It’s here! After what feels like an eternity, the last piece of the puzzle fell into place. Once we had out front door installed, I new it was finally time to photograph our newly refreshed mid century modern exterior.

*BEHR, Targett’s Windows & Doors and Troy Lighting sponsored this post, but all thoughts are my own.  Thank you for supporting the brands that make PMQ for two possible.

 

You’ll remember in my post detailing the plans for our mid century modern exterior makeover, that we had plans to:

• Paint the exterior of the house
• Do some landscaping
• Change the outdoor lighting
• Replace the front door
• and re-style the exterior to better suit our style, and the house’s overall character.

Painting the exterior of our house

This was the biggest part of the puzzle, and it required so much work. I detailed a large chunk of the process in a video for you guys:

Once you’ve watched it, any questions?

I also wrote about the process to find the perfect shade of white for your mid century modern home, including my fave choices depending on where you live.

Picking an MCM Front Door

Choosing a front door was the next step in the equation. I’ve got a whole post about this coming-up, so stay tuned!

I will say that selecting your lighting at the same time was a crucial component to making sure everything works together. 

Picking the colour of your door is another decision that slowed down the process, but only because I wanted something colourful and bright at first, but realized that black would just look so clean against the white of the house.

Updating Mid Century Modern exterior lighting

This is another component I’ve got a post in the process of being written on.

While our house definitely has MCM vibes, I don’t think I could have just stuck some bowtie or orb lighting and called it a day. I needed something more on the modern side. 

The 

This isn’t out forever home either, so I couldn’t do too crazy. I’m very happy with these modern black rectangular sconces. They add vertical lines in a space that’s all about the horizontal.

The Front Step

This was a last minute addition to the plans, and I’m so glad I did it. We had plans to put a deck over the cement slab and ugly stairs, but it’s not something we can afford until the fall. So I was going to shoot the whole reveal with this great big ugly slab of rocky grey.

I had wanted to paint it white last summer, but Dan didn’t think it would look good. Why did I listen to him? I used the tutorial from A Beautiful Mess, so you can do it yourself as well. 

The Balcony Deck Update

When we knew we were going to be painting the house, we decided now was our time to update the balcony deck off the living room. 

We used Multy Deck panels to create a floating deck on the balcony, and the warmer wood tones are the perfect antidote to the black and white.

Mid Century Modern Exterior

So here it is! I’ve got a few handy before & afters so that you can see just how much a fresh paint job changes things.

The balcony deck edged draws a nice warm line along the house, and the black balcony wrought iron railings got a touch-up as well. I spent some time going at them with a wire bristle brush and new rust-proof spray paint. Totally worth it!

You can start to see how well BEHR Marquee Exterior Paint took to the stone. I’m so pleased with the sheen, the bond, and the application.

When you’re looking at painting over different textures like decorative stone, you really do want a durable and quality paint.

Once the house starts to wrap towards the front door (as you drive down the street),  you’re greeted by the front step.

We don’t use the front door in the winter – too much gear and snow – but in the summer and fall I love stepping out our brand new door area.

I had a different colour set for the rose bushes, but by the time the reveal shoot rolled around, none were in bloom! So I went and grabbed this purple beauty to give the front step a great pop of colour. Hooray for roses in IKEA planters.

June has opinions, and she’s telling me about them in the picture.

Right off the front step, is the driveway! We’ve used it as a second patio this summer. It’s so much easier to have the mini pool set-up there for June, but it’s also been a great space to watch outdoor movies, do any gardening, and just escape into the summer sun.

The driveway has truly been a blessing and a utilitarian space for us this year, but my gosh it’s a lot to clear it of snow every winter.

Check out my outdoor movie night in the driveway setup.

I was kind of nervous about painting the garage door because the paint so chipped and flaking. But the prep work we did before painting means that we’ve had no application issues, especially after I did all the repair work on the wood framing.

The back patio – which you can sort of see from the street as your approach – has also had a fabulous transformation.

I detailed our colourful backyard patio decor ideas a few weeks ago, and you got a pretty good peek then.

That’s it! That’s two months of work and coordination. Thanks for coming!