Behind the Makeover: How Chelsea Revived Her Ranch’s Exterior

 

Chelsea’s mid-century ranch-style home looks much better after we tackled several exterior upgrades. Listen to this special podcast to learn about the projects and find inspiration for your own exterior renovations!

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New Sod and Landscaping

Chelsea’s lawn was looking worse for the wear, and she had too many bare spots to salvage it. Instead, we tilled the entire lawn, added new soil, and laid new sod.

We prefer laying new sod to seeding because it provides instant gratification. Seeding takes much longer to see results — if they even occur.

Here in the South, birds are liable to fly away with the seed! Or the seed can easily wash away during a rainstorm.

We would rather take care of the entire lawn now, and we had plenty of help with the whole family installing their new grass and later adding beautiful flowers!

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Giving the Gable a Facelift

The gable on Chelsea’s home was big, pink and — frankly — an eyesore. So we decided to transform that eyesore into a feature.  

The home is extremely well built, so nailing cedar shades directly into the stucco wasn’t an option. Instead, we installed 1-by-4’s on the stucco and nailed the shakes into the 1-by-4’s. 

We used Titebond Heavy Duty Construction Adhesive to provide most of the support for the shakes and followed up with the nails. 

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Repairing the Roof

High winds and falling tree limbs can easily lead to roof damage, and we certainly saw our share of severe weather last year with multiple hurricanes.

Chelsea’s roof still has a few years left in it, and a new roof is not in the budget at this point. So, for now, we replaced shingles that should protect the home before it’s time for a new roof.

When dealing with a damaged asphalt roof shingle, you can replace the entire piece or cut the shingle into sections and replace just a single tab.

Watch How to Replace a Damaged Asphalt Roof Shingle for more information.

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Installing New Windows

Chelsea and her husband Brandon’s home was built in 1956, and the original windows were showing their age. Even worse, they had lost their function, with rust and leaks.

We measured the windows and Chelsea chose Low-E, energy-efficient JELD-WEN windows as replacements.

They were installed around the home’s perimeter and we sealed them with Duramaster, a super-flexible new caulk, to keep them air and watertight.

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Painting the Exterior

Chelsea knew she wanted to paint her home’s exterior — originally pink — a different color, but she also likes many colors, so she wasn’t sure which one to choose.

To start the process, she visited different neighborhoods for inspiration. Armed with The Home Depot’s Project Color app, she was able to upload a photo of her home and virtually try out Behr and Glidden paint colors.

After that, she physically tried out the colors, painting them on her home before ultimately deciding on a 50-50 mixture of Misted Green and Greyhound, both from Benjamin Moore.

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New Custom Garage Doors

Just like the windows, Chelsea’s garage doors were old, rusting and leaking. Keeping them was simply out of the question!

Instead, Chelsea and I built new garage doors using wood planks in a diagonal pattern. As soon as we installed the new doors, Chelsea sanded and stained them. 

She chose a natural stain to bring out the grain in the wood as well as protect them from the elements.

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New Front Door

The final piece of the puzzle was adding a beautiful new front door. Chelsea has eyed this particular front door for a while, and she always knew she wanted it as her home’s entry.

And now, with new sod, landscaping, a whole new paint color, new windows and shutters, this home has loads of curb appeal.

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See more from Chelsea’s Ranch Revival on our special landing page for this series!