A Look at Popular Exterior Home Styling: Which Theme is Your Favorite?
A Look at Popular Exterior Home Styling: Which Theme is Your Favorite?
August 29, 2024
You want your home to look great inside and out. But what does that mean, exactly? What makes a home look attractive on the outside?
The overall exterior look of a home is called the facade - this includes the various style elements that provide a pleasing appearance. The look is created using a variety of materials including wood, siding, brick, stone, shingles, and metal, and are brought together in an artistic style around a common theme.
As a trusted home builder in the Lehigh Valley and surrounding areas since 1961, Kay Builders has a dedicated design team that works hard to be at the forefront of architectural and design trends.
That means studying the looks that are popular not just today, but tomorrow—so that your home looks beautiful and stylish for many years to come. They research facade styles and all the elements that today’s homeowners and buyers find desirable in their homes.
Today we’re going to look at 3 popular Kay Builders facade themes to help you understand what goes into these looks, and why they look so great.
The Classic Style: Timeless & Upscale
If you’re searching for a look that isn’t going out of style anytime soon, go with a classic. Kay Builders’ classic styling features brick, raised panel shutters, colonial grid pattern windows, and a 6-panel front door. Classic exteriors usually include a small front porch that just covers the doorway, as opposed to other styles that usually offer more expansive porches. The porch might be supported by simple yet strong 8” round columns.
The roof on the classic style is typically a hip roof style, where all 4 sides of the roof slant downward from the peak. This is a notable difference from other styles that typically have gable roofs that only slant down on 2 sides. In Kay Builders classic exteriors, an arched window could draw your attention in the center of the home, above the entranceway. Neutral color schemes provide an understated, upscale, and timeless look.
You’ll easily recognize this classic look as it has been very popular in the Lehigh Valley over the years, and continues to be offered today.
The Craftsman Style: Increased Details for a More Ornate Look
The Craftsman exteriors demonstrate the natural evolution of the Classic look and showcase more detail. You’ll find shake singles, ornate columns, and lots of little extras.
Kay Builders’ Craftsman Facade features a paneled pedestal with a tapered column. There’s more trim on the gable ends (the triangles on the roof) with more details like frieze boards (which go on top of the siding just below the roof line to separate the different building materials) and attractive fascia (the long straight board along the edge of the roof), sometimes with intricate dentil blocks for added charm.
Our craftsman style homes have board and batten shutters, which are the traditional vertical boards held in place with two horizontal boards. The windows themselves have a 4-over-1 grill pattern. The top sash of a single or double hung window has a single horizontal grille and a single vertical, while the bottom sash has none.
The craftsman look might remind you of homes you’ve seen on the west coast or in the mountains. You’ll see a lot more use of stone on the exterior, and greater use of earth-tone colors to further enhance the style.
Modern Farmhouse: Today’s Popular Trend
Once upon a time, you’d find simple, rustic farmhouses across the American landscape. Now that charming farmhouse style has been updated by modern designers for a whole new generation, and this look is now very popular.
The Modern Farmhouse exterior features board and batten siding, colored vinyl windows with board and batten shutters, and standing seam metal roofs. The style is intentionally clean and simple, with an emphasis on functionality.
This truly American look is an honest and authentic representation of the traditional farmhouse style, brought into the modern era. It evokes a deep connection to our country’s history while delivering beautiful curb appeal that accounts for its popularity today.
Choose Your Favorite… then CUSTOMIZE Your Home!
Whatever exterior style you choose, with Kay Builders you will enjoy all the finest quality materials and craftsmanship of a 3rd generation, family-owned builder. Even better, with Kay Builders you aren’t limited to these styles exactly as they appear. You can build a CUSTOM-i-ZABLE home to fit your specific style.
When driving through a Kay Builders Community, you’ll see a variety of exterior facades and styles created with great care by our expert design team to satisfy the needs of our homebuyers. The result is an interesting, varied look. Instead of a “cookie cutter” neighborhood where every home is identical, each Kay home is individually designed so no two homes look exactly alike.
Ready to learn more about Kay Builder’s commitment to quality design? Call at (484) 353-6100 or fill out our online form today. You can also browse through our floor plans and new home communities in the Lehigh Valley to see our designs for yourself.
