Reveal: Carolina Cottage Exterior

Carolina Cottage Exterior Reveal!

The reveal of the Carolina Cottage Exterior is finally here!! I cannot believe the transformation of this sweet little house. I know I’ve said it already, but if it weren’t for Mark and my Thorn Cove Abode, I would be moving in. Instead, we are going to list on AirBnb and you my friends can stay here {soon}!!

From the 1940’s to 2023

Do you remember where we started in February when I bought this cottage on Facebook Marketplace?? The home was built in 1940 and passed through several owners. If you’ve been following along, you know we found some fun surprises during demo on the inside, like old newspaper clippings, razor blades and cans in the walls! Unfortunately, the exterior didn’t have any fun, cute surprises like the inside, but the terrible kind of surprises. Mark started calling this cottage “Misery Manor” due to the myriad of issues we discovered along the way.

Siding and Window Restoration

Here’s an image of where we started. The exterior had faded blue vinyl siding that had extensive damage. Places were even patched with a completely different vinyl color and style. The siding was not salvageable so while we chose to stick with vinyl siding we did choose something much nicer. The siding we chose is from Kaycan and you can check it out here.

If you’ve never shopped vinyl before, we went with what they call a ‘Straight Lap’ in the color ‘Linen’. Straight Lap is a little more expensive, but worth it. This style has a closer resemblance to traditional wood clapboard while Dutch Lap has an exterior groove. I chose straight because it looks better aesthetically.

Original Windows

When it came to positioning vinyl over the windows, I chose to leave the wood windows exposed. I feel strongly vinyl over window trim catches water and is the reason for much of the rot issues. However, leaving the windows exposed meant I had to choose additional paint colors for the brick chimney, foundation, trim and doors.

All the windows are original to the home and it makes a HUGE difference! We did repair and reglaze them though {read all about how we Restored the Old Windows here}. It was truly a painstaking process. When you compare my little cottage to the homes on each side, you can absolutely see why saving old windows is worth it.

While we dealt with lovely vinyl issues, we came across some more ‘not so fun’ surprises. We had to completely rebuild the back of the home due to severe wood rot. It was a miracle it hadn’t caved in {read all about that here}. Since we had to literally pull off part of the back of the house, we went ahead and decided to shift things. We ended up moving the location of the exterior door which created a wonderful flex room on the inside. The house is really a tiny cottage and we were able to create an enclosed mud/laundry room just off the back.

Fun Fact: My Carolina Cottage is actually one of three sweet tiny homes built all in a row for a set of sisters years ago. There is a larger main house and then three small homes which were all built around the same time.

A Whole New Roof

I wasn’t planning on having to install a new roof. {Notice the trend here of the Carolina Cottage keeping me from my plans}. The previous roof could have stayed a few more years, but we had to remove two non functioning chimneys from the back of the home {yep, seriously}. After the chimneys were removed we could have patched the roof, but that would just have been a “band aid” essentially. So, I thought I’d go ahead and eat the expense of the whole roof now. I’m so glad we did because guess where else we found rotted boards? Yep, the ROOF!

When we added the black metal roof we extended the front and back roof by 12”. The extensions allowed us to create an overhang to help prevent any future rot or damage. We ended up adding a black metal roof for longevity and durability. {You can read about the roof here}!

We ‘repointed’ the large brick chimney on the front to secure it after so many years of neglect. I was not about to remove this one due to the charm {and labor cost}.

Charming Stoop and Patio

Can you believe the contractor I purchased this house from was going to rip out this front door?! Thankfully he had too much going on and I was able to save this sweet, charming door! I did end up having to scrape and scrape it, but I absolutely loved the way it turned out.

The door is so sweet with the stoop! The front steps were never supposed be fully painted. I only wanted the tops done, but there was a miscommunication. {Side note: my exterior painters don’t speak any English so I’m actually surprised this is all that occurred. The interior painters do however, but that’s another story}.

Thankfully, I caught them before they painted our new back stairs we added to match the original front stairs. I worked so hard scrubbing and stripping those dang steps for them just to get painted over! It was worth it 🙂

In addition to adding a mud/laundry room, we added a brick patio to the back of the house. We thought a little space for a bistro set and grill would be nice for guests. We do plan to install a privacy fence in the coming weeks as well.

If you’ve followed me for awhile you know this brick I have is so, so special to me! It’s the same brick we salvaged from my old elementary school! We are going to use it on our Beaufort property as well. I love this very cool full circle moment of me using my creative abilities on this home with the brick where I took my very first elementary art classes!!

Exterior Final Details

When it came to choosing exterior paint colors I was a little nervous about having three colors. The vinyl siding is one color plus I have three more colors on the house, but it all came together even better than I could have hoped for!

For the foundation, steps and brick chimney, I chose painted Accessible Beige by Sherwin Williams. For the trim around the doors and the windows I went with High Reflective White by Sherwin Willams. I wanted a crisp white against the warm linen vinyl foundation tones. The lovely pop of blue on the doors is Nantucket Fog by Benjamin Moore, which is the same blue I went with inside the home. I just love how warm the paint colors turned out!

The lights and window boxes pull it all together! The lights were actually a great inexpensive find from Walmart {less than $25.00}. The window boxes were so affordable and add such a cute touch!

We still have some small touches to do {like new crawlspace vents, landscaping and adding that privacy fence} but I couldn’t wait another minute to share a “finished space” with you! You’ve all supported and laughed and commiserated with me through this process and I am so thankful. I know this Cottage was a MESS when we found it, she really turned out so cute! I feel like I could handle any renovation thrown at me now 🙂

I’d love to know in the comments what you think of the final exterior?!?!