If you live in a neighborhood, you’re undoubtedly familiar with the experience of having a new neighbor move in next door.
Having a new house move in next door is a decidedly rarer phenomenon. But for the neighbors of this Worthington home, that may as well be what happened, as the exterior of the house underwent a transformation so significant as to render it practically unrecognizable.
Front porch, back porch, siding, roofing, windows, doors, gutters – all of it underwent a major-league facelift, thanks to the versatility of the homeowners’ ideas and the expert design and guidance of remodeler J.S. Brown & Co. Completed in 2019, the finished product, in addition to all its aesthetic benefits, helps connect the house’s indoors and outdoors, a high priority for the homeowners.
The owners bought the house knowing it had not been updated – planning to bring the home and its overwhelmingly brown color scheme into the modern day in accordance with their own tastes.
“They could see the potential of what the house could be,” says Courtney Bowe, the J.S. Brown design consultant who oversaw the project. “They wanted to bring color to the home.”
Bowe found the homeowners very open to ideas, as long as those ideas went along with their overall vision for the space, allowing the company to get creative with the roofing, railing, color and more.
“They really wanted to lighten and brighten, and make it more like them,” says Bowe.
The Front Porch
In the front, a single square column stands where once there were vertical slats supporting the roof. The front porch roof itself was replaced entirely, now stretching out five feet further to allow for more covered area.
One noticeable aesthetic touch: the address, represented by spelled-out numbers rather than the standard Arabic numerals. It sets a mood for the front porch that is only enhanced by the “please ring” printed on the doorbell.
The new wood-and-fiberglass front door draws attention, too. Not every home can sustain a double door in the front, Bowe says, but this one could, and the reconfigured area gives it a grand entrance feel.
Other new additions to the front of the house include:
- Decorative porch lights
- Half-round gutters
- A brand-new garage door
Both of the porches now boast bluestone pavers, J.S. Brown having worked with Hamilton Parker to find the perfect pattern, color and size. A permeable mat and grate system in the front and back reduce the sound of walking on the pavers and make them more able to handle water. J.S. Brown had the homeowners test the pavers live by walking over them, testing whether the resultant noise was to their liking.
The Back Porch
Once used almost exclusively by the owners’ cats, the back porch bears little resemblance to its predecessor, not least because it is now enclosed. Eze-Breeze windows, engineered for a level of versatility ideal for three-season rooms, were used for the enclosing process, replacing a deteriorating set of screens.
Access to the still-outdoor deck has been relocated from the kitchen to the interior of the porch, with a new pass-through window replacing an outdated sliding door. The roof over the once-screened porch was replaced with a flat roof that matches the one over the front porch.
New piers had to be poured and the floor system rebuilt due to worrisome structural problems with the porch joists. Other difficulties included inadequate foam board behind the siding, which necessitated removing it and installing plywood sheathing in its place.
J.S. Brown made a point of installing low-maintenance exterior materials, including:
- Boral fascia and trim boards
- Hardie cement board siding
- TimberTech composite porch railing
The renovation project won a Contractor of the Year Award from the local chapter of the National Association of the Remodeling Industry, taking the “Residential Exterior Under $150,000” prize for 2019. It’s made an impression on everyone who’s seen the transformation, Bowe says.
“They’ve commented that the neighbors have loved it as well,” she says.
Garth Bishop is a contributing editor. Feedback welcome at feedback@cityscenemediagroup.com.