I also vote no shutters. Please don‘t take what I’m about to say the wrong way : ) ... Yes your home is old, and all the other homes in your area may have shutters....however your home was never designed to have shutters. You can tell by the placement and design of the windows. While shutters can act as eyebrows for your windows, the original purpose was to “shutt”. If visually you can’t shut and open the shutters it will look off, and therefore, wrong. Bellow I illustrated what your shutters would need to look like if they propperly fit your windows: See what I mean. Every shutter needs a window, but not every window needs a shutter. Your home won’t look “off” without them, they will look right. Your windows on your first level are wood, leaded, and original- let those shine! Now, as far as trim and door color...I’m pegging you home between 1910-1920....possibly early 1930?? When choosing trim and door color, go historic. I went and did some quick research for you on archive.org. You can also find historic colors at any local paint store. If you design your homes exterior in the era it was intended, it will never look dated. Yes, many of these colors seem bright (not everything was pastel back then as we usually think...) Also remember that your colors will be outside, bleached from the sun. Always go darker and more colorful than you think. Choosing your color outside will help :) 1920 https://archive.org/details/TheMuraloCompanyInc.C1920 1910 https://archive.org/details/RuekelBestQualityMixedPaint 1930 This one is for galvanized iron, but it could still easily be applied to your door and trim. https://archive.org/details/GalvanumForGalvanizedIronTheOneOutstandingPaintNotedForItsAbility Here are two examples of historic homes with proper color pallets, see how they come to life! Notice while this home from 1929 has shutters, visually they can all close. Hope that helps, and good luck!

We love mountain modern homes, especially bedrooms. The white duvet is perfect with the dark walls and Pendleton blanket; adding lighting pieces through bedding and artwork will help brighten the space and provide contrast for the walls. As far as art for the room goes, you can keep it neutral to let the blanket shine or add more dimension and color to balance the blanket. In this room, we added art that was more colorful than the rest of the room, but because it stands alone, it shines: A more subtle and modern option: You can also add visually interesting light fixtures, especially any that will pop against the darker paint of your room: The colors and textures you have here are already a beautiful starting point. Good luck adding those finishing touches!

Thank you all for your thoughtful comments! Jen, from an accessibility standpoint, having the front planter on the right makes perfect sense, but for some reason, I think I’ll feel more ”sheltered” with it on the left... Must be some deep-rooted psychological reason. Weird, huh? Also, I like the idea of having the planters obscure the cars in the driveway— and the driveway itself— while we lounge out front. With the seating area on the left, I feel like the driveway will be too prominent a view, whereas with it on the right, I’d be looking out at lawn and eventually a garden. I also like the idea of a ”green-lined procession” as you walk from the driveway toward the house before the house is eventually “revealed” once you clear the hedges on your left. Having the planter on the right removes the buildup, if that makes sense... I don’t like the idea of seeing steps, porch and potential loungers right as you exit your car. Having said all that, considering shading and sun exposure is something I did not do! So I totally agree, Embothrium, that it is an important factor to keep in mind! Thank you for the heads up. And thank you for the suggestion of keeping a paved path to the driveway and side of the house, as well as to the street. I really like the geometric interest it gives the otherwise expansive and boring front yard, whilst still leaving plenty of room for colorful landscaping in the future. Onto colors and materials: Tartanmeup, I gave natural brick a try on my model (per your suggestion), and I really like it, especially once seen in concert with the other updates made throughout. HOWEVER, I think the model is giving me a misleading read. Some of the brick, along the bottom, is already painted battleship grey. Having removed paint from brick before, I think it’ll be a maddening exercise to get rid of it. Also, our home inspector mentioned that people sometimes paint the bottom portion of their brick façade if water damage has caused calcium deposits on the brick, giving it a hazy look. The texture I applied to the model, while close in color to the house brick IRL, is a bit clinical and “perfect”. So it does not give me a real-world representation of what I’ll actually end up with. I’l post those mock-ups once I‘m at my laptop (currently on iPad). I do, however, LOVE your RomaBio suggestion! It gives me the best of both worlds— I get a refreshed façade and I retain the character and gravitas of the brick. My wife and I both really like the look of distressed/whitewashed brick and never knew how people achieved it. We though that maybe they just let the paint patina over time. Knowing that we can get that look from day one is awesome. Thanks! SketchUp, by the way, is not difficult to learn, at all. It’s got a very intuitive interface and real-world logic to it, so you don’t have to contend with learning the software’s “philosophy” while also learning how to use it, if that makes any sense at all. Becoming proficient at it, as with all things, will take a bit of time, but with intentional practice (aided by watching some YouTube videos), you’ll have the skills to model your home inside of two weeks. It’s biggest asset is that it has a HUGE (open source) library of readymade models, so you can populate your model with furniture, materials, and other components that others have taken the time to model and share. That is big. Olychick— thank you for the architectural style ID. Upon cursory google image search, I see that it’s quite possibly what they were going for, but boy did they miss the mark!

Thanks, it’s helpful to see your existing furniture pieces and decor style. Congratulations on the sale of a beautiful home and the purchase of an extraordinary mountain home. With a little love, it can become your dream home. When you search Houzz photos for inspiration, search under “rustic“ style as well, and look for paint and furniture colors and level of sophistication that call to you. Just one tip for painting a space that has a lot of awkward angles - choose a paint color light enough to go on both walls and ceiling. Use the same color throughout, at least in your main living spaces and it will help the angles to blend in. Agree about needing to see paint samples in the space if possible and since your walnut flooring is the one thing that won’t change further, make sure your paint color plays well with it.