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tmacasek

To paint or not to paint…

3 years ago

We just had our exterior finished and now we can’t decide if we should whitewash our stone or leave it as is - a few questions: 1) should we paint/limewash the existing stone 2) should we add black or cedar shutters to any of the windows 3) should we paint the garage door?

Comments (19)

  • 3 years ago

    I like the lighter stone but no shutters on the windows.

  • 3 years ago

    No shutters, leave the stone alone. Change the black gutters to white. I wouldn’t make the garage door a feature, unless you repeat the wood from the peaks on it.

  • 3 years ago

    I’d also repeat the wood on the column of the porch area.

  • PRO
    3 years ago

    50/50 on limewashing the stone, absolutely no shutters, if you are replacing the garage door get one with windows and consider adding a pair of windows in the gable over the garage door or a pergola. That’s is a big blank area right now

  • 3 years ago

    Cute house! No shutters and leave the stone. Start on the landscaping, esp. sharp pruning of shrubs in the front bed.

  • PRO
    3 years ago

    We just had our exterior finished


    What was "finished"?

    I'd remove the decorative trusses (they do not work with the existing architecture), paint the gutters and garage door white.

    Work on landscaping.

    No shutters or changing the stone.

  • 3 years ago

    Don't paint or whitewash the stone, which adds color and texture to your house. I'm assuming by refinished you mean the siding was painted? It would've been better to have painted it a pale color from the stone, but too late. However, the previous suggestions are good, and I'm adding one more:


    --Run a pergola over the garage in cedar to echo the wood trusses. Hate these in-your-face, upfront garages that are so popular with builders but take away from the house itself.

    Beautiful Modern Southern Farmhouse by Steve Powell Homes · More Info



    --To draw attention to the house itself, get someone at a small garden center to give you a landscaping plan suitable to your zone to create a planting bed that will enhance the house and pull the eye away from the garage. A new garden bed could be an island as below or one that extends from the right side of the house to the edge of your walkway.

    12110 42nd Dr SE ~ Everett, WA · More Info



  • 3 years ago

    We recently redid the roof (GAF HD charcoal), black gutters, white LP Smartside shake panels, painted the front door, and added the cedar gable pieces. We really wanted to do a cedar eyebrow pergola over the garage, but ran on of money. We’d like to add it in the future! Thanks!

  • PRO
    3 years ago

    There's no room for shutters


    Adding windows or fake windows to the garage could help.

    I'd select a caramel color from the stone and paint the garage door.

    Don't whitewash the stone.


    I don't understand the wood gable brackets. They don't look appropriate on your home.



  • 3 years ago

    Its a nice house. Paint the garage door white. Paint those black gutters white. I could live with or without shutters. Your choice. I also agree, when you can afford it, put a pergola over the garage. You can upgrade your landscaping little by little, and I would like to see some small flowering trees in front yard. No painting of stone, or limewashing.

  • 3 years ago

    By not painting/whitewashing or building a pergola or adding shutters, maybe you have enough $$$ in your budget to spring for beautiful wood garage doors and entry door? Wood + brick/stone is always a good choice, perhaps because thats what we see in nature, its kinda in our genes. No, the truss ornamentation isnt authentic to the house style but if youve got natural wood repeated in the doors and/or other outdoor structures then it would fit.in just fine I think. Sometimes an eclectic approach can work, if you make use of good design principles (eg repetition, scale, proportion....)

  • 3 years ago

    The dark roof and gutters don’t work with the brown stone. The trusses don’t work with the style of the home. Paint the gutters white, remove the trusses, white wash the stone or, change the roof color to brown, paint the gutters white, keep the stone as is, remove the trusses.

  • PRO
    3 years ago

  • 3 years ago

    I like Beverly's garaage doors above.


    I think the sharp black angles of gutters at the roof corners are too much, too black.


  • 3 years ago

    Remove the trusses, they are distracting and unnecessary. Agree, paint the contrasting gutters white. No fancy garage door, garage should not be a focal point. No to white washing the stone.
    Keeping the garage door and the stone as is saves you enough to work on the landscaping.

  • 3 years ago

    Hahaha, thank you everyone for your feedback - but we just spent quite a bit of money on 1) the cedar gables 2) the black gutters 3) the LP SmartSide shake front so we won't be changing any of that. Based on many of the comments here we made a mistake. We'll probably go with something more like this - I agree with all of the comments about the landscaping (we'll be replacing the front walk as well next year) and the garage missing something (big blank slate). Thanks for the feedback everyone!


  • 3 years ago

    No cheap skinny shutters. Use the money on a cedar garage door, since you’re keeping the cedar gables. The gables look pretty random on this house since there’s no other cedar; a cedar garage door would add cohesion and class.

    And definitely agree on the black gutters. They’re pretty in-your-face (Look at me! I’m a gutter!)

  • PRO
    3 years ago
  • 3 years ago

    Looking to do something like this for the pergola.