New Windows and Exterior Renovation Design Plan Ideas for our humble abode

I'm so excited to share this post with you guys today.  For 15 years I've been patiently moaning and groaning about wanting new windows and replacing the glass in the front door sidelights.  This house had triple pane pain (pun intended) windows - we're talking six panes of glass per window!  Always such a joy dreaded event to clean.  To top it off they were aluminum sliders and during our brutal Canadian winters, forget about getting any fresh air because those babies were frozen solid.

At long last, my wish has come true and we got those new windows and a front door - no more sliders! Instead, we have vinyl crank outs with "real" triple-pane glass. The basement windows are sliders but they actually open without Herculean effort. It's hard to tell in the picture but the wide reed sidelight glass has been replaced with rain glass and the front door with a Cheyenne Chamber Top Plank style and factory painted in Slate.

AFTER

New Windows and Exterior Renovation Design Plan Ideas

Wish I would have taken close-up photos of our old windows but this is our house with the old windows and front door.

BEFORE

I'm told by Mr. Frugalista that I'm no longer allowed to hang wreaths on the door. That's like wearing a little black dress without the pearls...I don't think so.

This is the back of our house with the old windows.

BACK - BEFORE

This is the house now with the new windows. See how we enlarged the window on the right?

 BACK - AFTER

Wondering what those swirly marks are on the siding above the basement windows? In his teenage years, our son decided a great way to get rid of mosquitoes was to spray OFF on the house.

I love how the new windows add symmetry to the back of the house. I don't know how we lived without a bay window in the kitchen all these years. I absolutely love it.

Now let's talk about that ugly mint green siding, shall we...

The new windows make it look even worse. If we had the budget the siding would have been replaced with the windows. Unfortunately, the reality is that we don't so we'll have to patiently wait until it fits the budget.

That gives us time to come up with an exterior renovation plan for our humble abode. Ideally, Mr. Frugalista and I would love to sell the house and move to the Canadian West Coast. We both enjoy being near water rather than the landlocked Canadian prairies. Unfortunately, moving isn't going to happen anytime soon so we decided if we can't live on the coast then we'll bring the coast to us!  

Inspired by homes we saw during a recent trip to Vancouver Island, we've come up with some ideas to incorporate coastal elements into the exterior renovation plan.

Being a visual person I needed to see our ideas in living color so I came up with a few design plans.

Design Plan Side View

To break up the large span of siding on each side of the house we are thinking about adding cedar shakes to the upper portion of the gables. The perspective in this picture is a little wonky but you can get a good idea of what we're thinking about doing. The color of the shakes in the picture are Slate to match the front door.

Design Plan Number 1 - Beechwood Siding and Mountain Shadow Stacked Stone

Design Plan Number 2 - Autumn Gray Siding

Design Plan Number 3 - Driftwood Gray Siding

Design Plan Number 4 - Rocky Gray Siding

Design Plan Number 5 - Corundum Siding

Design Plan Number 6 - Cape Cod Taupe Siding

Design Plan Number 7 - Chocolate Siding with Carolina Coco Dry Stack Stone

Design Plan Number 8 - Chocolate Siding with dry stack stone above the door as and white shutters

Design Plan Number 9 - Beechwood Siding with dry stack stone above the door

Design Plan Number 10 - Beechwood Siding with Mountain Shadow stone, Slate hardy board window trim, and diamond-shaped window above the door.

Design Plan Number 11 - Cypress Earth Siding with Carolina Coco ledge stone, Slate hardy board window trim, and diamond-shaped window above the door.

There are too many options available and I'm feeling overwhelmed with the possibilities. If this were a client's house I'd come up with a design board lickety-split but because it's my own home I've lost all objectivity.

If it were your house which design plan would you choose?

What do you think about the addition of a round porthole window above the door? Or do you think adding stone above the door is a nicer option?

Do you have any other suggestions to add to the mix?

I would love to get your feedback so don't be shy. Any suggestions you can add would be much appreciated.