 A flower box. Of course! It’s the perfect spot for one! I love adding beautiful flowers to it every year and changing it up for all of the seasons/holidays. Another really easy and, might I say, inexpensive build….THE CHEAPEST WAY TO MAKE A FLOWER BOX

Faux window with a flower box and pink and white flowers

 

Be sure to come back next week to see what all I’ve been working on in the backyard. So many great exterior design changes back there. Don’t want to wait? Hop over to Instagram where I share all of it in real time.

Until next time,

Happy Building, Friend!!

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