Nesting With Grace

by Brooke Christen

Exterior Before and After- Our Cedar Shake Roof- Utah Ranch Home

Finally sharing the after of our exterior! To catch you up, we bought this ranch style home back in November of 2020, it took about a year to remodel it. When we bought it I knew right away there were a few things we we wanted to do to give the exterior some curb appeal. Paint the exterior black, look into options for the rock and possibly add faux dormers. We did paint the exterior black, but left the rock as-is and we decided to add a second floor for the girls bedrooms instead of dormers. Plus we added copper penny gutters! Ready to see it all finished??

Exterior Before-

Before photo I took December of 2020. Notice the change in the tree on the right too! Just trimming a tree to see more of a home really makes a difference.

Exterior After-

The AFTER!!! We are very happy with how it turned out. I was not a fan of the rock when we first bought the home, that being said I think it works well with the black siding and the rock fits the location of our home. You can read the story behind the rock and why we decided to keep it on this blog post.

Exterior Paint-

Our exterior paint color is Blacktop from Benjamin Moore and trim is Tricorn Black Sherwin Williams.

Roof Material-

Our roof material is a Cedar Shake from Brava. We picked the color Weathered. It is synthetic shake roofing tiles that have the rustic split textures of real cedar, but has the benefits of a composite roofing material. More durable than wood shingles, require virtually zero maintenance and can be installed in any climate! Important for Utah winters. The price will vary depending on your property and location. You can get a quote online. A basic retail number is $15-$20 a square foot for the material, plus the labor to install.

Copper Gutter Info-

Our gutters are Copper Penny Aluminum Gutters, they won’t patina like copper does. We got them from a local supplier who did the exterior on the second floor and repairs. Our home is 5,000 square feet and it cost us $3k for product and install. Hope that helps!

Exterior Iron Doors-

We did change all the exterior doors to all glass to let in more light. You can get the details on our doors HERE.

Window Info-

Windows made a big difference too. We kept all the original windows, just painted them black. On the second floor addition we did have to add windows, you can find the details on our windows HERE.

Window Boxes-

We recently added window boxes too, they added a lot to the second floor! Get the window box details HERE.

Landscaping-

Our Landscaper is Landscape Management Services in Utah (801) 282-6303. 

I really like how our landscapers clustered similar plants together to make a large impact. You can see in the front we have 6 of the blue, Forget Me Not flowers planted together following the curbing and it just looks so great. The trees by the curved window are Sub Alpine Fir.
Trees- Sub Alpine Fir
Wells Deer Run Spruce (3 in the center)
Tall skinny trees framing the window with the rocks are Columnar Aspen.
The original owner put that cool bird house in two spots! Here and on the back of the house over the patio.
The awesome guys that installed the wood on the new part of our house spray painted the chimney shoots copper! They were a shiny silver that really stuck out. Now you don’t even notice them.
Really love how our landscaping turned out, that rock river bed is so pretty!
We switched out the ornate gate that was here for something more modern. We did have to have it custom built by a fence company, our landscaper referred us to.

Wood Fence-

Our wood fence we painted it in Tricorn Black from Sherwin Williams, we used this gel stain (stain and sealer).

Pool and Pavers-

Backyard Pavers and Fiberglass Pool
Info on our pool and pavers HERE.

Pergola-

Our Landscapers built our pergola, it is 12’x15′. We have been very happy with the size. Our landscapers custom built it when we redid our yard. The cost was about $40k for the pergola. It has footings, meaning it is attached to the ground. They stained it black in a tint-able stain, color Tricorn Black from Sherwin Williams.

New Addition Outdoor Kitchen-

We added an outdoor kitchen! Get all the details HERE.
Dining Table // X-Back Chairs // Arm Chair // Ceiling Fan // Light Fixture
I haven’t really shared a photo of our outdoor dining space yet! We invested in a concrete table that can seat 10 people. We just added a new light fixture over the table, still need to get it hardwired, but it balances out the outdoor ceiling fans.

Sports Court-

Read all about our Sports Court HERE.

Garden-

Get all the info on our Garden HERE.

Garage Doors-

Wood Garage Doors and Copper Exterior Lights Over Doors
Details on our garage HERE.

Inside Garage-

Get all the detail on our garage and garage gym HERE.
Thanks for taking the tour of our exterior! You can see the exterior plans and interior floor plans HERE.
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Comments

  1. Renissa says

    You did a fabulous job. Everything is so beautiful! I love how you left the rock it looks so good with the black siding, the mountains in the background and your landscaping!!

  2. Kristin says

    Hi Brooke, Just wanted to say that I read the newsletter you sent today regarding how you are able to afford your home(s) and renovations. I always wanted to know, but didn’t want to be rude. Thank you for sharing. My husband and I also only purchase below our means and are trying to pay off our current house while remodeling it on our own. It’s so much work, especially with our sweet little ones underfoot, but seeing what you’ve been able to do is inspiring. Again, thanks for sharing.

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