If you haven’t seen the highlights of my conversation with architect Brent Hull on what makes a beautiful house and his critique of contemporary building and design processes, it’s a must! You can see it here.
Like me, he loves a timeless house. And we discussed how so many of the details that make a timeless house are simply not cheap and easy. But builders love cheap and easy. It helps their bottom line. They get busy convincing you that cheap and easy is in your best interest too. And we all like to be responsible with our budgets to be clear. However. YOU are the one that gets to live with all those choices everyday.
My issue with contemporary style
And here’s my issue with the modern contemporary style. I know that gorgeous, timeless modern and contemporary homes exist. Of course they do! But one of the built in features of modernism is ‘simplicity of form’ and the forwarding of the materials as interest over embellishments. And that can all be immensely elegant and great.
BUT – modern and contemporary is too often an excuse for simple corner cutting when it comes to building.
And that’s where we find ourselves now. At the wind down of the “modern” farmhouse trend. Stark linear and basic everything without any softness or grace to be found.
The most overlooked exterior detail
I like pretty. Love gracious details. Pattern and colour. I don’t want to be surrounded by cheap-parading-as-purist modern builder shortcuts.
Which brings me to the point of this post. I love a pretty, timeless exterior. And one of the most overlooked and budget streamlining pieces these days is skimping on substantial trim details on exteriors.
Seriously, builders want to calk the window frames directly to the brick or siding and skip all the trimmings altogether.
This above is trading only on high contrast. Sort of to dazzle the eye away from the lack of details like mouldings. This is just siding capping around windows. Familiar right?
Here’s how to do it
And yes, it’s more expensive. But before you slap stone or brick onto your facade to “add interest and value”, consider that if you skip all that and instead insist on pretty, broad trim, your house will definitely be the prettiest on the block. And resale? Prepare for multiple offers.
Because, sadly, trim – any trim at all – is becoming premium and rare. I fully expect someone to pipe into the comments here about builder practices and function or something, yes ok. But which look would you rather have?
And if you want to paint your house a mid tone or deeper colour, like one of the trending greens of the moment, or this mid toned grey, you absolutely need the balance that all this crisp white trim offers. Otherwise it will look much too drab.
That’s just one of the lessons you will learn in my Exterior Masterclass on sale until midnight tonight!
This course will help you narrow down your choices quickly
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Instead of overwhelming you with hundreds of paint options, My system provides a cheatsheet of the best exterior paint colours by undertone from major brands. This allows you to quickly narrow their choices to a select few that will work, eliminating guesswork and indecision.
Timeless vs. Trendy
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The masterclass addresses how to navigate current trends (such as the black and white exterior trend) while still creating exteriors that will remain classic and appealing over time.
Visual Learning and Real Examples
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The course is highly visual, featuring before-and-after case studies, Photoshop visuals, and real-life examples of homes. I walk through my thought process on actual projects, showing how to solves common exterior colour challenges
What people are saying:
We just finished our new build with a complete design, build team. I would have been in big trouble if a friend had not referred me to your posts.
We had already started when I realized the designer and I had very different ideas of what our new build should look like. I was not on board with most of the options they offered.
to tell the designer that I wanted something different than the trendy white/ grey at the time.
I have always loved warm undertones and have a house painted in Canvas Tan inside and out. With a SW Creamy trim inside to match my cabinets. The outside has native limestone and using your curated collection matched the stone to Canvas Tan with Shoji White trim. We get so many compliments. So thank you! Jessica S.
I am thankful my extended family member mentioned you in the thick of my home reno. Did this exterior course and I’ve gone outside my comfort zone and picked colour for our 50s postwar home we bought with 🤍 painted brick. Now converted to a 2 story and a timeless blue James Hardie Siding 💕🙏 Angela C.
Get it here the sale price expires at midnight tonight!
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