Before and After: Exterior Gets a Thoroughly Modern Makeover
An architect preserves a ranch house’s midcentury bones while giving its facade an eye-catching refresh
This New Jersey homeowner is handy and patient. Working with architects at Princeton Design Collaborative, he has phased in home improvements over time according to a master plan they designed for him back in 2012. As an extremely handy guy, he has completed much of the work on his own during each renovation phase. In the most recent phase of the master plan, he transformed the exterior of his typical 1950s ranch house to make it look like a midcentury modern gem.
After: Master plans are great because they provide a coherent overall renovation plan that’s phased for when budgets and schedules allow over time. This homeowner already had completed three phases of the master plan, which included a workshop and laundry room, a backyard landscape and a finished basement. The original 2012 master plan included general changes to the exterior. “When our client was ready to tackle this phase, we dove into the specifics more deeply,” Conroy says.
For the new facade, Conroy created a cohesive look by focusing on the four elements below, using new materials.
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For the new facade, Conroy created a cohesive look by focusing on the four elements below, using new materials.
- Standing-seam shingle aluminum roof panels
- Vertical “A” clear 1-by-8-inch cedar siding with a natural oiled finish
- A white oak door, also with a natural oiled finish
- Cor-Ten steel around the bottom of the home, the entry porch and the side yard gates
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Conroy recommended shingle-style aluminum for the roof panels for its durability and residential dimensional character. The midtone gray color, which isn’t too dark, helps keep the house cool during the summer and blends in with the landscape.
“We wanted the front entry to create a sense of importance,” Conroy says. He wrapped the pylon column and the small porch roof it supports in Cor-Ten steel. “Using asymmetry here made this entry more dynamic,” he says.
The way the front door opens also is dynamic — it pivots open several inches from the jamb on the left side. The door is 4 feet wide and is crafted of white oak with a natural oiled finish. “White oak has a smaller graining pattern that makes it more dense. It holds up really well against the weather,” Conroy says.
Doors and windows: Marvin
“We wanted the front entry to create a sense of importance,” Conroy says. He wrapped the pylon column and the small porch roof it supports in Cor-Ten steel. “Using asymmetry here made this entry more dynamic,” he says.
The way the front door opens also is dynamic — it pivots open several inches from the jamb on the left side. The door is 4 feet wide and is crafted of white oak with a natural oiled finish. “White oak has a smaller graining pattern that makes it more dense. It holds up really well against the weather,” Conroy says.
Doors and windows: Marvin
New stainless steel address numbers mounted on the pylon are in a midcentury-style font and are backlit at night for visibility. Conroy recessed LED strip lights into the porch roof’s ceiling too.
Look to the left side of this photo to see how the architect repeated the roof color on the fascia concealing the gutters and on the downspouts.
Look to the left side of this photo to see how the architect repeated the roof color on the fascia concealing the gutters and on the downspouts.
Conroy anchored the house in Cor-Ten steel corrugated panels. The horizontality of the panels contrasts the verticality of the cedar siding and gives the home a grounded feel.
“The Cor-Ten forms a protective coating of rust that blends beautifully with the cedar above and landscape below,” Conroy says. “And it will stand up to moisture from the ground much better than the cedar would have.” He repeated the use of Cor-Ten in the landscape, so the material also connects the architecture to its surroundings.
“We helped our client source a lot of the materials he used on Houzz, including the Cor-Ten steel,” Conroy says. Sources found on Houzz included Western States Metal Roofing for the Cor-Ten steel, standing-seam shingled metal roof and exterior window trim; Marvin for the windows and doors; Sherwin-Williams for paint; and Emtek for the door handles and other hardware.
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“The Cor-Ten forms a protective coating of rust that blends beautifully with the cedar above and landscape below,” Conroy says. “And it will stand up to moisture from the ground much better than the cedar would have.” He repeated the use of Cor-Ten in the landscape, so the material also connects the architecture to its surroundings.
“We helped our client source a lot of the materials he used on Houzz, including the Cor-Ten steel,” Conroy says. Sources found on Houzz included Western States Metal Roofing for the Cor-Ten steel, standing-seam shingled metal roof and exterior window trim; Marvin for the windows and doors; Sherwin-Williams for paint; and Emtek for the door handles and other hardware.
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This photo shows the play of horizontal Cor-Ten steel and vertical siding. “The horizontality of the Cor-Ten grounds the house, elongates it and makes it look bigger than it is,” Conroy says.
There’s also a new skylight, seen here above the front door. It fills the tiny foyer inside with natural light.
The homeowner refurbished the original site-built windows himself. The architectural firm helped him source insulated glass and the fly ash composite board he used on the exterior window frames. “The white provides some pop and accentuates other architectural components,” Conroy says.
There’s also a new skylight, seen here above the front door. It fills the tiny foyer inside with natural light.
The homeowner refurbished the original site-built windows himself. The architectural firm helped him source insulated glass and the fly ash composite board he used on the exterior window frames. “The white provides some pop and accentuates other architectural components,” Conroy says.
Seen here on the right, a one-car garage is tucked back from the house. The Cor-Ten extends around the garage. The new door is aluminum and frosted glass.
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The homeowner collaborated with Princeton Design Collaborative to design the backyard about 10 years ago. This was phase one of the master plan, which you can read about here.
“We continued the use of Cor-Ten steel to create a closed side yard space,” Conroy says. Here he shows how a large side yard gate pivots open to the backyard. This pivoting echoes the way the front door of the house opens.
“We continued the use of Cor-Ten steel to create a closed side yard space,” Conroy says. Here he shows how a large side yard gate pivots open to the backyard. This pivoting echoes the way the front door of the house opens.
The Cor-Ten steel siding on the right side of the house lines up with the height of the adjacent garden gate.
Before: This photo shows where a three-season breezeway had been located, in between the garage and the left side of the house. During one phase of the master plan, Conroy had his client convert the breezeway into a fully insulated part of the home. During the next phase, it will be incorporated into a kitchen renovation.
After: Cor-Ten steel siding also covers the back of the garage, delineating it within the facade. The homeowner uses the garage as his workshop, and a new skylight brings in additional natural light.
The former breezeway was where the double windows next to the garage are now. As part of the master plan, these windows will serve the kitchen when it is renovated in the future.
The former breezeway was where the double windows next to the garage are now. As part of the master plan, these windows will serve the kitchen when it is renovated in the future.
This photo shows the roofline’s 32-inch-deep soffits. (A soffit is the portion of the roof that hangs out from the house under the eaves.) “We used white paint on the soffits to reflect as much light indoors as possible,” Conroy says. The homeowner painstakingly lined up the cedar siding with the white PVC boards on the soffits. Note how the recesses between the cedar boards line up with the grooves between the soffit boards.
Part of renovating the facade also included things like adding high-performance insulation and an air barrier system.
For those keeping track, the completed phases of the master plan so far include:
“I praise people who choose to do a master plan,” Conroy says. “It’s a great way to work toward renovating as time and budget allows, and it avoids having them rip out things later that don’t flow. Unfortunately, [ripping out] is common when you renovate piecemeal without having a master plan.”
- Renovating the workshop and laundry room
- Renovating the backyard
- Finishing the basement
- Making over the exterior facade and converting the breezeway
“I praise people who choose to do a master plan,” Conroy says. “It’s a great way to work toward renovating as time and budget allows, and it avoids having them rip out things later that don’t flow. Unfortunately, [ripping out] is common when you renovate piecemeal without having a master plan.”
The homeowner tells Conroy that lots of neighbors and passersby stop to take photos and tell him how much they like his home’s new look. But perhaps the biggest compliment came when he opened the pivoting front door to a UPS deliveryman, who said, “I really dig your house!”
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House at a Glance
Who lives here: A DIY enthusiast
Location: Lawrenceville, New Jersey
Size: 1,300 square feet (121 square meters)
Architect: Princeton Design Collaborative
Before: The original house had great bones, but subsequent work had taken away some of the midcentury details on the facade. “The inherent strengths included low rooflines, nicely proportioned roof overhangs and site-built windows with a modern sensibility and proportions. And the garage was thoughtfully set back from the main body of the house. This avoided having the garage overshadow the main structure,” principal architect John Conroy says.
The weaker aspects of the house were the asphalt shingle roof and the vinyl siding that had replaced the original painted redwood siding. “The detailing was clunky, and a poor selection of some replacement windows had been made. They did not fit seamlessly with the architectural aesthetic of the original house,” Conroy says. “The idea was not to radically change its form, but to take the structure’s good bones and accentuate them to create a distinctive presence. At the same time, we wanted to keep it rooted within its neighborhood, which has many similar midcentury modern homes.”
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