House Update — New Curbs And A Shutter Option
Our new curb was poured yesterday! I know it probably seems strange to be this excited over a new curb, but it really makes such a huge difference going from a broken, crumbly curb with a significant dip in it to this new, perfectly straight curb. I’ve wanted this since the day we bought our house, and I never thought I could actually have it since this technically belongs to the city. So this has been such a nice surprise.
Of course, I wish they would have done the whole curb along the entire front of our house, but since I’m not paying for it out of pocket, and I have no control over the decision making process, I’ll just have to be happy with this half new/half old situation we’ve got going on now. I was actually quite impressed with how well the blended the new with the old. But of course we now have a curb that’s two different colors.
They also took up this section of our front sidewalk, which is fine with me. It was a little wonky at the end where it met the curb because the people who poured the sidewalk had to make it end at the former crumbly curb. But now this section of the sidewalk will be a different color as well once it’s poured.
I am kind of wondering about these plastic spacers they’re using. I’ve never seen these before, and they have these bright white strips along the top. I’m really hoping those won’t stay. Surely they won’t, right? I thought maybe the white strip would get pulled out after the concrete is poured, but this one seems to have a nail going through it into the concrete.
Anyway, I’m so happy with the huge difference this has made to the look of our property. It has such a clean look to it now. And I’m thrilled that now, when it rains, we’ll no longer have a huge puddle filled with debris right in front of our house. Now that it’s all smooth and flat, the water should drain properly with no more huge puddles.
I really wish we had gotten a new driveway entrance, too. There are a couple of houses on the street that got new driveway entrances as well as new curbs. But ours is in good condition, so we didn’t get that. That’s kind of a bummer, but that also would have been really disruptive to have our driveway unusable for this long, so I’m not too torn up about it. I’d just love for that driveway entrance to be the same color as the new curb and the driveway. 😀
But when they’re finished with all of their work and they’ve moved on to a different street or neighborhood, I’m going to get my power washer out and clean all of the older concrete, including the old part of the curb, so that I can get all of the concrete as close to the same color as possible. If that doesn’t work, maybe I’ll paint the curb across the whole front of our house the same color.
JUST KIDDING!! 😀 I’m pretty sure the city would frown on me painting their brand new concrete. Or any concrete that belongs to the city, for that matter. 😀 I mean, I would want to, but I’ll control my urges and just be happy with the fact that we no longer have a crumbly curb.
Anyway, since I took new pictures of the front of our house this morning, I did a little mockup of the bedroom door area. (And I fixed the window shutter with my photo editor.) I’m still contemplating shutters on the bedroom door. I can’t make up my mind on that. To me, the front of the house looks a little off balance without them, but with them being a different height than the other shutters, I’m not sure if it looks balanced with them. I also did a two-second copy-and-paste of some steps below the door, so the perspective is way off. Try not to get distracted with that. So here’s what it might look like with the shutters.
And here it is without the shutters.
It just looks off balance to me without the shutters. I feel like that section needs the blue to balance out the whole front of the house. You can let me know if you agree. Or maybe there’s another way I can add the dark blue to that section to balance it out, but I can’t think of what that could be. Adding shutters seems like the obvious choice to me. Here’s a side-by-side with and without the shutters.
I know the front exterior of our house still has a long way to go, but it has come a long way since the day we bought it. This seems like a lifetime ago…
It looks so much better than it did, but there’s still a long way to go. If I can just get these unfinished projects finished, and then get some landscaping done, I think it’ll be so cute!
When they’re finished and their orange barrels are gone, I’ll take a new picture from same spot (standing on the other side of the street) where I took the “before” picture for a more accurate comparison. But for now, I took the new picture closer up and with a wide-angle lens so that I could avoid the orange barrels. But even with the different vantage points, you can see that I’ve made some pretty significant changes over the years.
Addicted 2 Decorating is where I share my DIY and decorating journey as I remodel and decorate the 1948 fixer upper that my husband, Matt, and I bought in 2013. Matt has M.S. and is unable to do physical work, so I do the majority of the work on the house by myself. You can learn more about me here.
That is a conundrum. I see what you mean about the color balance, yet putting up shutters makes the side door about as important as the front door. Could you achieve the color balance with a tall blue flowerpot and the addition of a light? Also, consider that landscaping could affect how you feel also.
Team Shutter!
I agree!
Definitely, shutters.
Have you tried mocking it up with the bedroom door in blue instead of the shutters? I agree with you that some blue is needed over there, but I’m not really sold on shutters.
I was going to suggest painting door blue like the shutters
I was thinking a blue door as well
Could you paint the door blue instead of doing shutters?
How about painting the door and trim blue, leaving the window trim and grid white?
Or a small pergola in navy blue over the door?
It all looks great! I bet power washing will really help with the differences in the look of the concrete, and then over time they will look even more similar.
You’ve probably already considered this and decided against it, but what about painting and trimming the bedroom door the same as front door? That would be my first thought, but then again I don’t have your eye for this stuff. I know whatever you do will look good!
I find the shutters weird on the door, but that is just me and perhaps the balance is exactly what you want.
Have you thought about painting the bedroom door frame in either the blue to match the shutters or the colour of your front door? I personally would not do the latter as that might draw much unwanted attention to the new door, but you might want to think about it for consistency reasons.
I was thinking the same thing. Paint the frame in blue!
Im team shutters 😁
At first glance I thought you should try power washing the old curb. It won’t be as bright as the new but would even the color out some. Weighing the shutters balancing the house against the shutters making the bedroom door too important, I would go with the shutters. The sidewalk leads to the front door so I don’t think it’s confusing as to which door visitors should enter. Landscaping will add so much curb appeal when you get to it. I was hoping to see final photos of the powder room. Have you finished it yet?
I think it’s more about adding weight to the bedroom side of the house than color. I think that adding a pergola and landscaping that goes about halfway up the wall would add just what this area needs.
I do have a question, is there going to be a landing level with the bedroom door or just steps out?
I thought she was going to add a ramp
Could you just paint the door itself blue?
Your home will look better with shutters by the bedroom door.
You could paint the door the same color as the house to make it “disappear,” or if you don’t want it to disappear, do a mock up with the door blue.
Kristi, I get positively giddy over gravel, so you can imagine what concrete does for me, and don’t get me started on asphalt, especially since we have a paved driveway that is just a little over a half-mile long, that was a highway project for us and I hope we don’t have to do it again. Love the shutters, it brings so much symmetry to the front of the house, and I love the colors, your home is as gorgeous on the outside as it is on the inside. What a gem for the neighborhood.
Three Cheers to the road crew!!!
Leave off on the pressure washing for a little bit, your new concrete needs to cure and it will blend in sooner rather than later. Think of it this way, you can’t see it from inside the house, and soon it will be too hot for you to stand out there and stare at it.
Cheers to you, Matt and the Fur Babies!
I agree with you it definitely needs the shutters on the door. I think it looks brilliant regardless of the door shutters being longer. Keep up the good work!
P.S. I’m trying to be patient but I need to see the studio bathroom soon. My OCD/type A personality has gone completely haywire moving on to a new project without having closure on the bathroom.🤪 I know you have your reasons and I will probably get internet attacked by all the keyboard warriors but I’m human and nosey!!!🤣🤣🤣
The “spacers” in your concrete are expansion joints. They are soft and absorb the dimension changes that occur with temperature changes. They minimize the potential for cracking to occur and extend the life of the concrete. The white strip on the surface is typically removed so the top 1/2 inch or so of the joint can be sealed against water infiltration. Usually they are installed about every 50 feet or so or sometimes to act as a separator.
Some concrete cracking is usually unavoidable, so control joints are grooves cut into concrete slabs to provide a “weak” thinner spot for the cracks that do occur to travel in, preserving a tidy appearance. There can be a bit of an art to planning the placement of control joints, especially around curves.
On the bedroom door, consider painting it to blend in with the wall color so the front door retains prominence.
Definitely shutters! Without them the left end of the house just whimpers as it trails off and looks ignored and unfinished. The different shutter heights do not even trip my “doesn’t match” wire fwiw.
The concrete colors will become more similar over time. The color of sand used in the concrete may vary from the original sand, so they may not fully blend in if that’s the case.
I love the blue shutters.
The new curb looks nice. When the street department shows up next, you might want to tell them how nice it looks and before thanking them, ask what that white spacer is. I’m sure they will be happy to tell you.
I think I prefer it with the shutters on the door. Somehow it’s less about the size and more about the pop of dark blue over there to me. 🤔
Yes, do a mock up of your door painted the same color as your shutters and let us see that.
Tall landscaping on either side of the door will balance the look. I would get tall, narrow evergreen shrubs. Then you won’t miss the shutters. I think you’ll be surprised how landscaping can change the look of the front of your house.
Add the door shutters!!!!!
I’m definitely Team Shutters. I also wish you would consider shutters at the LR windows on the porch. It looks naked.
As for the color of the concrete, Mother Nature will handle that for you. It may take a couple years but once the little mosses and mold get settled in, it will be fine. Regardless, the curb looks fantastic!
I vote shutters.
Don’t worry about the concrete – it’ll end up as the same color as the old concrete if you wait long enough!
how about a cute awning to match the peak on the front?
I am shutter-obsessed! When I drive around, I ALWAYS look at shutters on the houses (and the trim that goes with them, and hinges, and shutter dogs), and I look at them from the “what are shutters supposed to do” perspective. They’re supposed to protect glass during storms, right? They should be sized to look like they can close over the windows, as your do, and since a French door is just a window on hinges that you can walk through, I’m all for it! 👍
My husband’s retirement project is to replace our shutters to LOOK LIKE they will close over windows. (Our current shutters don’t…and our situation is complicated by separate transoms above most of our exterior windows.) And we have long windows with transoms in our living room and directly below that in our daylight basement. To the right of those, on both levels, are double French doors, also with transoms. To me, it will—as you said—look out of balance if the glass of the doors (which in our case are almost the same size as the windows) doesn’t appear to also be “protected” by shutters. I’ve yet to convince him, but having seen antebellum homes with shutters to cover French doors as examples, I still have hope that he will see it my way. 🤞
Looks great! Definitely something navy needs to go on that end. If not the shutters, what about a canvas awning of some sort? Maybe a rounded shape to break up the rectangular shapes?