Siding ideas for mid century modern that's been "updated"?

last year

We recently purchased a 1950's architect designed MCM house in central New York that is largely original on the interior, but has received some serious updates on the exterior. The original siding was vertical 1x3 wood -- I'm guessing it was natural, but it has been painted white for quite a while. At some point the flat roof and the upstate winters motivated the previous owners to add a peaked roof to the main house and garage. Hard to throw too much shame and blame on them as the winters here can be brutal. There are signs of previous water damage on the ceilings, but the new roof seems to have solved the leaking. They did follow the original angle of the old roof over the vaulted living room, so some of the original lines have survived. They also kept the original window sizes and the front door is still the wavy glass from the period. However, they used narrow horizontal vinyl siding to fill the new spaces, which looks really odd to us. The old wood siding is looking pretty rough, so we would like to have the place resided.

If we had an unlimited budget we'd tear off the peaked roof, do new hi-tech flat roof and use new vertical wood siding everywhere. However, that seems well beyond our budget, especially since the house will also need a new kitchen and two new baths ASAP.

Looking for suggestions on how to work with the hand we've been dealt. Horizontal siding strikes us as wrong for the long front elevation, so we're leaning towards vertical. Many of the MCM's in the area have board and batten in greens, blues, and browns. Are there other profiles we should consider? Are we wrong that white seems totally inappropriate, and would not have been the original color? (At least it looks a bit better now that we've removed the yellow shutters!)

We are currently leaning towards a vinyl board and batten in sage green with the front door painted in an orange for a pop of color, but would appreciate hearing any and all ideas.

We are wanting to get some contractors in to look at the project, but we want to have a better sense of the direction we want to take the design before we do. Thanks for any wisdom and opinions you have to share!

Current state of affairs with roof addition.

Architect's original elevation drawing:

Featured Answer

Jennifer Hogan

last year

Growing up in a flat roofed >3000 sq ft MCM home in PA we had to shovel the roof when we had more than a couple of inches of snow.

This home was kitty-corner to my parents home and solved the snow issues. Might have been a more attractive solution for your home.

The house I live in was built around the same time and has many MCM features, but the woman who built the house wanted a more traditional roof line.

I do like the detail they used with vertical board and batten against the brick.

When I think of MCM I don't see a one dimensional, one color exterior. I certainly don't think of bright white.

Using multiple textures and multiple colors is key.

I am just not sure how to incorporate some different textures and colors on your exterior. My head is foggy from cold meds and I am not very visionary today.

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Comments (7)

houssaon
last year
Can you rework the roof, so it comes closer to the original design? It has a negative impact.

The siding should be all stucco.
Lyn Nielson
last year
I'm with you on the easy fix of Board & Batten.

I personally like a dark gray (I have a siding called Shadow Mist)

Sage Green seems a bit common, too me.

an Aqua, Chartreuse Green, or the Orange you stated would all be appropriate Door colors.

Have fun!
wascussee thanked Lyn Nielson
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BeverlyFLADeziner
last year
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Patricia Colwell Consulting
last year
Waht a mess . I love MCM ranch style homes . I own one and they are IMO the perfect design for an exterior not to mention the great living space sizes. The drawing you show is that your architect now desgning this home ot the actual real original drawings? I like what is shown in those drawings IMO stop choosing anything until you figure out what is being done to hopefully bring the house back to what it should be and IMO that is not modern farmhouse .I need to have you tell us what you want from this house and how much money you want to spend. I do not agree it should be stucco . This is one of my faves for MCM landscaping and it also has the style of garge door and front door that woudl work for you. Please save for a bit to do this right. I do agree vertical siding but that gable has to go.If that is the LR on the left that window should be made larger. I live where we get tons of snow maybe every 5 yrs or so we need to shovel the roof but I would never change the roof style since it is such an itegral part of the house style.
wascussee thanked Patricia Colwell Consulting
wascussee
Original Author
last year
last modified: last year
That is the original drawing from 1950. As I said in my original post, in a perfect world with an unlimited budget we'd absolutely try to take it back to the original roof, but that seems cost prohibitive at this point in our lives. We need to get a new kitchen and two full bathroom renovations done ASAP as well. Not only did they add the gables, but also they removed all of the overhanging eaves, so it's not just a matter of tearing off the roof and trusses they've added.

We're resigned to the fact it won't look the way it was supposed to, but we are hoping to just make it look better than the current hodge-podge of horizontal vinyl siding above painted vertical wood and give it a pop of color, both for the siding and the wonderful front door. At this point I'd say we're leaning towards board and batten (blueish-grey?) for the house, but with new natural wood vertical siding in the entry way as a tip of the hat to the past. Seems that would still not prohibit us or a future owner from taking it back to the 1950 design.
palimpsest
last year
I wonder if doing something like this would define the kind of amorphous-looking left side
wascussee thanked palimpsest