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Door & Window Decisions

UPDATE! Be sure to check the bottom of this post for an update on this whole house renovation!

Yay!! I’m ecstatic over our new door! It’s the most beautiful front door we’ve ever had. Here is the shopping link for this amazing door.

SimpleDecoratingTips.com Door & Window Decisions

Both the Door and Windows Needed Changing

This post is about the door & window decisions we’ve had to make for the new house, (not a new house… it’s a 1970’s house, just new to us!) so let me take you back to before and what tell you what the issues were and how I formulated a plan to fix them…

This is the house last winter before we actually even bought it. (but had a fair idea we were going to, so I needed some pics to start ‘noodling’ over)

SimpleDecoratingTips.com Door & Window Decisions

It’s Such a Pretty Setting

We loved the lot the house sits on with water views on 2 sides and huge Norway spruce on the other side. I could also see the potential for the floor plan working well with our lifestyle. (that is once the floor plan was changed a little)

House Looked ‘Off’

But…

I didn’t love the way the outside of the house looked… at all!

I took some pics and then just stared at them over and over, trying to figure out what it was about how the house looked that was bugging my eye so much. I knew it wasn’t the color, though I don’t care for it, I’ve been around the ‘block’ (in a painting sort of way) to not be too negatively influenced by color.

What was it?…

Ah-ha…

I figured it out…

Do you see it too?

Lacks Symmetry

The house lacks symmetry. Every single section of the house has the windows and doors placed in an asymmetrical way. Nothing is balanced. It’s askew in a not eye-pleasing way. At least not to my eye… and since it’s my eye that bought the house and is now calling it home, that’s what matters.

Needs a Plan

Once I figured out what it was, I had to formulate a plan to fix it. This formulating took months… and I needed inspiration from other houses to help me visualize something different for this one.

There were other issues besides just the form part of the design not working too.

For instance, the solid front double door blocked the light from coming into the house, and didn’t actually function very well for us. I like the warmth the woodtone offered in the doors, (although it was fiberglass stained to look like wood) but a single door with large windows was more appealing to me.

SimpleDecoratingTips.com Door & Window Decisions

Window Issues

The picture windows in the living room (the bank of 3 to the right of the front door) didn’t open, therefore no wonderful breezes… Plus, the living room floor, now with a sunken floor, is going to be raised up the the level of the rest of the main floor. That meant if we kept the picture windows as is, they would basically be just a couple inches from the new floor height.

Asymmetrical is Not My Favorite

Back to the asymmetrical look…

SimpleDecoratingTips.com Door & Window Decisions

The difference in lengths of these 2 windows just didn’t look right to me.

Here you can see the gable end with the two different sized windows too. Both length and width are different.

SimpleDecoratingTips.com Door & Window Decisions

On this front view you can really see the difference.

Finding a New Home for Good Windows

This two windows were a fairly recent addition by the previous owner. They were in really good shape. The criss-cross grillwork was not removable, being stuck in the middle of the 2 panes of glass. I don’t like taking out things in a renovation job that are in good condition just for aesthetics, but there were so many aesthetically sound reasons these needed to be changed.

SimpleDecoratingTips.com Door & Window Decisions

Old Door Sold

Fortunately I listed the door on a Facebook garage sale site and it and the window sold within a few hours. I am happy that they will get re-used and not just thrown in a dump.

SimpleDecoratingTips.com Door & Window Decisions

So my inspiration on how to fix our new Mid-Century-to-Colonial-Revival house???

My Inspiration House

In a previous post I had mentioned that there one house in particular that has given me great inspiration on our new house project, but I was holding back showing that to you. Well today is the day I’m sharing that house with you!!

This summer while on a long bike ride through Kennebunk and Kennebunkport, we accidentally went up a street we had never been on. I was getting pooped by this point in our ride but was so thrilled when I came up the top of the hill to be able to rest and catch my breath with this house as my view:

SimpleDecoratingTips.com Door & Window Decisions

Isn’t she a beauty?! So many things to glean from her.

Just what I needed to help me understand what was necessary to fix our new house.

Notice how it too is a long rambling house, but it doesn’t seem awkward? Instead it’s visually intriguing.

I think that’s because every section of the house has symmetry and balance… as much as possible. There are still a few little surprises to that symmetry… like the 1 little window to the left of the front door alcove, or the slightly off center french door…

But that works. I believe because the things that can be symmetrical, are. Allowing a few asymmetrical things to cohesively exist and not rule the over-all balanced feel. Each section is unique and special, but still balanced.

Bringing it Home

So back to our house…

My formulation consists of a few main objectives:

  1. Symmetry… To divide the sections up and in each section create a sense of symmetry &/or balance to that section.
  2. Focal Point… To create a main focal point welcoming and pulling the eye, (as well as guests) to the front door.
  3. Keep the Quality… Recognize and maintain what on the house is quality.
  4. Colonial Revival Style… Without breaking the bank, in every change create more of a relaxed Colonial Revival feel to the house, getting away from the Mid-Century look.

So here’s where we’re at so far, (as of writing this post… which is actually a couple weeks behind real time):

SimpleDecoratingTips.com Door & Window Decisions

Don’t be swayed by the mix-match of colors on the house… there’s a plan for that too, but it will have to wait until spring warmth to paint. I’m just glad to have the windows and door and siding on before winter! (well most of it that is… there still is the garage wall of asymmetry to deal with)

The gable end windows are now both the size that the one smaller casement window was. We replaced both windows to Andersen double hung windows. (these two windows go into a bathroom and bedroom… not ideal windows for large expansive views with a busy road out front, so the lack of glass from inside is appreciated too)

The windows on the gable end now are placed symmetrically on the wall, each with equal distance from the outside corners. It was a compromise to lay them out this way vs. being able to divide up the space on the entire gable following the roof line.

The roof line comes over the porch area so centering them on the roofline gable didn’t look right.

The other option was to place them on the center of the gable each equal distance from the peak, but that didn’t work with the inside floor plan.

Therefore, we opted to use the actual wall, edge to edge, for the width to center the symmetry placement on.

This is such an improvement from the mis-matched sized windows before. I think I may play around with shutters next year on this wall to help that balance even more.

In the pic above you can also see the new living room double hung windows. They are basically the same width as the old picture windows, but are shorter. This will allow for the living room floor to be raised and still have about a foot of wall space below the sill to the floor. They also are now is the same height as the bay window to the right. And they open! Love that option!

My Opinion of Replacement Window Sales

A quick note here on replacing the windows. I started out my window replacement quest contacting a few different sources that only do window replacements. I gotta say… and forgive me if you’re in this industry… but I kind of think it’s a racket! The price to replace the windows on our house, which was like 12 windows, some large some small, was… $50,000!!!! Are you kidding me??!! That price was even after the ‘only-once-a-year-state-fair-discount’ of 40% off too.

Sorry, no way in ‘H-E-DOUBLE-HOCKEY-STICKS’ was I going to do that!

In fact, to buy windows at Home Depot and have our carpenter install them was such a better deal. Someone in the window replacement business is making a lot of money… there is an obvious huge mark-up in buying replacement windows through them.  Yikes!

Okay, off my soap box now… back to the picture above…

Beams are Looking Good

Those beams!!

That is the beginning of our new front porch!

We weren’t planning to build that this fall, but once we found out the roof was leaking in the attic, the push was on to do all the things that would be affected with a new roof. This porch was obviously one of those things we had to address before the roof could be replaced.

I’ll have more info and details on the porch in future posts, but for now I just want to draw your attention to what it’s already accomplishing…

The new porch, even in its unfinished state is creating a main focal point directing your eye to the front door as well as creating a sense of balance to the brick facade section of the house. Love it! I’m super excited to watch this progress.

The brick part of the facade is quality and that was something I really wanted to be able to maintain in the new look of the house. Even though the individual brick is shaped a little elongated for a classic Colonial Revival style brick… that’s OK, it still is quality and worth keeping. After all, the ‘colonial revival’ style part of the renovation is meant to be more of a suggestion than an adamant style.

The Walls with Smaller Windows

Now, a view from the inside…

SimpleDecoratingTips.com Door & Window Decisions

This is inside the living room. See the sunken floor? That will get moved up about a foot.

In the bedroom where that gigantic window came out they had to re-build the wall:

SimpleDecoratingTips.com Door & Window Decisions

For the first 7 weeks that we lived in the house, before the basement apartment renovation was complete, we had to stay in this bedroom. In that time, I was not a fan of the gigantic window, in fact I hated it!

This house sits on a fairly busy road, yes, across the road is a lovely view of the pond, but there are a lot of people passing by every day… and the bedroom isn’t a room I sit and gaze out at the view anyway, for Pete’s sake, it’s dark out by the time I get to relax in the bedroom, right?! I felt like the room was on display to the street… I just don’t want people seeing in the bedroom windows.

So simply stated, the new ‘normal sized’ window seems more balanced and right from the inside too. There is also another window a little bit larger on the adjacent wall too, so this room isn’t lacking in natural light, that’s for sure.

A Little More Inspiration…

This picture I found online, (I’m so sorry I can’t find the source, if you know it, please tell me!) it boasts the black sashes we see on so many houses in New England. I love that sharp defining line.

SimpleDecoratingTips.com Door & Window Decisions

Did you notice the new windows on our house have black sashes? Andersen windows allows the option to get a black sashes on the exterior. (I did white interior sashes and black exterior)

Then this house:

SimpleDecoratingTips.com Door & Window Decisions

It’s a house we walk and ride our bikes by many times when at Goose Rocks Beach in Kennebunkport, Maine. I love the treatment they did with the garage windows!

How smart!

The high windows let in light but not a view inside the garage. The long panel of trim extends the windows visually and finished with window boxes these small windows have become a feature!

I hope to do something similar to the garage wall on the front when we get to that project.

One More Look at the Front Door…

SimpleDecoratingTips.com Door & Window Decisions

Everything around it is still a wreck, but isn’t she lovely?

The view now from the inside the front entry is open to the pond and the light fills the room too.

Shopping Link for Door

I got a whale of a deal on this solid mahogany door here. An employee at Home Depot told me they are trying to compete with Amazon so have some killer prices on some things available online only. Sounds good to me! I love competitive pricing!

Did you know I now offer e-decorating? I can help you with your decorating needs via email, without having to step foot in your home. If you’re interested in more information, visit my e-decorating site: Frame and Frills. I’d love to help you with your project!

Here you can see all the posts on this whole house renovation:

Barn-Style-Garage
Blue-and-White-Backsplash-Tile
Re-Thinking the Living Room Furniture Plan
Creating a Built-In Faux Fireplace
Antique Inspired Kitchen Island
Wall Mounted Pot Rack
Front Entry Portiere
Repurposing Vintage Screen Door
Simple DIY Curtain
Tiling the 2nd bath floor
Before and After Living Room Renovation
Before and After Front Entry Renovation SimpleDecoratingTips.com
Incorporating Vintage & New Light Fixtures SimpleDecoratingTips.com
Fireplace Renovation SimpleDecoratingTips.com
How to Install an Interior Storm Window SimpleDecoratingTips.com
SimpleDecoratingTips.com How to tips Window Well Installation
Vintage Window Awning Redo SimpleDecoratingTips.com
hall closet into library simpledecoratingtips.com
front porch addition mostly done SimpleDecoratingTips.com
Hang a Group of Pictures with even spacing SimpleDecoratingTips.com
SimpleDecoratingTips.com
how to install a vintage ceiling light fixture simpledecoratingtips.com
SimpleDecoratingTips.com Renovating the Basement Apartment
SimpleDecoratingTips.com Cedar Closet Lining
SimpleDecoratingTips.com From a Tub to a Shower
SimpleDecoratingTips.com How I Made Curtains without a Sewing Machine
SimpleDecoratingTips.com Renovating a Whole House is a Lot
SimpleDecoratingTips.com Door & Window Decisions
SimpleDecoratingTips.com Adding a Front Porch
SimpleDecoratingTips.com Basement Apartment Bathroom Renovation Done
SimpleDecoratingTips.com Surface Mounted Suspended Ceiling
SimpleDecoratingTips.com we had to cut down 13 trees
SimpleDecoratingTips.com Repurposing Cabinets
SimpleDecoratingTips.com Progress Report on our Whole House Renovation
SimpleDecoratingTips.com Renovating Update Post
Dining Room Progress SimpleDecoratingTips.com
Main Floor Completion Celebration Giveaway SimpleDecoratingTips.com
SimpleDecoratingTips.com How to Change a Door Lock
SimpleDecoratingTips.com Luxury Vinyl Planks
SimpleDecoratingTips.com Basement Apartment Progress

Thanks so much for stopping by! Please feel free to follow and share this blog with your friends, as well as on Facebook, Pinterest, Flipboard, Bloglovin, YouTube and now Instagram!  I appreciate you reading along.

This post is linked up at these other sites: Between Naps on the Porch, Skip to my Lou, Coastal Charm, My Uncommon Slice of Suburbia, A Stroll Thru Life, Stone Gable, Yesterday on Tuesday, My Repurposed Life, DIY Dreamer, Savvy Southern Style, My Thrift Store Addiction, My Delightsome Life, Imparting Grace, Olives & Okra, Simply Sweet Home, Chic on a Shoestring, DIY Showoff, Tatertots & Jello

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Welcome to Simple Decorating Tips! I’m Liz, the author, and I’m so glad you’re here!

My goal is to encourage you with DIY tips, techniques and tutorials so you feel empowered to join in the fun! Along with this DIY blog, I have a DIY shop, Frame and Frills!
Frame and Frills is in Wisconsin. I stock amazing DIY products! Fusion Mineral Paints, ReDesign Transfers, Decoupage, Waxes, loads of DIY Goodies, re-done Furniture and more! Even if you're not close to where the shop is in Wisconsin, good news... I ship nationwide, (USA) daily! Check out the link here and let's get your DIY on!
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Welcome to Simple Decorating Tips! I'm Liz, the author, and I'm so glad you're here! My goal is to encourage you with DIY tips, techniques and tutorials so you feel empowered to join in the fun! Along with this DIY blog, I have a DIY shop, Frame and Frills!
Frame and Frills is in Wisconsin. I stock amazing DIY products! Fusion Mineral Paints, ReDesign Transfers, Decoupage, Waxes, loads of DIY Goodies, re-done Furniture and more! Even if you're not close to where the shop is in Wisconsin, good news... I ship nationwide, (USA) daily! Check out the link here and let's get your DIY on!


Disclosure Policy: According to FTC guidelines, I want you to be aware that some of the content of this blog may be a source of income and therefore may be used to promote products, services, or other businesses. I will only choose to promote products/services/businesses that I feel will be beneficial to my readers. While I hope to generate a small profit for my time and effort to create this blog, I hold myself to the highest standard of integrity. I appreciate my readers, and make it my goal to deliver quality, honest material on this blog through each post. Thanks for reading along, Liz

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Sharing is great! Please feel free to share this blog with your friends, as well as on Facebook and Pinterest and Flipboard and Houzz and YouTube the more the merrier! I appreciate you stopping by. But please remember that all photos, images, text and content are owned by SimpleDecoratingTips.com. So anything you share, please be sure it always links back to my original post it came from. Please do not remove watermarks, crop or edit anything without written permission from me first.

Disclosure Policy: According to the FTC guidelines, I want you to be aware that this blog is a source of income and may occasionally incorporate endorsements or testimonials and shopping links. It is important to me to disclose this to you. The content of this blog is a source of income and therefore may be used to promote products, services, or other businesses. I will only choose to promote products/services/businesses that I feel will be beneficial to my readers. Products provided to me by my advertising partners for my review are given to me free of charge with no cost to myself. This does not ensure a positive review of the product in any way. While I hope to generate a small profit for my time and effort to create this blog, I hold myself to the highest standard of integrity. I appreciate my readers, and always make it my goal to deliver quality, honest material on this blog through each post. Thanks for reading along, Liz

Disclosure Policy According to Federal Trade Commission guidelines, I want you to be aware that this blog is a source of income and may occasionally incorporate endorsements or testimonials. It is important to me to disclose this to you. The content of this blog is a source of income and therefore may be used to promote products, services, or other businesses. I will only choose to promote products/services/businesses that I feel will be beneficial to my readers. Products provided to me by my advertising partners for my review are given to me free of charge with no cost to myself. This does not ensure a positive review of the product in any way. My truthful opinion will be what I state, no matter if I'm getting paid or not. Accuracy and truth are the priority for me on this blog's information, no matter if it's about a product or anything else. Not every product or service or store etc. may be mentioned in each and every post as an affiliate. While I hope to generate a small profit for my time and effort to create this blog, I hold myself to the highest standard of integrity. I appreciate my readers, and always make it my goal to deliver quality, honest material on this blog through each post.

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