Dutch Door source and FAQ
Greetings, friends! I’m excited to share updates on our exterior and patio projects — after a long stretch of work, we’re finally approaching the finish line. There are still more ideas I’d like to pursue (that could take a few more years), but we’re close to wrapping up the main scope of what we started and even completed a few unexpected improvements along the way.
Makeovers don’t begin with an after photo, so I want to walk you through the process that led to the reveals. Over the next days and weeks I’ll post updates, sneak peeks, and of course the after shots. If you enjoy behind-the-scenes glimpses, follow along on Instagram for more.
2020 UPDATE: This post was originally published in 2018. I’ve shared more recent house updates elsewhere.
This project has had plenty of surprises, delays, and twists, so it’s hard to know exactly where to start. I’ve never shown the back of our house before or after the paint job, so that’s a good place to begin — much of the makeover happened there, so you’ll be seeing this side of the house a lot in upcoming posts.
Here’s the back of the house the day we moved in.
When we bought the place, it was a fairly typical brick rambler. It wasn’t the style I might have chosen first, but the Seattle housing market was — and is — competitive, so we considered almost everything.
The previous owner told us, “you are going to love living here,” and she was right. We absolutely do. The house was solid and well maintained, with abundant light and a wide view of water, trees, sky, and mountains out the back. The property features lovely flowering trees, spectacular sunsets, and is within walking distance of a Puget Sound beach. All of that made the house feel like home from day one.
In our neighborhood, houses like this are sometimes torn down to make way for larger replacements. While I prefer preserving existing structures, I understand that remodeling can be costly and building new can better meet a family’s needs. For us, the modest scale of our home is part of its charm — we love it as it is.
Kitchen Makeover
Although the footprint and basic structure remain, many things have changed in appearance. I like to say the house is still the same old gal at heart, but she’s feeling updated and rejuvenated — maybe even a little spunky. There are countless ways to change a home, but paint has been the most transformative for us.
You may already know we painted the exterior brick white. It made a dramatic difference in the look and feel of the house, and we love the result.
Some people worry about painting brick, but two years in we have zero regrets. The Sherwin-Williams color we used (Reserved White) still looks great and has held up well. Painted brick does require maintenance over time, unlike unpainted brick, but if the existing brick isn’t appealing to you, repainting can be a worthwhile way to make the house feel more like home.
I believe in loving the home you have. We’ve lived in painted brick homes before and always enjoyed the look — white brick brings a bright, welcoming character to ours.
There were several other things about the back of the house we wanted to improve. Some changes were immediate, others would wait. I wasn’t a fan of the old awning, so I was glad to remove it before painting. I’d also like to relocate the exterior electrical boxes someday, but that will be a future project.
To remind you, this is what the back of the house looked like when we moved in.
And this is how it looks now — a cleaner, fresher white brick exterior thanks to the Reserved White by Sherwin-Williams.
UPDATED PHOTO 2020: I’ve shared details about our new Trex deck in a later post.
Paint dramatically changed the exterior, but it was only one part of the overall project. We continued updating other elements to complete the look and function of our outdoor spaces.
For more before-and-after photos and updates on the house, I’ve posted additional project rounds and progress photos in later updates.
In addition to finishing the side yard projects, I’m excited to share what we accomplished around the back of the house this past winter. There’s more to show, so stay tuned for the next posts in this series where I’ll dive into specific changes and reveal photos.
More to come — find the next post on our outdoor projects in the series.