Our Exterior Makeover – Phase One – New Windows

Welcome back to the madness going on around here! Project Cottonwood Lane has been in full swing so I am sharing the first two phases of the makeover in this post which involves all new windows.  Since we bought our home, I have been eagerly awaiting the replacement of our windows, both for efficiency reasons and to update the look and style of both the interior and exterior of our home.  The style and color of windows have a major impact on the overall look of a home.

The original windows were very busy visually, so it was important to me to remove those visual “distractions”.  We live in a beautiful area with lots of huge evergreen trees and great views.  The view from inside our home was being blocked by the divided light windows.  Hence, the decision to order the new windows without window panes.  I am so excited for this update!!

To read about the history of what we have done to our home and our plans for the future, click this link below to get up to speed.

Project Cottonwood Lane – Huge Exterior Makeover

As I mentioned in my first post introducing the extreme makeover of the exterior of our home, we are deep into the process of creating an updated appearance of our 1972 “fixer upper”.  This phase of the project has several separate phases…

Phase One – Remove existing stucco around old windows to be prepared for the installation of the new windows.

Phase Two – Remove existing white divided light windows and replace with new black clear light Pella windows.

Phase Three – Repair and redo all stucco around our home.  Final coat and finish will be a smooth off-white color.

Phase Four – Repaint all exterior trim, flashings, gutters, exteriors doors black to coordinate with the new black windows.

Phase Five – Replace front door and redo front porch decor to coordinate with the new exterior.

So, here is what has been happening (please excuse the mess and amateur photography!!)…

Phase One – Prep windows for removal

The original stucco borders around the windows had to be removed first so that the window installers can remove the old windows and replace them with the new windows.

Phase Two – Replace old windows with new Pella windows

This is the super fun part!  It was so weird to witness huge holes in our home!  Here are a few shots of the process…

Our installers were awesome!!

The difference is huge already!

So happy to see this door go!!

Before

After

A few more shots of some of the new windows…

Isn’t this mess just awesome?!

Next steps…

The next step is the stucco repair and then replacement.  They have been setting up all of the scaffolding for the last couple of days.  Oh, boy!  My gardens are unfortunately being wrecked, but they should come back.  Wanting to create more contrast in the exterior finishes of our home, we are lightening up the stucco several color levels.  The new stucco will have a much smoother, contemporary finish and will be an off-white color.  Right now, it has sort of a peachy tone that I have not been fond of. I am super excited about that change!  I shared several exterior inspirations in my last post to give you an idea about where I am taking the design that you can check out.

Once the stucco work is completed, then we move onto the stone replacement (to coordinate with the new off-white stucco color. Finally, all of the painting of the trim, flashings, gutters, etc. will happen…the small details that finish everything up.

Our past and future projects

Phase One of “Project Cottonwood Lane” included gutting the main floor and the basement to start over prior to moving in.  We literally took the whole main floor (entry area, living area, dining room, kitchen, breakfast room, second eating area, and the powder bath) down to the studs and remodeled everything.  Same with the basement which included a new living area, a kitchen/full bar, a full bathroom, a theater, and a temporary utility room.

Phase Two was the remodel of the master bathroom and a hall bathroom upstairs.  Posts on those projects are forthcoming!

Phase Three is our present project…all new windows and exterior doors, all new stucco and exterior stone.  It is kind of a tough one because I would much rather be spending all of this money on other projects.  However, I keep reminding myself that it will make a huge impact on both the interior and the exterior of our home and help create a much more modern look for our 1970s home.

Phase Four and Five involve expanding the size of our home.  Phase Four involves bringing our attached 2-car garage into our home to add a large family room.  Plus, the enclosed sunroom next to our garages (our “mud room” now) will be rebuilt to become my new laundry room and office/workroom for me (mostly to store my enormous collection of serving ware and glassware!).

Phase Five will entail scraping our additional attached 3-car garage to build an 8-car garage for my husband’s toys.  We are still trying to decide whether or not we take the garage up or not to add a large guest suite and office for my husband.  Our architect currently has them drawn that way.  HUGE decision!  More on that later…

I am so glad you stopped by today to join me in this journey of our exterior makeover.  Writing about the process has become somewhat therapeutic while the renovations are ongoing.  It is at least nice to have it all documented somewhere.  Maybe the next owner might enjoy seeing this.  🙂  As I eagerly await the outcomes, I want to encourage you that these types of projects ultimately will bring you joy.  I would love to hear about any new projects you have going on in your home!  It might help me feel that I am not alone here.  Right?!

You might like to stop by my Pinterest board featuring Exterior Inspirations.  For even more inspiration, you can go to my Pinterest page for thousands of pins on 50+ topics!

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