As desperate as we were for a house back in November, when the one we bought came on the market, my husband didn’t even want to go look at it. He really disliked the 1970s look and the all-brown exterior.
I promised him the first thing we’d do in the summer is update it, and I kept my promise! I’m excited to share the completed first part of our 1970s house exterior makeover!
A lot went into getting the house to look how it does today, and I will give you all the details!
The first part of the exterior makeover was my DIY limewash stone column project that I shared a couple of weeks ago. That transformed the bright orange rock column to a more neutral beige color that helped remove some of the 1970’s vibe of the house.
After that, we had to pick our paint colors. We purchased several samples of paint and I’m so glad we did!
The paint looked much different on the house than it did online. Always get paint samples! The colors we thought we might use based on our internet mockups were not good once we put them up.
We ended up choosing Sherwin-Williams Pewter Green for the main body of the house, and Sherwin-Williams Escape Gray for the trim. Of course we were a little nervous about our color selection (because who isn’t?!?), but as soon as the painters started work, we were in love!
What we especially love about this color scheme of Pewter Green and Escape Gray is that these greens are different than any of the greens in our yard. There’s always a concern with green exteriors that the house is going to fade away into the landscaping, but these greens do not allow that to happen.
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As part of our Phase 1 Exterior Updates, we also swapped the light fixtures. We chose fixtures from the Kichler Barrington lighting collection, because we liked the wood-look accents to mimic our garage door.
There was even a Barrington post lamp light available, so we were able to coordinate our two lamp posts with the fixtures by the garage and front door.
One thing I did after posting this entry is paint the door to look like wood! It’s a wood door that the previous owners painted orange. I used a faux finish technique to make it look like wood again, so that it ties in with the garage door. You can see the wood look technique in the linked blog post!
Oh, and to see how I made that DIY Address Number Plaque, find the tutorial on my Instagram!
After painting the door, the next part of the makeover MAY be adding some stained cedar wraps to the bottom halves of the porch columns (again, to tie in with the garage door and lighting), and painting a stenciled tile pattern on the front porch concrete. Will it all happen this summer? I don’t know.
And then someday we will replace landscaping near the porch and the lily-patterned sidelight next to the door. (Update: we did this! Come see how we ripped out the bushes and installed a beautiful front yard patio in this area!)
For now, we are so happy that our 1970s home has taken a huge step into the present.
I hope you like the new look as much as we do!
JB says
It’s not too bad, but I’d rather have more dark wood accents and keep the orange brick. But those are my tastes anyway and I think it still looks quite nice.
Scottie Shull says
I love your garage door too!
Is it real wood or a wood skin? Mine are 25 years old and white.
Do you mind sharing the information.
I absolutely love the green and the rock transformation. Looks so modern.
Bre says
Hi, Scottie! Please accept my apology for being so late to respond to you! Our garage door is not real wood. It is made by CHI Overhead Doors and they have lots of faux wood options to choose from!!! :-). Thanks for stopping by!
Trista says
Hi! I love to know more about those low hedges you have wrapping around your house? What kind of shrub are they?
Bre says
Hi, Trista! Those are yews! They are almost indestructible!!!
Louise Chalupka says
Hi
Your home is beautiful the updates are stunning. We too bought a 70’s home and are currently working on updating the interior. We plan to paint the “ brown” siding to a charcoal and replace doors and outdoor lighting.
A challenge but the bones are there
Louise from Ontario
Bre says
Hi, Louise! Congrats on your new home and I hope you have so much fun with the updating process! It’s so rewarding to see it come to life with some freshening up!!! Enjoy!
Kristi says
We have a 70s contemporary too. I browsed Pinterest for color inspiration and this is definitely it! The color looks so different on the paint chip; looks more blue/green in the photos. Anyway, I love it!
Bre says
Hi, Kristi – yay! I’m glad this is helpful! We still LOVE the color two years later. No regrets. Definitely get a sample and try it on your house to make sure it’s the one for you. I hope it is!
Kathryn says
Mt daughter sent me a picture of your house with the washed stone. I love the color of the house. I found where you gave the name of it. Sherwin Williams pewter green. I just looked it up in my Sherwin Williams paint book and it it very dark and grey looking. Not at all like your house. Is that the correct color?
Bre says
Hi, Kathryn! Thank you! Yes, Sherwin Williams Pewter Green is the color! :-). I recommend getting a sample pot and testing it on your house. All paint colors can look different depending on factors such as time of day, sun conditions, and even the surrounding landscaping!
Pat Pape says
Totally inspirational!!
Bre says
Pat, thank you!! So sweet. 🙂
Lynn says
This is a fantastic transformation! Even more impressed that you did it yourself. You
have convinced me to do this to our home both on the inside fireplace wall & the exterior partial wall & stone gate posts. Thanks for such an “inspiring” post!
Bre says
Hi, Lynn! THANK YOU!! I really appreciate your nice note. And yes – you can totally do it! So easy!! Good luck with your project. Thanks for stopping by!
Lindsay says
Hi Bri — I’m thrilled that I found your post! We’re having our house painted next week and are set on Pewter Green, but are having difficulty picking our trim color. Would you mind sharing the shade of black that you selected for around the windows? Thanks for considering!
Lindsay says
Oops typo! *Bre
Bre says
Hi, Lindsay – I am so excited for you!!! I just love Pewter Green and I hope you will, too! I’m really sorry but the windows were a prefinished trim color – like they’re not painted. So I don’t have a color name to give you. I’m sorry!
Kolleen says
Oh my gosh! Your color choices really worked out. I agree picking a paint color is agonizing. You are right that with the touch of blue in the paint it looks great with the landscaping but doesn’t get lost. I’ll remember this trick! I found your post through the original post on the limewashed column. Another excellent choice!
Bre says
Hi, Kolleen- thank you!! Aaah we were so happy to get the exterior all spiffed up. It’s so amazing what paint can do for ANYTHING! :-). Thanks so much for stopping by and checking out my posts! Have a great day. 🙂
Rosalena Huarcaya says
Congrats on the exterior of your home! I too have a 70’s home with similar rock trimming all around bottom of home-a “lovely frame”. Since too expensive to remove and replace with real stone or re-stucco home, I think my only choice is to paint it. My question is if your exterior stones are real or the fake 70s stone? Mine is definitely fake. Can the Romanio limewash paint be used on the fake stones? (They look very similar to yours). Thank you so much!
Bre says
Hi, Rosalena – YES! You can do wonders with paint or limewash! I know that if you paint or limewash you will be so happy! So these rocks on my house are real rocks, and unfortunately, I don’t know if the limewash can be used on a synthetic surface. My hunch is no, because the limewash seeps into the material, and if it’s a solid surface there’s nothing for it to settle into. BUT it would be worth reaching out to Romabio to find out if they have experience with this. They will be able to answer your question. Thank you and good luck!!
Kristine C. says
Hi Bre! Wow, what a beautiful transformation! And you did such a great job limewashing your stone! Which is how I found your blog, because we want to do the same thing to our exterior stone but I’m so nervous.
I have a few questions and if you’d have to time to answer them I’d be so grateful. I’d like to do more of a “thin glaze” over our stone to tone down and make uniform the orange and dark colors vs totally cover the color. I don’t want blotchy stone color like Romabio demonstrates. Do you think if I made the lime mix super thin it would give me that toned-down effect? Also what undertone do you think Riposo Beige gave with your orange stone? My monitor maybe says green-beige or yellow-beige? Also, now that it’s been a few months, has the rain washed away any of the limewash? We live in Florida and get some really heavy rains at times. I’d hate to be re-applying all the time! Thanks so much for your time to answer all my questions. I’m ordering a small quart of a few colors to do some sample work. I look forward to following your blog!
Bre says
Hi, Kristine – thank you! We are SO pleased with the outcome of this project! I will try to answer your questions, and you can always email me (averagebutinspired@gmail.com) if you need more info! 1. You can make the limewash as thin as you want, and you can definitely avoid a blotchy look. With orange, you’ll have to be careful because too thin of a limewash mix could result in the stone looking pink when it’s covered. You will just have to see if it’s looking how you want, and if not, mix up a thicker batch and reapply. 2. Riposo Beige gave us a creamy beige color. I see no green in it (that could be happening because of the green paint of my house now) – it’s definitely more of a yellowish beige as opposed to a pure white or gray. I also did my interior fireplace in Riposo Beige and I have a blog post on that, too, so check it out and see if the color looks different to you there. 3. We’ve had no problem with it washing away at all! It looks just as good as the day we applied it! Romabio says it should last many years, so I believe them. 4. SO SMART to order the small containers to give it a try! Good luck with your project. It probably seems scary at first, but it is really easy to do and makes such a huge impact for a little cost!
Rhonda says
Wow! Love that color!!!
Bre says
Thanks so much, Rhonda!
Carrie says
GORGEOUS! Amazing what a difference paint makes!
Bre says
Thank you, Carrie!!! xo
Karen says
House looks awesome. I too have a 70’s home with the same sandstone exterior. I’d like to limewash as well but can’t decide on the color…our roof is new and has a lot of the sandstone coloring. And because it’s so new we can’t afford to replace. Did you replace your roof to a lighter color?
Bre says
Hi, Karen! I did not replace the roof – it’s a brown color that was on here when we moved in! If you buy the smallest size of limewash available, it’s around $32. Maybe you could do a test to see how you like it with the roof and then power wash it off if you don’t like it! Or get one of those faux brick panels at Home Depot and limewash it, and then mount it up on the house to see how it looks with the roof? OR maybe someone could do a photoshop rendering for you?
Seana Turner says
Wow – what a transformation. I think it looked nice before, but I have to say that it looks so modern and terrific now! You have a gift for sure. That can be tough, picking a new color. You must smile every time you drive up:)
Bre says
Thank you so much, Seana!! You’re so right – picking a new color is tough! I’m thankful I didn’t screw it up. Ha! And yes, it still makes us feel happy when we pull up!