Curb Appeal - Before and Afters

Who doesn't love a good before and after? Am I right?!  And what better way to kick off Memorial Day than with a great example of the power of paint (and a little muscle).

Here's where the journey began.  My cute clients purchased this house about a year ago, and it looked like this . . . 

First, they enlisted the help of one of my all time favorite landscape architects here in Birmingham, Randy McDaniel.   His plans focus on highlighting the positives, downplaying the negatives and never allowing the landscape to upstage the house itself.  A very tall order!  Since this house sits on a corner lot (the other street is to your right in the photo), Randy worked hard to create primary and secondary focal points in his landscape design plan.  My clients are still working on installing the landscaping material; but here is a picture of the house following the clearing to ready the area for the new plantings.  

As an aside, my clients did a lot of the work themselves, but when it came time to cut the trees, they brought in the professionals.  The day before, they did this to the trees!  People driving by were stopping and looking in total confusion.

Then, for the paint.  Once we were really able to see the house, we got busy selecting paint colors.  It was clear it needed to be lightened up, but selecting an off white can be very daunting.  Too white and it feels stark and blinding.  Too warm and it comes off yellow.  A very fine line.  We narrowed the field to two Ben Moore colors for the body of the house.  In the end, here's the color we selected - China White.

 Then we selected a Farrow and Ball color for the front door.

If you notice, one of the issues this house had was two doors on the front of the house.  Here's a picture of it again for you to see.  People would have trouble deciding which door to go to when visiting the home.

The main door (to the right in the image above) opens into a gorgeous vaulted foyer, and the door to the left opens into the mudroom area with the kitchen beyond.  So, we decided to paint the secondary door the house body color so that it would disappear, giving the main front door all the focus.   I think it worked - paint is an amazing thing.

Also, notice we have removed the railings from the front entrance.  It looks so much bigger and more inviting with these removed.  The lighter paint in the alcove of the front door is also more welcoming.   The plan is to include some large planters on either side of the door, but patience!  All in due time!   I will post pictures once the front yard is complete.  You will not believe how pretty it's going to be once everything is installed.

Don't forget to hug a Veteran today!  Their sacrifices are the reason we enjoy the freedoms we do in this great country.     M.