The Old Homeplace (House Exterior)

So I'm singing, 'Welcome to My House' by Flo-Rida really badly right now, but I can't help it (at least my other half can sing). When the hubs and I planned to build this house, I wanted it to be what my dad always described as the old homestead. Not physically like Dad's old home but the kind of place family gathers for generations. I pictured family mulling around everywhere, eating meals of fried chicken and homegrown green beans, homemade pies and cakes. Hmmmmmm, gotta love the South, there goes that diet.........and plenty of room for kids to roam and play outside, maybe even a pool someday? An old homeplace, you know?

We agreed upon a French style home, although a departure from the house in the movie, 'Something's Gotta Give' that I had first envisioned (Ohmygoodness if you've never seen it, google it, it's the best!), it turned out to be the perfect choice for us. It's fun to have pops of elegance here and there but still be casual enough for old vintage worn rugs and chippy paint. In almost all design decisions I make, I try to have an inspiration photo. Along with the help of a wonderful designer/friend, we choose the color of the exterior of the home based on the home pictured below.

Source unknown, please advise if you can give credit for the photo

Our climate here in Kentucky could not accommodate the treatment on the brick which I assume is a mortar wash. Oh, how I would have loved to do that! (But that's another post). I love the old world look of this house. We have yet to add our shutters but this is probably the look and color we will go for, along with similar landscaping.

We took a houseplan that was as close to what we wanted as we could find, and by the end of it had reworked at least half of the house. It was great after years of searching to have the exact house we were looking for:

One story, although we ended up with storage and a bonus room upstairs. I hurt my back a few years ago and stairs are not my friend.
Tall ceilings - The ceilings are 10' - 12'.
Room for the baby grand piano that I was given as a teenager. I never thought I'd design a whole house around a piano, but it's a space sucker for sure.
Three bedrooms with their own baths.
Large dining room (for all that food, right???) Ok, I'd admit I have a problem, but let's move on.
Character, as much as we could afford. Turns out character is expensive. Boooo.

Our driveway is gravel. We plan to pave it but I really enjoy the sound of driving home on gravel right now for some reason. (I'm sure it has nothing to do with not having to pay for the driveway). Plus I can tell myself that's a French style driveway, right??

I LOVE looking at houses and getting ideas, which is one reason I started the blog. I have lived in apartments, a duplex and several houses and I can honestly say there were aspects of each one of them that I loved, no matter how small or large, simple or fancy. Any house can become a home with your own touch on it. And it doesn't have to be perfect, mine certainly isn't! What's your style? Are you into the vintage look? French? Or a huge wrap around porch like the house in 'Something's Gotta Give?' I'd love to see your house sometime!