Faux or Juliette balcony for first floor french doors... ideas?

13 years ago

Our master bedroom is an addition added in the early 90's to a 1950's single-story home. At the time of the addition, the yard was enclosed with trees and was very private, the nearby front door was unused, and so the owners built a deck off of french doors in the master bedroom.

When we bought the house, the trees had all been cut down, so this once-private deck/doors was now in full public view. In addition, we want to actually use the original front door, and are adding a walkway and landscaping to emphasize it. Architecturally, the two doorways were confusing, and the deck made it seem like THAT was the main entry, rather than the front door.

house when we bought it:

We have already removed the rotting deck and awning, removed the overgrown hedges and re-landscaped with more appropriately-scaled plantings (there are now low plantings in front of the french doors.)

Here's a sketch of the "new" exterior look:

{{gwi:20639}}

We like the light these doors let into the bedroom, which is otherwise dark, so we don't want to replace them with smaller windows. We're planning to install a faux, or juliette balcony across the french doors. Does anyone have any ideas about materials and style? Photos would be great.

The exterior is to be renovated this spring. The "brick" will be painted (it's not really brick, so please don't yell at me.... it's actually just a colored concrete block, pretty ugly in real life. If it were real brick, I promise you, I would NOT paint it!!!) and the white vinyl will be replaced with "Kennebunker" cedar shingles, in a light grey/tan tone similar to the paint color. So the house will be more unified, not red-and-white any more.

The style we're after is sort of coastal cottage with a modern edge. The house is about 1500 feet from the shore (though no view, sadly.) We're completing a major interior renovation this winter with nice materials like local natural slate, natural cherry shaker kitchen, calacatta and carrara marble, hardwoods, tile, etc.

Our side entry door (that we use most) will be varnished fir. We're thinking of cladding the front entryway recess in fir or cedar, as well, to emphasize the entry and contrast with the lighter paint/shingles. House numbers, next to the door, will probably be steel, modern type. Light fixtures are the nautical "onion" type. Perhaps the balcony railing should be varnished wood, in keeping with the nautical details?

This is the shingle we'll be using:

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Comments (7)

palimpsest
13 years ago
I think a simple IXIXI pattern would be nice.
Stacey Collins
Original Author
13 years ago
Thank, palimpsest! I can't picture what the 'X' part looks like... is there a name for it so I can search for photos online?
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Gary's picture is a very helpful illustration. It shows raised panels that do not have that puffy look that I warned against. I totally disagree with LWO, which is very rare. It is a designer's job, and LWO is a professional designer as is the KD you're working with, to say these things, but it doesn't sound to me at all like you're planning an "upper end kitchen". It sounds like a very nice kitchen, but more value oriented than high end. I definitely agree with your reasoning that the choice of fridge should be based on your ideas of form and function. You like your choice of fridge. Choosing a different one to suit what the Jones are doing in the magazines or what designers think is the latest hot look will take away from the rational choice you've made for yourself. I went into my own kitchen remodel assuming I was getting SubZero, and preferring integrated, and still looked at freestanding fridges like the KA to compare them and see if I liked them better. I didn't. I liked Miele better, so went that. You sound like you've done enough shopping and know what you want. If the look of what you want bothered you, you would have worded your post differently. There is nothing wrong with having the edge of the fridge showing like Gary has--it's a very nice kitchen, but not designery and it wouldn't change the look if the fridge were integrated. There's nothing wrong with having the freestanding panelled fridge you're talking about, and putting nicely made panels on it, and having the sides show a little in the opening with a couple inches of air space. It's not built-in, but it's decorated to match the kitchen. It's not a high end, designery look, but it's perfectly fine. I find the comments otherwise to show more about the snobbery of the people writing them than the look itself. Matching things are out, right now. That's a big part of the problem. The people who want to be "in" decide that it's wrong to match if you can't make the match indistinguishable. It therefore must be integrated. Some people really make the match perfect, with faux drawer fronts and all so that you really can't tell where the fridge is. People aren't advocating that. I think if you can tell by the size and shape of the panels, it doesn't matter whether it's integrated, built-in but frame showing, or free-standing. It's still a fridge, and a fridge is a fridge, and what you want it to look like in it's fridgeness is entirely up to you. I also disagree about the death of the work triangle. I cook. I walk that triangle constantly. I have two fridges and two sinks, so there are different versions of the triangle which overlap, but I would never, ever, given a choice, remove the fridge from the main cooking area. People remodel their kitchens just to correct this problem. A big reason I planned a full remodel from the time I placed the offer to buy the house was the distance from the fridge to the stove. It was massively inconvenient even in an almost straight line. Moving the fridge out of the kitchen just so you won't have to look at it is something that people may do nowadays, but it is greatly impeding the function for cooking. People also buy vastly uncomfortable chairs because they look good, and then sit on the floor with pillows because they don't like sitting on the chairs. For some people looks is the most important thing of all. I've always admired the Duesenberg, one of the best and most beautiful cars ever made. They designed the works first, then designed the beautiful carriage to fit over them.
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Hi Totally, Thanks for the pic as that helps. Beautiful home! There looks to be quite a few entry points that are possible. Earlier you stated that the caulking is gone around some of the windows noticed by the roofer. Even though you dont want to solely rely on caulking, it could be that the lack of is letting water in at a point probably around the sill area of the window,(the outside stool), and running in where it is penetrating likely due to improper flashing. Caulking can keep rain water away and from running in, but the importance of flashing is to keep moisture, such as condensation, from collecting around areas and seeping, which is in a way worse because it goes unnoticed for quite some time leading to wood rot, mold, ruined insulation, etc. If there is a positive to your dilemma is that you are able to actually see that you have a problem and address it. With the window type you have, brick will have to be pulled to get to the perimeter and flashing.The possibilities other than the lack of caulking could be at the upper gable above the window where water is running down behind where the siding meets the gabled roof line, which would most likely be a flashing problem as well. You might want to have that area checked , but my speculation is that the rain was getting in that uncaulked area and was able to get inside the wall cavatie through bad flashing. Even though some of the other windows are un caulked, it could just be the way the rain water traveled and was able to penetrate that particular window, especially with wind driven rains. Some possible links to people who could inspect could be a siding/window outfit, a home inspector, or a contractor. Your roofers could be considered as well as they are experienced w/ flashing concerns. If it is determined that brick should be pulled, i would get a mason for the removal and replacement. Hoping it all works out soon for you and once again, beautiful home!
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Great ideas everyone! I haven't heard of Smart Glass, I will have to check that out. Boopadaboo - my husband had the same idea to put drapes on the outside of the door. Unfortunately we only have three inches on each side of the door because of built-in bookshelves. They are part of the judges panelling so they can't really be removed. nancyinmich - I'm in MI too! Same issue with this solution as the previous. Not enough space at the sides of the door for them to fold back. Since my french doors are rather wide the panels would actually project further into the room than the depth of the bookcases so that won't work. WhiteRiverSooner - this might just be it! Do you mind if I ask if you made them, had them made or purchased them from somewhere? Because of the position of the door knob (relative to where the glass starts) I only have one inch. Wonder if that's enough to hide the side rings?
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Hi DM! Here's our floorplan to give you an idea of where some of our FDs are. As you can see the front/main entry opens up to the Gentlemans Parlor. I have lace panels on the front door and it's sidelites like this... They are actually 84 inch length tab top "macrame" panels that I wove through the lace with the bottom rod giving the flounce and ruffle at the bottom or they would have been too long. It worked and I loved it. What you can't see is the frosted contact paper through it. Here's a terrible shot of the door, but you can see the sidelites with the contact paper. It looks much better in person. I took it at night with a flash making it looks shiney, which it's not. This was a temporary treatment when we first moved in. Just a long piece of semi sheer fabric wrapped around the rods and tied in a knot. If I wanted more light I clipped the back part of the fabric behind the knot. Cost less than three dollars with dollar fabric found at Wal Mart while they still had fabric. Here's a close up of the panels I have in the Gentlemans Parlor and the shades that are at the moment the photo was taken inside their housing, which will be painted to match the rod when I have time. As you can see they don't match the main entry window in any way. Oh the walls will be painted to match the curtains when the weather keeps us from work outside. The color there now was to be a basecoat for a faux finish my hubby changed his mind about. The sunroom FDs looked similar to the original temp front door treatment... But will possibly look like this next photo/drawing if I have enough fabric left after making six 90inch panels for the five window across the back of the sunroom. They are button up Roman style shades. As you can see by the above pictures, well other than our home isn't finished yet, that I don't think all the french doors need to be treated in the same way. Though we'll probably find a way to add sliding french/glassed doors between the GP and sunroom because the colors do not blend. Do you have photos or floor plan drawings of how these two sets of french doors set in your home?
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palimpsest
13 years ago
Something like this but maybe with a narrower X or even an [X] between the posts (2-3 uprights then X instead of 1:1

{{!gwi}}
Stacey Collins
Original Author
13 years ago
Thanks! I will save that photo. Do you think varnished wood or some type of powdercoated metal or even stainless steel? I'm thinking that we don't want it to "pop" too much, since the whole point of removing the deck was to de-emphasize those doors and draw attention to the actual front entryway on the perpendicular wall there.....

Speaking of which, you'll get this vision, I think: do you think it's nuts to do some sort of modern treatment of the entryway "alcove" when the rest of the exterior is pretty traditional? I mean, we've removed the hideous fake colonial shutters, and the bottom grids from the windows, but we're keeping the upper grids and doing those shingles and the painted "brick". I'm playing with the idea of cladding that little recess where the entry door is in natural fir or cedar. Varnished... Ideally I'd like a full panel, marine plywood, but I can't figure out how to finish that properly at the outside corners. So, maybe horizontally-installed clear planks? .... With clean, modern-font stainless house letters....? The side entrance (to the left in the sketch, next to the garage door) that we use all the time will have a varnished fir craftsman-style door with square sticking. So it might be nice to carry that varnished-wood thing around to the front entry...???

The actual front door will hopefully be the one there now, a full-height divided light model, if I can strip and refinish it.

The idea would be to emphasize that entryway, and also, just look cool :)

Is that just too weird??? I really like mixing modern and traditional elements inside, but I'm not sure it is such a good idea on the exterior. Then again, this little house is a funny mixture anyway. It was built in 1956 and has some real 50's elements like a full brick hearth wall and no crown moldings... but also some more traditional elements as well. So maybe the blend of modern/traditional works? What do you think?
palimpsest
13 years ago
I would probably do the railing in a powder coated metal in a darker shade of the shingle color.

For the front entry, since you are doing a square sticking door, why not do horizontal board and batten, perhaps with the battens carrying on the same horizontal rhythm as the joints in the door, Then you could finish off each outside edge with one vertical element so as to finish the edge but not look out of place.

These houses were hybrids. I did a project on a "colonial" rancher that had a ceiling to baseboard stick made picture window in the LR. The execution was awful, it was like 2x4s with single pane glass held in with quarter round, but it was this super modern element on a colonial-ish house. (All the houses in the development had a variant, along with horizontal swaths of awning windows too...so I think you'll be ok.

You could also to the rail in horizontal but I kind of like the colonial-ish stick style-ish Xs
annzgw
13 years ago
Since you're going to do some major remodeling, have you considered moving the french doors to the opposite wall? If the yard allows you to do so, you would then be able to add a small, private porch/seating area off your bedroom.
Stacey Collins
Original Author
13 years ago
Thanks both of you!

annz, that's a good idea.... but if we move the french doors, they'll open up to the VERY darkly shaded north side of the house. I really LOVE the warm sunlight that streams in there currently (even though the sheers we always have drawn), it's south exposure right now. The other side of the house is also quite close to the property line, we couldn't build any sort of deck there. Also: we're SO broke now, nearing the end of 2 years of major (often unforeseen) renovations... and I'm trying to get the most of my fast-disappearing buck :( Moving the doors would entail removing the two awning windows on the other wall, which would look crappy on the "front" of the house no we'd need to buy new ones, etc etc etc. Too much $$!

Faux or Juliette balcony for first floor french doors... ideas?

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Faux or Juliette balcony for first floor french doors... ideas?

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