Hello Home Improvement & Repairs followers! I am Shanna and I am "new" around here. I say "new" in quotes because I have been around HIR since it started but this is my first official appearance on the HIR blog. I am normally a reader and constant follower only.
Moving forward I am going to add some decor news, products, and ideas to the site--a softer side to HIR if you will. I will leave the major DIY and How-To's to Matt as that is not near as fun and interesting as discussing lighting, paint colors, rugs, furniture, and everything to make your house a home. If you are into that, check out this section when you are visiting HIR.
What better subject to discuss for my very first post than home exterior styles. The exterior of your home is the very first thing anyone sees about your home. It gives them an insight as to what your style is. Unless, like me, your home exterior is nothing like you want it to be and says nothing about you!
We've made significant improvements to the interior of our home, but I am dying to completely redo the exterior, so I find myself looking at everything exterior home-related lately. I spend hours looking at colors, styles, stones, shutters, windows, exterior doors, gutters, literally everything exterior related. When we first purchased our home a few years ago, I said immediately that I wanted to do a complete exterior overhaul. This is still very much a desire of mine and something I think about every time I pull into my driveway.
I love these online simulators that allow you to make virtual changes to a home's exterior, sampling different roofing styles, siding styles, and different colors for the roof, walls, accent walls and trim! These images came from the Davinci Roofscapes simulator, which is free to use and even lets you upload a photo of your own home to try out different looks.
I want the exterior of our home to be beautiful and represent us, but I'm the mother of three children, so our family budget doesn't currently afford a full exterior overhaul. But a girl can dream, and dream I can do for free.
Right now all the rage in home exteriors is the farmhouse look, painted white brick, or white siding.
While I love this look myself, my true exterior love is the craftsman style. Although I would like a large farmhouse porch to go with it. I love incorporating wood on the exterior so the craftsman style is perfect for me. My husband happens to also like this look, and finding a style we both agree on can be a challenge at times, so this is a huge win for me!
Thanks to Pinterest I have taken parts of several different home exteriors and made the exterior of our house into the exterior home of my dreams....in my mind. After all, you have to see it to achieve it, right? Now to convince my husband that we NEED this and encourage him to DIY it!
— Shanna Q.