What’s in the rooms behind the windows?

I kind of feel your house might suit a courtyard type situation, maybe one or more of the windows could be a door, that would reduce the amount of siding too. Is your front door a dark colour, can’t tell.

J Williams, thank you. I do want to add a pergola over the kitchen windows and extend the patio there in the front. Front doors are dark green right now and will be replaced, we haven't chosen that yet. No more doors, we have 4 that we are making into windows instead of sliders already, who needs 6 sets of sliders in one house?!

Is the stone a facade? A really big planter by the front door might be nice.

Contractor seems to think when they built it in 1985 it was done by hand, real stone. It's so ugly though I can't imagine. Any ideas for the color/style of exterior? Hardie planks, board and batten, stucco?

...

Yes to Beverly's suggestions! Also - your house isn't bad at all. Since it's yours, I believe you're being extra critical. It looks like you have a lovely lot, and the house is typical mid 80's Florida - it works. Reminds me of the Golden Girls...thank you for being a friend...

You have a ton of amazing vegetation behind your home, I think you need some landscaping elements closer to the front of your home so it doesn't sit so starkly on the land and call attention just to the wonky stone pillars. I'd combine many of the suggestions above - white wash the stone, paint the wood a great color that compliments and is close to the stone color without looking like you are trying to pull off a miss mashed match. Then put some planting in front of the various stone columns to detract from the even more.

Your lot is stunning. Congrats!

My inspiration with white painting and dark window trim

Or

Here are a few inspiration pics:

Hermitage · More Info

Bit of color inspiration.

@celerygirl omg thanks!! Windows will be white, we didn’t have the budget for black and don’t like black enough to spend the extra anyway. Do you think navy blue will be nice with white chunky trim? We do have to do something with the bottom 1/4 of the house mostly throughout though, all the boards are damaged and crumbling bc of poor drainage and termites. Top 3/4 is fine.

Beverly thanks! I wish our board and batten and stone looked like your pics lol. I’m off to google the heck out of lime washing stone that looks like mine!

@kendrah yes thank you we are going to for sure do some landscaping in front even possibly make the driveway circular. Need to figure out exterior materials first!

@Arch13 it’s bad compared to the rest of the neighborhood. The homes here are so nice and grand with lovely landscaping etc. I feel bad for my neighbors lol. But it is typical 1980s. We bought it for the land, 1.3 acres kind of unheard of in my area.

Hardie Plank cement siding in a board and batten style could be a good option for you. I'm in Florida as well and Florida and wood siding are not the best marriage!

Here is almost navy

and cream

Darker with blue

Let people give review on dark paint.

@katinparadise not sure what they were thinking! Loving the hardie planks.

@celerygirl love the dark but the stone ruins it I think.

They were thinking cheap! We have a few wood houses down here in our area. They're a tough sell when they're surrounded by stucco!

Almost navy, hands down. Love it with the wood door. Maybe windows with no muntins?

I would have the stone removed. There isn't that much of it.

I agree with emmarene; remove the stone. Anyway, because

" We do have to do something with the bottom 1/4 of the house mostly throughout though, all the boards are damaged and crumbling bc of poor drainage and termites."

most likely you will discover that the stone has to come off because of termite & possibly some moisture damage behind the stone.

So it will probably be cheaper to start over with a blank slate--remove all of the siding--than invest the effort/ labor costs to salvage any of what is there now.

Obviously, the drainage issues need to be fixed before you do anything to the house.

We are scared to know what is behind the stone haha... but I'm going to talk it over with my contractor to see what he thinks, I know he'll say remove it all now. All 2x4s, insulation and everything was taken care of/fixed inside the house, a lot more damage than we thought. We'll also be adding gutters and rerouting them.

I think it is better idea to pick some light gray/greige from stones. I can not see clear what stones colors are.If you post a close pic from stones we can see colors. I can try some of them to mock up.

I think the navy only emphasizes the stone. I’d go with a much lighter color.

What I got now (but pic is not good)

There are Repose Gray SW and Stamped Concrete SW look pretty appealing to me. Also white. I am a lot into whites! Not bright white , but as Reserved White would go good with whiter windows trim.

Here's a close up of the stones. Everyone says they aren't bad, I kinda hate them.

If you are keeping the stones, use a color that blends with the stones otherwise the house is too chopped up. If the stones come off the darker colors could work.

I agree with you guys, I LOVE the navy but if we keep the stones they just stand out too much. If we remove them and go with navy is smooth stucco or hardie planks or board/batten style better for that color?

And does anyone know what these planks are called that area on the house now? They are wood/board.

Is it a sheet product or individual boards. If it is a sheet product it is called T-111, otherwise it looks like cedar lap siding- very popular in the 80's.

HALLETT I think it's T1-11 I just googled both. Can't believe anyone would do this to a house in south florida.

If you don’t like it, then feel free to change it. The stones are not unique or impressive. They are very oddly applied, that’s for sure.

T-111 looks great on mid century modern houses but is terrible in your application, asking for rot and termites that close to the ground!

If you are set on the 6 over 1 traditional windows I would use hardi clapboard siding everywhere versus stucco. I would also remove the stones (maybe today, all it takes is a crowbar) . It's a shame because the stone itself is nice enough but just so oddly tacked onto the house. If they had done the whole recessed entry area it would have been fine... The 80's were an unusual time

LOL, everyone is right. That stone isn't bad; it is awful.

I would call for a backhoe and bury it very deep.

LOL unusual is a very nice word for the 80's. The original owners here didn't miss a beat!

I would not pick navy for a south Florida house. Too dark. Talk about heat gain!

I don't think the stone is bad. I'd change the wood to stucco and paint it one of the stone colors so it all blends together.

cpartist I never would have thought of that, does that really make a difference with all the new insulation and impact windows? With a gray roof (we'd still do gray if we redo it in the next few years) I'm thinking either white or navy, no stone colors.

I rarely disagree with cpartist, but this time I would say changing the T-111 to frame/stucco is not a good idea. I would go for hardy board over stuccoing the T-111. Reason: T-111 rots easily in our area of S Florida and putting stucco over it doesn't stop the wood from rotting. It only stops you from seeing the rotting wood. I'm a Realtor here and T-111 just about screams the 1980's. I would remove the stone too, just because it doesn't add anything. If you want to update the house, go for the hardy board.

The stones might work with stucco, but they just look silly with the board and batten. Pick your battles; remove stone or change B&B; I don't think you can keep both.

You do not stucco over wood siding, you rip it off and install a lath and stucco system over a frame wall.

Dark colors in FL not only heat up more, but fade really quickly. You will need to repaint in a few years.

Denita, we would rip it all off before adding stucco or hardie planks.

I don’t think the stone is bad. You could keep that color or use enhancer to darken it. Wet it down and see if you like that look-that’s what an enhancer would do. I would then recommend a light stucco. And one day when you need to replace the roof, go for tile. That would give it a completely different look. I think you have a diamond in the rough. You have a nice lot with beautiful palm trees! Some great landscaping could take you even further! Best