Four squares are great looking houses. It appears that yours has had a very well done addition at some point. I think that vertical spindles would look better than the horizontal ones. It will open up the porches a bit and will look more welcoming.

Wow! Love your simple white farmhouse. Just like my Grandparents house. I don't have any great remodelling additions to tell you about but I think perhaps the solid wall railings to the porches are not original and would have been open balasters. it also appears the windows have already been updated but would look more authentic with 6 over 6 mullins and larger windows.
I love these old farmhouses...usually built solidly with forethought to providing shade from the sun and good air flow from the windows, though the rooms are often small by today's standards.

Have a professional come in with an infrared camera to look inside the walls, especially the exterior walls. It may be a great time to do air sealing and to add insulation. It would also show where framing members are in the walls.

I'd keep the simple farmhouse style, re-work the wonderful porches and enlarge the windows, if possible. A more interesting color scheme would add charm. You have more flexibility in the interior.


https://www.houzz.com/photos/1152-green-house-traditional-exterior-charlotte-phvw-vp~27384

Your house is a four square that may or may not have been added on to. It could originally have been white since the " White City" at the Chicago Worlds Fair set off a craze for white houses but more likely it was colored. A scheme like judyg has shown would be an excellent choice except I would recommend that with the size of the house a little bit darker body color would help keep it from feeling overlarge but because of the your very light roof you cannot very dark. Pick a color that works with the stone foundation.

Unfortunately someone put vinyl siding on your house and stripped away all the detailing and, really,
most of the character. If you look at the photo mentioned above, look at the cornice. Yours undoubtedly looked like that. You also had the porch railings covered or stripped away. Vinyl installers are never lovers of history. A house of your vintage and all Victorians before it always had frieze boards where the Soffits met the house and always had some kind of corner molding.

I would suggest that if you want to make the house more original and more interesting that the photo judyg submitted would be an excellent model

The biggest thing for me is windows. You could really make a big difference especially upstairs

Though your pictures are of the exterior, most of your questions, or information had to do with interiors.."6" baseboards, 4" window trim, quite a bit of wood". What on the interior is happening? are you repainting or renovating a room, like a bath or the kitchen? Does the wood trouble you and you want to know if painting it is OK? Or do you need wall colors and flooring ideas to balance the wood? More information about the major remodel you are planning will give us some direction to go! Post interior pictures and dilemmas for the designers to work with!

By the way...there are historic preservationists that do consults on the story, the history of a house, contact the local historic society and see if they can refer you to an historian to consult on the renovations.

Darling! Style elements to try to keep:
Boxy shape, Hipped roof, Wide porch, Large windows, Quiet style
Several web sites with more information. Seems white was the prevailing color!
http://www.oldhouseonline.com/american-foursquare/
http://www.antiquehomestyle.com/styles/stylehistory.htm

I just can't help myself, I love Craftsman details

take a google map drive around my old neighborhood .

http://maps.google.com/maps?ll=44.965565,-93.300716&spn=0.000435,0.002642&t=m&z=19&layer=c&cbll=44.965564,-93.300715&panoid=-FPW-XovnSsdsYBrQT6tWw&cbp=11,13.83,,0,0