Home Exterior Modernization “One Room Challenge” Final Reveal (Week 6)

The moment we have all been waiting for has finally arrived! The Big Reveal of our Home Exterior Modernization! Sit back and enjoy the abundance of pictures, I took a lot of photos and included a bunch for your viewing pleasure (and this is the scaled back version)!

Six weeks ago we started on a big outdoor home project. After talking about the idea for the longest time, we finally decided to bite the bullet and paint our brick house white. Our home is 100% brick top to bottom on all sides; no stone, no siding, no stucco….ALL brick….and there’s a LOT OF IT! The One Room challenge provided me the perfect  opportunity to get this project completed within a six week timeframe and I am thrilled to report I got it done and we couldn’t be HAPPIER with the results!!!! 🙌🙌

What Is The One Room Challenge?

The One Room Challenge™ is a biannual event every April and October and is currently in its sixteenth season. Each round, twenty design bloggers take the challenge and transform a space. Every Wednesday, the designers document their process while sharing their sources and professional advice over six weekly posts.

The ORC has teamed up with Better Homes and Garden HERE to bring you this highly anticipated event.

My Participation in the One Room Challenge

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This round will complete my sixth season of the “One Room Challenge”. So many other talented people are also participating as guests, please check out their spaces HERE.

I also invite you to check out my prior guest challenges and spaces I have remodeled over the last few years.

Prior Weeks Progress of our Home Exterior Modernization

This season, I am modernizing the exterior of our home. You can catch up on the details from the previous weeks below.

Why Paint Our Brick House?

Some of you may be wondering why would we ever want to paint our brick? Isn’t that going to be a lot of maintenance? Not to mention the huge expense of the project. I have wanted to paint our exterior brick from the moment we moved into our house. This is our third brick home and a perfect candidate for painting. Our first home had a red brick exterior. We built that house and really liked the red color of the brick we chose in the early 2000’s and never thought about painting it.

We were not the original owners of Our Second Home, and didn’t care for the orange color of the brick. We briefly thought about paining it, but then moved out before giving the idea any serious consideration.

We love so many things about our current and third brick home, but the yellow and brown color of the brick is not one of them.

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Our White Painted Brick Home – The Big Reveal

Having always loved white painted brick homes was another reason to paint the exterior. See where I’m going with this 😉 We have always loved how beautiful our home looks from the street, as it sits high on a hill..it is definitely poised for greatness, but just hadn’t reached it’s full potential…until NOW!

Watermark-1We absolutely love our white house on a hill!

Watermark-64The house has been completely transformed! From top to bottom, every inch of it looks totally different.

Front doorEven though we decided to keep the door black, we painted the white frame around the doors and windows black as well.

Watermark-65Having the frame and doors the same color makes the entrance look cohesive and less choppy and gives the appearance of a larger framed door. The color we chose for the door is Sherwin Williams Tricorn Black. The lantern lights were also painted with Tricorn Black.

Watermark-66To add some color and interest to the portico, we added an outdoor mat and two – six foot spiral topiaries from Frontgate. They have small white lights that will look beautiful in the Winter time. The topiaries are quite expensive but you can get the look for less HERE.

Watermark-56The corinthian columns on our portico and front of home are extremely ornate and not really my style. I have never been a big fan of them but I have to say…now that everything is painted, they are kind of growing on me 🙂

Watermark-63The second entrance to the home also got a bit of a makeover.

Watermark-70Two additional spiral topiaries flank the entrance door along with a monogrammed mat, similar HERE. I also added two black benches to frame the space. You can get the look for less HERE.

Watermark-61I love seeing the shadows from the trees reflect onto the white stone in the early afternoon.

Watermark-60One of my favorite parts of our exterior painting are the garage doors!

Watermark-53The black doors are gorgeous!

Watermark-42Also painted in SW Tricorn Black, they look amazing and add so much character to the side of the home. Deciding to paint them black was a last minute decision and we couldn’t be more pleased!

Watermark-54Having a white home makes everything else appear more colorful! White is a highly reflective color and just so pretty on brick.

paint sampleBut choosing the right shade of white was agonizing. I tested several different colors, did a ton of research and talked to experts. Ultimately, I decided to go with…..drum roll please…Alabaster from Sherwin Williams! Alabaster is the color on the far right side of the wall and very pretty on brick. It has a hint of warmth and is not stark white. Why do I love painted white brick? I love how paint neutralizes the color of the mortar and give a beautiful seamless appearance.

If you are trying to decide on exterior white paints, check out The Best Exterior White Colors for Painted Brick Homes.

Watermark-49Moving to the back of the house..yea I know that’s a lot of brick. I love our backyard, it’s a walk out from the basement but also from the kitchen. It’s a two level backyard allowing plenty of space for whatever!

Watermark-52But with the bonus of having two levels…comes a ginormous retaining wall…in….you guessed it MORE BRICK! But it looks soo much prettier painted white and the black railings add a nice touch.

Watermark-50The lower level entrance to the basement. The lanterns add an elegant touch to the space,  even the small stepping patio is all brick.

Watermark-47The day I took these phots, the sky was so lovely. The morning started out partly cloudy then turned mostly sunny.

Watermark-46So very happy with the back of the house now…it has come a long way since…..get ready for it….

fullsizeoutput_8653Oh my.

Watermark-69We are thrilled with the results of our modernization. The process of painting brick has transformed a dated looking home into one we are proud to call “Our Home”.

Watermark-59The reaction from our neighbors and friends has been overwhelmingly positive!

Watermark-58 I am so excited to decorate the exterior of our home for Christmas!!! And when it snows! Expect to be bombarded with pictures!!

Now I want to show you a favorite view of mine.

Watermark-25Our home is LIT! We added outdoor lighting to the front of the home! OMG! Can I tell you how much we love the look!!! I mean WOW! When we come home at night and drive up our driveway, we ADORE the look of our home! Outdoor lighting makes all the difference to the exterior appearance of a home at night. We were so lucky and thankful to work with Chris Myer from Beautiful Nights. If you live in or around the Washington DC area, I highly recommend giving Chris a call for outdoor lighting. He truly has an eye to make your home look stunning in the evening. I have so many more pictures to share of the lighting at night, this really deserves a separate post. SO stay tuned!

Watermark-43A picture of Mother Nature lighting up the sky in the early dawn.

Watermark I am so happy to have you all follow along on these challenges with me, I appreciate your support and encouragement throughout the process. I hope to have inspired some of you to take a leap and transform a space or paint your brick if you are unhappy with it’s appearance. BUT…I only recommend painting exterior brick if the brick is in very good condition. DO NOT paint brick to cover up any problems…painting over issues will only lead to more issues!

I feel so blessed to realize my dream of having a white painted brick home 🙂 I hope you enjoyed following along. Drop me a line and let me know what you think! I also have many more BIG outdoor projects to share with you coming up soon! And they are going to be EPIC!

If you are considering painting your home and are interested in cost, I will disclose what we paid in a future post, which will be available only to my subscribers. Anyone want to guess how many gallons of paint were used to prime and paint this beast?! All the details available to my subscribers – coming soon!!

Denise

XO

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22 thoughts on “Home Exterior Modernization “One Room Challenge” Final Reveal (Week 6)

    1. Hi Joe! Thank you so much. We are so happy with the change. It’s so very dramatic. Appreciate you dropping in. Best to you and your family 🙂

  1. Just beautiful Denise. Actually I meant to say “stunning”. Sure wish I was still your neighbor to enjoy seeing it everyday!!!

  2. Denise, your house is amazing!!!!!! I love it much! It’s totally french house I love. Your main and second entrance are fantastic, I love the spiral topiaries! Everything turns out beautiful! You’ve nailed it! Congrats!

    1. Thanks Mel!!! So glad you like it! The double entrances are great except when I go looking for a delivery 🤣So sweet of you to visit my friend 😘

      1. The white house is beautiful at Christmas time. I always enjoy looking at the amazing photos of the decor.

  3. WOW Denise! This is stunning! No wonder you’re so happy, and that photo at night ….. ! I’m just going to come sit in my parked car at the bottom of your driveway and gaze!! 🙂 Wonderful job my friend and thanks for letting us follow along. Can’t wait to find out how much paint you used! 💗

    1. Hi Barbara! I love that nighttime photo! I just love looking at our home lit up in the evening, I need to spend more time outside at night! At least our neighbors are enjoying the view 🙂 The amount of paint is obscene…it even surprised my painters! 😬

    1. Thank you so much! Yes..I can’t wait to decorate the exterior with wreaths. We just added exterior lighting as well which made a HUGE difference. Can’t wait for snow 🙂

  4. It looks great! I was never a fan of yellow brick either – it’s my least favorite color. One question, will it eventually need repainting or is it good for awhile?

    1. Yellow and brown brick together! Ugh, the worst. From what I have read, it will need repainting at some point, but people who have had it done say they have gone 10 years and it still looks great. “Professionals” recommend every 5 years…so who really knows. I’m ok with reapplying one coat every 5-7 years.

      1. You need to catch up! It was a very big project and we are very happy with the results. I would do it all over again in a heartbeat.

  5. HI! We are thinking about painting our home Alabaster as well. I have already painted the one wall in my sunroom and now I really have the itch to do the entire house, which will be a major undertaking. I just wanted to ask one question, did you use the same color for the trim or did you use a variation?

    1. Hi, good for you! So exciting, we absolutely love it. I used the same color on the trim as the exterior, both Alabaster.

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