Tiffany- yes your home is a basic colonial, however, it has been “remuddled” a bit. The roof overhang is odd. Usually the roof line only extends about 10” or less. The corbel on the right side looks like an afterthought to hold that extended roofline up. That is not authentic. There are some simple finishing touches you could do to improve your curb appeal. Paint the foundation cinder blocks a deep brick red to ground the house. Repair front steps and add small simple bench. Improve foundation plantings. When funds allow, paint the whole house white. See examples below of classic colonials. Might paint your front door bright red like home below. A different front door pediment with short roof would help protect front door and visitors.

Remove all the overgrown shrubs. They can damage your foundation. Plus they are so overgrown you can’t resurrect them with trimming. Just remove and create wider beds with rows of evergreens and some annuals skipped in.

New white or black trim windows would be excellent. The current ones look pretty old?

I think it might be a local style and there must have been a reason for the roof. Are there other houses like yours around?

Those windows look like they need some love! Is there a historical society that may have pictures of your home before the poor remodel? Or even dig around for previous owners, newspapers...

Here are some more pictures and links

PDF on American Foursquare

American Foursquare

Tiffany, emilyam had a good point. What are the other homes in the neighborhood like? The real estate listing can classify the home in a certain that may or may not be accurate. What do your neighbors say? Sometimes they can be a wealth of information of what has happened over the years with homes in a neighborhood.

Doesn't look like any Colonial I've seen. Are all the bedrooms on the upper floor? Kitchen and Family/Dining room on lower floor? Door in center of front of home? Stairs in center - typically at the front door?

Wow, thank you all for the abundance of great info to look into. I will attempt to answer some of the questions.

Majority of the windows are original, although still in working order and effective at keeping air out. The storm windows are rusted. Should I just replace those maybe? I'd like to keep the original windows themselves if possible.

I hardly ever see colonial homes in this area. Foursquare homes and arts and crafts homes in general are very popular here though.

The front door opens to a large main room with stairs in the back. Dining room to the left and another room to the right. We were told this room to the right was an add on, although it does have new windows it also has original trim and a built in that matches the rest of the house so I question that it was an add on, although I'm not certain what purpose it served. There are 3 bedroom and a bathroom upstairs. The kitchen is off of the dining room towards the back of the house.

Compare photos to your home for greater definition.

Classic Colonial · More Info

Classic Colonial · More Info

CCH Residential Settlement · More Info

Sorry Flo, you are wrong and after the OP's description of her house, I'm more convinced it's a typical Foursquare. Not all craftsman houses looked like your one example.

Tiffany, I highly recommend those two forums on Facebook. They helped me tremendously when I was building my craftsman inspired house. (I must have done a decent job too since several people thought I had "updated" an original craftsman house.)

There are some excellent books on craftsman houses too and American Bungalow Magazine is a wealth of information.

I think what is important here is what you want to do with your exterior. I too think researching this home with local libraries and authorities will help you with being authentic to the home. There might be photos from local archives of newspapers. My husband and I bought a home that was built in 1900 and we “restored” it using info a great niece of the original owner gave us including glass negatives of old photos of the house. She was visiting family and saw me in the yard and introduced herself and asked if I wanted these photos. It was a treasure trove. Took a lot of time, sweat energy, and money over time. But the town loved what we were doing and we so encouraging and helpful. Wonderful experience. Enjoy!

^^^ Also great advice for researching. :)

Easy test for colonial-- was it built before 1776? If yes, then it's colonial, if no then it it is something else. ( i nearly died laughing the day our New England realtor showed us a "Victorian Colonial", replete with turret) As with many houses built today, your house seems to combine multiple elements, perhaps distorted by remodeling that's gone on over the years. The floorplan of a foursquare is pretty diagnostic, your off-center front door throws me off. It's in the right period for a craftsman house, and the roof profile is consistent.

I'd pick whatever look you like and try to unify the elements to be consistent with that look. It might be helpful if you can try to unravel the changes that must have been made to it-- it seems really unlikely that anyone, even a present day tract builder would combine that pediment with those roof brackets!

"Easy test for colonial-- was it built before 1776? If yes, then it's colonial, if no then it it is something else."

Utterly ridiculous. Colonial is the Style... not the Construction era. lol

A house built later might be "colonial style" or "colonial revival", or some other term. In places that have real colonial houses it's an important distinction.

My house was built in 1915 and I've enjoyed learning about the period. I agree that it's a foursquare-esque house that probably once had a porch or substantial covered entry. The deep eaves and exposed rafter tails on the sun porch room are typical of that period. It looks like you have a fairly substantial stoop, so I wonder if that is the original base, and it was covered with a portico.

My portico was enclosed in 1946. I realized after searching property records that the house across the street was built by the same builder, and looks exactly how mine must have looked originally! Maybe looking at the other houses on your street/in your neighborhood will give you some clues about the entryway or other original details.