We believe the outside of your house should be as stylish as the inside. Considering H.J. Martin and Son does a lot of work on residential interior design, it might surprise you to learn a number of our residential products are made for interior or exterior applications.

One of our Fox Valley-based designers, Mary Souther, has put the vision for her lakefront home to the task by featuring a ledgerstone tile that we sell on her own home’s exterior, and today she will tell us all about it!

Mary’s 1970’s home is on the shores of Little Lake Butte des Morts, and was originally set up as a camp home. Over the past three years of ownership and experiencing what works for them, she and her husband have been steadily working hard to remodel and update the look and purpose they have envisioned.

“The dark paint aged the home and became lost in the landscape and so we wanted to brighten the overall look to reflect more of a refreshed cozy cottage,” Mary commented.

There were a number of decisions Mary made to achieve a brighter cozy feel to the house, and a remodeled, covered outdoor alcove is what took on one of these most recent transformations.

The goal was to take this dark, unutilized and quirky area and redesign it into a relaxing space to enjoy a hot tub under a protected outdoor retreat.

As mentioned, the house was covered in dark cedar siding. The cedar siding itself was maintained and simply repainted a Savanna Tan to match the new garage and achieve that light and airy coastal feel.

Within the alcove they removed the wood siding and prepped it to receive Angora Beachwalk Ledgerstone for added texture and color variation. The ledgerstone was also used as an accent on the front of the new garage as a wainscot and surrounds the recessed third garage bay.  This is the repeated use of stone that has unified the overall remodel process.

The same stone was originally featured on the inside of the house. See more details on this project here.

A Moravian star light fixture was included to highlight the alcove area, and new white columns and a custom wooden barn door was installed to create privacy. They also replaced a window with a new door and side light as private access to the alcove. Ornamental grasses will grow tall to lend themselves to more privacy in the rock landscape.

Down the walkway and beyond the barn door privacy panel, the entry area featured a large three-pane casement window which had become damaged. The window revealed very little other than allowing light to filter in and an interior view of the neighbors brick wall. They replaced the casement window with an awning style that is more suitable on the water due to wind. This allowed Mary to highlight the entry by again featuring the ledgerstone on the exterior façade beneath a new window box, along with more white accents to tie into the new alcove. A beautiful new craftsman style door was the finishing touch.

“These remodel projects have been so fun and rewarding for us. Each update leads to the next vision for change.” She said family and friends are enjoying the use of this space, come rain, wind, or shine…we’re protected!

She said the family is already enjoying the relaxing nature of sitting and enjoying the updated alcove area.

For more information about exterior remodeling ideas and design trends, contact Mary today or visit a designer in our Fox Valley or Green Bay showrooms!