Great house! A lot of potentialities. I would go craftsman with porch, columns and balcony and painted brick.

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These are great ideas. I love the porch with thick columns. The balcony is interesting. Thanks for the examples!

lovely house ! your house leans more four square than craftman. I would not paint the brick! Maybe consider restoring the front back to an open porch, remove the shutters and paint trim a green, red or cream.

Lovely old four square home. Think restore rather than renovate. See if city has records of the original house, architect and perhaps photos of what it looked like. Opening the porch would be my first thought too.

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Great suggestion to research the home. I bought it from an estate so got very little information. It’s funny, I had no idea what type of architecture this was until I posted here. I haven’t heard of four square before! I’m learning a lot. Thank you.

I would not be in a big hurry to open up that porch. What you have now is a very useful 3-season room. An open porch is going to be much less useful - quite possibly uninhabitable unless screened in.

Don't even think of painting the brick.

Your house is gorgeous! Unfortunately, the photos you posted don't enlarge. So, it's kinda hard to make out much more detail. Would suggest you live with the closed in front porch for a while before deciding to restore to an open porch. The extra space might proved more valuable than a porch. Would not suggest painting the brick but would suggest cleaning. Be careful how you clean it though as brick can be more easily damaged than you think.

Thank you! Fair point that we might find the enclosed porch useful. We need to renovate the kitchen too so perhaps will see how the porch feels after that. Re: the brick, maybe a different color trim might be nice. Cleaning it is a good idea too.

Beautiful house. A few foundation shrubs, perhaps different siding and shutter colors (don't paint the brick) and you'll have a stunner. Don't stick craftsman bits on a foursquare. Look up foursquares for the right details if you want to change something.

Thank you. Great comments.

Your brick looks beautiful, I'm another vote for restoring the porch or enclosing it properly. It looks like you have white vinyl windows so I would go lighter and less creamy with all the trim so it blends together better.

I'm grateful to be learning about the architecture of the house, I was at first wondering if it was more craftsman, not having heard of four square. I see what you mean about enclosing the porch properly, those porches/the porch windows are beautiful. I'm appreciating the house more and more as I learn about it. Would you keep all the trim in the white or light family?

The trim inside is really pretty too, more substantive at the top of the windows and doors.

The kitchen is old and has formica countertops and is on the small side, but I see lots of potential. Surprisingly, it has a commercial-grade DCS gas range!

The shutters on the windows are distracting and are not original to the house. Shutters should always look as if they could close over a window. These are too small. Try removing them and let the woodwork around the windows be the star.

The roof is fabulous. So is the brick.

If you don't need the enclosed porch to use, my feeling is opening it up as it probably was originally would be better. Try going to your local library or historical society to see if they can muster up old photos of your house.

Additionally, start reading up on 4 square homes and if you really want to start learning about preservation, watch Brett Waterman's show, Restored. Can be found online or on DIY channel.

Yes you’re so right. The shutters are too small. It looks like many four square homes don’t have shutters. Great idea to remove and go from there. I need to replace the windows relatively soon. Is there a specific window that is typical for this type of home? I’m delighted by the ideas and education I’m getting. This is the first time I’ve posted here and I am so glad I did.