Oh the gray color I’m in love with is Booth Bay Gray by BM

Becki Owens homes are absolutely stunning

https://www.thecreativityexchange.com/2019/06/utah-valley-parade-of-homes-2019.html?fbclid=IwAR1Pk3BdHaAUTig1bvKn_zCrokrnVr2RuKkwns9M2ILKLQ1rGIV8YljERQM. In this link is a photo of BM Booth ay Gray on exterior door

Yes! I keep seeing Becki Owens too.

Mega, I told you I would send you a photo once I got the faux headers up.. I finally got them up!! I felt that my house needed shutters so I started pricing real cedar shutters (gulp). Wow,they were more than my budget would allow, so i built my own!! I’m so proud of myself for those! I had the shrubs pulled up and will be getting new landscape. I still need some faux Stone somewhere!! I can’t seem to find any honest contractors. Such a bummer. Hope your house build is coming along!!

C W -WOWW!! This looks great! Love the shutters! The faux headers look great as well! You made those!? Our house is coming along. Next is shingles :) Thanks for sharing your pic!

Megz your home is going to be gorgeous!! Did you decide on white or black windows? I can’t wait to see it finished. Yes, I did make everything myself including the faux headers but I’m in a design dilemma with my headers. Not sure if I like my home with or without them. I think I need bias opinions. I can easily take them down. I know once I get the stone added on it will give me the depth in contrast I m looking for. Here is a photo without. Please tell me your opinion. Thank you

Are those shutters hung on hinges and held in place by shutter dogs? If not they'll never look right. Just say no to stick on shutters!

The shutters are aesthetic only, as well as the “stick” above windows. I rather like my non functioning shutters, it’s the faux headers I am on the fence with.

All of the material I used was Western Red Cedar

Surprisingly I think I like it better without the headers. It’s almost like the headers bring down the height of the window. And I agree stone would add depth and contrast and the possibilities are endless. But for what it’s worth I like the simplicity of the way it is now too.

I’m with you on the non functioning shutters. The functioning ones are great if you’re in a hurricane prone area, but if not.. the hinges and dogs are just something you have to worry about rusting, fading and warping. Not worth risking rust lines staining your pretty white exterior.

I think the lighter color of the shutters provides a nice relief. The dark headers give a "unibrow" look. Maybe if lighter.

Thank you both for the opinions on the faux headers. I am definitely leaning towards taking them down. And more than likely will. I do love my shutters. In the southeast we do not need them to be functional. Most homes here have the vinyl shutters and the hinges/dogs are sold separately for an astronomical cost. Thanks again. This is still WIP

Seaborne I’m still laughing at “eyebrows”. You’re right though

^ unibrow. Hah

Hanging shutters properly has nothing to do with needing them to be functional. It has to do with how they look, it obvious that stuck on looks wrong and leaves a bad impression about the exterior of the house. In many ways they just look silly, like a person wearing clown shoes. Why get concerned about the aesthetics of the exterior if it already looks wrong?

I've seen more faux beams, faux stone, faux granite, faux ceilings, and faux faux on houzz than I ever need to see. These shutters are decor, and they seem to help the house. In that way, they are functional. 99 out of 100 people have no idea that shutters were originally functional.

Megz, I took down the headers today. I definitely liking a lot better. It does take constructive criticism sometimes to see a different perspective and that.. I can appreciate. I went for a drive today and observed homes in my area, I saw one with faux headers and every single home with shutters were “stuck on” without hardware. This was very interesting to me. I guess my town is a three ring circus. For now, I’m resting my weary body and mind. Lol stay tuned for future updates and I look forward to seeing your house when it’s done 😊

Stick on shutters vs properly hung shutters isn't a preference, it's the difference between "pleasing to the eye" and "something isn't right here". Most people won't be able to say what is off about a house with stick on shutters but they will know something is wrong. The solution is easy, buying hinges and shutter dogs isn't hard, installing these is well within the grasp of a DIY'er. So yes, I gave a solution applicable to the situation Megz.

Hello can you tell me what you made your faux headers out of? We are getting composite siding on our house this spring and want to add faux wood headers above the windows and not sure what to order. I don't think L headers would work since our windows and not sunken in but more flush. Inspiration pic attached

You could use Teak, African mahogany, Ipe, cedar. I’d probably go for African Mahogany .

I used cedar boards. I first used 1x8’s and the stain I used was way too dark. I am in the process of replacing them with 2 inch thick vs. 1 inch cedar due to being rot and insect resistant. Cedar was my personal preference after researching different woods species tolerant for my region.

Our house now is sided in t1-11 and the wood peckers are having a field day so that's the main reason we're siding the whole house in composite. I wanted to do the window headers in a maintenance free, woodpecker/insect resistant material which is why I assumed I'd need to do a faux wood. I'll have to look into cedar maybe.

That must be frustrating having the woodpeckers peck away at your most valuable asset. I can attest for insect and rot resistant but not woodpecker resistant. The home previously had the foam headers up to mimic cast stone but age and whether took a toll on them so I removed them. So glad I did. Btw, I love the dark color on your inspiration photo! If you find a suitable faux material for your headers, please let me know

Thank you! I fell in love with the blue too. We are going with Blue Spruce color in Everlast siding. I've found a few faux wood headers online but was hoping to get a few recommendations before buying something. I'll probably end up getting some samples to see.

Nice..... that will be pretty. If you don’t mind, please send me the links for which you found the faux headers.

Ones I've found so far

https://www.barrondesigns.com/wood-faux-wood-beams/shop-by-product/l-headers/

https://www.azfauxbeams.com/pages/headers

Cool. Thank you! I’m going to check them out.

@CW found this post again wondering how you installed headers. We had a really long delay on the brick I chose so it’s just now going up. Wishing I would’ve did some kind of headers now and wondering what I can do to jazz this up? Any suggestions welcome. (Posted this question earlier this evening to hopefully get some feedback)

Hey!!! It has been a while since we’ve spoke. I’ve been wondering if you guys ever finished your home. Megs, I had attached my faux headers with masonry screws. With you having the new build, I believe you had the opportunity to have real headers installed with brick. That would have been ideal. I’m not sure if at this point real one can be added as I’m not a builder. I think your home is going to be stunning with or without them. I’m betting once you add the wooden shutters you’ll see a difference and will forget all about the headers. Please keep me posted. I’ve got to be up at 4:00 am for work!! Yay😀

Hi C W!!! I love love what you did to the exterior of your home!! I am wanting to take off the stucco trim as well!! I have the same style as you did. When you removed it did you have to fill it with anything or did you just paint it all white and it just blended? Also what did you end up doing with the arch where it was alittle uneven from the removal? It looks so good I’m so excited to know I can just take this trim off!!!!!!

This is our exterior! The trim just dates the house so much!!!

Never posted an update. We still are waiting on the stone to be added over our foundation, the deck to be stained, and some landscaping bit the siding and window headers are done. We ended up using composite deck boards for above the windows. They turned out great. Will stain the deck cedar natural tone to match the headers.

I absolutely love those two colors. They compliment one another well. What a great idea for using the decking board for your headers!! That solves pest issues I suppose! Please send update photos once the porch is stained. Yay!! Awesome job!

Will do! Thank you! It really has made a huge difference on the overall feel of our house so far.

Hey Amanda! I love the color of your home. I thought about using a similar shade but at the end of the day I went with Night Blooming Jasmine by Behr. I filled in the nail holes with silicone caulk which I probably should’ve used caulk that is made for stucco because I can’t paint over the silicone, it just beads up. that the builder had used to attach those nasty, moldy, chipping creatures. They used 4 to 5 3 inch nails plus an adhesive. Those nails were a bit of an overkill if you ask me. I filled in the space where I’d removed the styrofoam trim with stucco patch made by Rapid Set. You have to be careful when blending it in with your existing stucco so it looks natural. Then I painted it!! I haven’t done anything over my arch yet still!!! I’m wanting to add stone accent around it. I’ve taken on another demon of a project and that’s landscaping. I hadn’t yard graded to correct my stormwater drainage issues and he apparently didn’t know what he was doing and left me with a complete nightmare. Red Georgia clay!!! And drainage is worse than before.

This is what I want to do eventually around my arch

Sarah, your porch is awesome! It’s huge too. I didn’t know it wrapped around! That’s one thing I miss about my old house, was the screened in porch! Beautiful !

Wanted to add some pics after deck was stained. Matches our "headers" perfectly!

Love love your color combination. The stain matches your “header” perfectly! I know you all have to be enjoying that porch! So happy for you

Thank you so much! The porch has been amazing!

Great thread! looking at ideas for lintals -this discussion.

Sarah, what type of decking did you use for the headers?

I used composite deck boards with the squared (finished) edge. I think deck boards usually have a groove or square edge, and the square edges are usually only used for steps or exposed edges of the deck. I chose Fiberon in Coastal Cedar, only because that was the best color match I could find to match my Olympic Cedar Naturaltone deck stain. It looks like that color is no longer available, but the boards are very heavy duty and nice. Here's the link to the product, just in different colors that I bought. I got the 20 ft square edge.

https://custom.homedepot.com/custom-decks/configurator/307288429/30456-1-in-x-6-in-x-20-ft/30474-Brazilian-Walnut/30442-Square

@Sarah Magoc - yours look AMAZING! Can you please tell me how they were attached? Were they attached after the siding went on? Thanks so much!

Yes, I would also like to know how they were secured. And also if you had to cut them for a custom fit. What was the best way to go about this?

We had our contractor do it so don't have exact details. However, I think they just cut the 20' boards to size and made faux caps for the ends

Oooooh, looks like they are attached to the window not the siding? how long have you had them up?

Yep. I tried commenting that but for some reason my keyboard was being difficult haha I think they went through the trim and siding, probably into the house to secure it good. It's been just about 2 years now! Holding up great.