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An awning, when installed over a window, a terrace or a balcony, provides protection against direct sunlight, wind drafts, rain or ice, without shutting out the surrounding view. The view of the house is enhanced when its doors and windows are covered with awnings of an appropriate color and style. Terraces, decks, and balconies can be converted into large covered areas that become airy attractive additional rooms with the proper use of awnings.

Metal awnings are usually made of aluminum, copper, iron, or steel, depending upon the architectural requirements of the building. Usually, vertical metal panel awnings and window or door awnings are of solid, stationary construction of strong ribbed heavy gauge materials, for all-weather durability against wind, rain, and sun. Depending on the individual shape and configurations, the awnings may or may not have distinguishable sides. Aluminum awnings are available in solid or striped styles and in several attractive colors. Metal awnings are available in several distinct types, depending on the functional requirements of the individuals.

Horizontal window panel or louvered awnings have an angled slat design with space between slats that enable the person inside the house to see out but prevent anyone from seeing in. Overlapping slat design also allows the sunlight to filter in indirectly. Aluminum slats are usually made of heavy gauge with a baked-on enamel finish that resists chipping, cracking, and peeling.

Retractable or roll-up metal awnings are usually constructed from flexible horizontal slats without any visible space between slats when the awning is in open position. They are controlled with a hand cranking device or cord pull. Storm awnings are specially made of heavy-duty materials and can be pulled down to cover and protect the entire window during a storm or worse, a riot.

Aluminum door awnings are designed for installation over the door to help keep stairs, entries, and landings free from excessive rainwater. They have to be installed with enough head clearance to allow the door to open. Copper, iron, or steel rigid type awnings are excellent for protecting doors and windows from the elements.

It’s easy to get carried away with decorating the interior of your dollhouse, but there is far more to bringing real life down to miniature size than what goes in your house. The exterior of your dollhouse can make your scene look complete. Paying careful attention to detail and spending a little time on the outside of your dollhouse can turn it into a work of art.

There are limitless possibilities as to what you can do to enhance the exterior appearance of your dollhouse. A great place to begin is by designing and building a garden, or by creating some landscaping effects. Not only will this give you the opportunity to utilize your design skills in a different way, but will now have an excuse to learn how to make furniture for a dollhouse garden. You will find a great deal of satisfaction as you hone and prune your miniature garden to create an idyllic outdoor setting for your dollhouse to set in.

Trying to replicate real life outdoors is just as important as the realism of the interior. Many miniature collectors like to have outdoor spaces that look lived in, such as a backyard scattered with tiny child’s games or a small swing set. A pet or two may make the dollhouse look like somewhere a typical family lives and bring a sense of belonging to the scene.

There are certain features that add a greater sense of reality to the exterior of your dollhouse. A dollhouse car, a mailbox, trees, and a driveway are all features that may not be missed when you don’t have them, but that add so much richness and depth to the scene one you’ve added them. You may find yourself wondering how you ever let the display go for so long without them. The difference that they make in your miniature collection will be striking.

Some enthusiasts choose to change the exterior d?cor of their dollhouse seasonally. In the same way that you would decorate the exterior of your home for the holidays, you can come up with creative ways to decorate your dollhouse. When you roll the barbeque grill out onto your patio for the summer, do the same with your miniatures. Patio sets and metal doll lawn furniture are other seasonal additions that give your dollhouse a sense of reality. It may seem slightly out of place if you have your dollhouse designed in a warm and cozy wintertime theme and it’s ninety degrees outside.

However you choose to utilize your creative abilities on the exterior of your dollhouse, keep in mind that there isn’t really a right or wrong way to do it. As long as you make sure the exterior scale matches the interior scale you can decorate the exterior however you want without ruining the integrity of the display.

French Country is a popular home design style nowadays, both exterior and interior. This article addresses the French Country home design style on the exterior.

WHAT’S IT ALL ABOUT?

Do you think that French Country, or the effected Country French, is a home design style? We’d say, “Not exactly.”

French Country is a range of home design styles -

1. From an early French farmhouse to not quite a French embassy

2. From residential design styles, including but not limited to Rustic French, Rural French, French Provincial, French Eclectic, Chateau (French version of the English Manor House), and the namesake French Country

3. From in-between Cajun style and Louisiana Plantation style

4. From the time period in America bracketed roughly by WWI and WWII

Comment: There is a stylistic kinship of sorts with other home home styles that are casually (and incorrectly) taken as singular and not as a set. For example, American Victorian is a/k/a (Victorian, in each instance) 2nd Empire, Gothic, Italianate, Queen Anne, Folk, Stick, Shingle, and Richardsonian (Romanesque). Or for example, Southern Colonial ranges from Warburton House (1680) in James City County, VA or Christ’s Cross (a/k/a Cris Cross) (circa 1690) in New Kent County, VA and simpler, all the way up to Bacon’s Castle (1650) in Surry County, VA and Stratford Hall (1725) in Stratford, VA [noting that other examples abound either standing, or artistically captured earlier-on or reproduced, the author having chosen these for their geographical and temporal proximity, Post-Medieval English roots, and breadth of character].

You’ll find beaucoups publications about French Country on Amazon.com and at your local bookstore. To wit, along with a slew of other design-oriented books, a while back we ordered Provencal Inspiration: Living The French Country Spirit by Home Planners, and immediately received a notice that Amazon’s out of stock. French Country is back bigtime. As another, more recent example, our just completed custom house plans in French Country Style for a property in Asheville, NC will be offered later this year at $4+ million [and the facades really do have a rural sense to them].

French Country style reminds us more than most of Craftsman style – multiple roof slopes; windows of different sizes and heights; broad overhangs and soffits; knee braces and other exposures of construction structure; front-facing gables; a mix of gable, clipped gable, shed, and hip roofs; natural materials; masonry exterior, especially stone; a mix of finish clads; restraint in exterior accessories and adornments. French Country style can be comfortable and inviting in its more relaxed presentations.

However, French Country home design departs from the Arts & Crafts Movement in several respects: high-peaked, steeply sloped roofs at pitches way above Craftsman’s; a refinement in exterior trim particularly in rakes; an understatement of observable structure; gutter systems sometimes with gussied-up copper appointments; curved rooflines to accommodate steep slopes, larger windows, unpierced ceilings and interior walls; broad soffits; arches and curve-topped dormers, elaborated ironwork; balconies; turrets; Classic columns; masonry accessories in relief, some interest in symmetry, etc. Simplicity and elegance.

There are ways to botch French Country home design, e.g., hold rooflines to one pitch to assure consistent soffit depth and single-level eaves – in the name of cheap, easy, and stylistically insensitive; apply Corinthian columns in lieu of, say, Tuscan, or flute the Tuscan columns; confuse French styling with English, unbalance vertical and horizontal to favor horizontal; not mullion grouped windows, not apply true French casement windows; use plastic shutters, S-dog the shutters, not apply true French doors, asphalt shingle the roof, insist on broad facia and frieze boards, etc.

And there are ways to develop French Country home plans by using – contemporary technologies, among them, e.g., cost-efficient cultured stone, particularly in its fieldstone representations – perhaps by Owens Corning; and by using artistry, e.g., the half-round copper gutter systems of A. B. Raingutters, Inc., Classic Gutter Systems, L.L.C., the gas or electric luminaires of Charleston Lighting Company or the aluminum wrought-like railing of Southeaster Architectural Metals, the garage doors of the Carriage House Door Company, and the like.

French Country style encourages applying design principles of excellent residential design, such as, Russell Versaci’s Creating a NEW OLD HOUSE: Yesterday’s Character For Today’s Home, The Taunton Press, 2003, and Jacobson, Silverstein, and Winslow’s Patterns of Home: The Ten Essentials of Enduring Design, The Taunton Press, orig. 1941, reprint 2002; and, separately, sacred geometry. Here again, you can embrace and succeed or disregard and fail in the design effort.

Take, for example, the layering and other arrangement of finish clad, notably in steeply sloped gable ends. In Versaci’s realm of signaled, or suggested, age, it is the wise designer who specifies supposedly older, heavier (looking) materials – fieldstone and the like – from grade up to, say, L1, and then some lighter material higher up. Such arrangement and layering would be particularly in-keeping with more steeply sloped roof gable ends which would most unlikely be originally run up 2 stories under high, hard to support roof pitches. That is, L2 should and would appear to be of more recent vintage than L1, and presenting a story of age without such attention to detail is to send the gift horse packing.

Finally, in the vernacular of Patterns of Home, again for example, the French Country style readily lends itself to creating a courtyard, or “Creating Rooms, Outside”, and to dormered space demonstrating design keystones of “Refuge and Outlook” under a “Sheltering Roof,” particularly if the rooflines are low-profiled and trimmed more simply on L2 than on L1.

By virtue of their function, all awnings essentially work as exterior awnings. In residential dwellings, awnings are usually found in backyards for entertaining guests, covering parking spaces, and on windows along the side of the home. Awnings are also installed on the exterior face of the buildings, above either doors or windows, or on top of areas along sidewalks. Awnings installed in the backyard protect people from the harmful effects of ultraviolet rays on hot sunny days. They also provide protection from rain, snow, and other elements during winter. Awnings are also mounted over open balconies and patios to offer respite from the elements over a larger area. Awning can also be used as temporary car parking shades in open areas to protect the paint and the interior of the cars from fading.

Small sized lightweight exterior awnings are usually made from aluminum or hollow galvanized iron sectional frames and tough fabric or canvas roofs. Larger awnings can have roofs made of aluminum slats. They are designed to be durable, strong, and have the ability to withstand winds and storms. They are an ideal choice for those who wish to cover a relatively large area and prefer a heavy-duty structure. However, the disadvantage to awnings with metal slat roofs is that it can get noisy as a drumbeat during rain and storms. Also, aluminum awnings offer only limited sizes for selection and are usually difficult to customize.

Awnings made from cloth and canvas, on the other hand, are available in countless colors and designs. They can be easily customized to the required size and shape, so consumers can always find one that matches the exterior of the home. These types of awnings are cheaper than awnings with metal slat roofs. They are also relatively less resilient to adverse weather conditions and the color of the material will gradually fade due to ultraviolet rays. Also, awnings made from vinyl, canvas, or cloth require more maintenance and have to be regularly cleaned to avoid permanent stains and mold growth.

Everyone wants his or her roof to be the most unique and attractive. People who are building their homes often find themselves checking out every home they visit for the roof designs. The most significant thing about different designs is the style and shape of the design. The questions that you need to ask yourself before selecting and finalizing any design amongst the various roof designs is, whether it will go along with the style and shape of your home? You also need to consider that whether it will match with the general style of your neighborhood houses or buildings.

Though the above-mentioned factors play a major role in selecting roof designs but there are other considerations too. Your roof design will obviously play a very major role in the overall look of your house and it can either add a glamorous final touch to it or devastate it. Apart from that, you should also think about the total price that you can afford and the maintenance that will be required by that particular roof design. Since your roof is going to be a life long friend so pay attention of these considerations before choosing amongst various roofing designs.

Think about the style of your house before selecting roof designs. For example if you are the proud owner of a simply structured house then go for some simple design that has a small number of intersecting surfaces. Such designs are easy to install and create a simple yet beautiful look. They require very less maintenance over long years and they are quite inexpensive and easy to build. It is easy to install gutters and maintain them on simple roof designs. There are quite a number of valleys, clog points and other such spots that need to be cleaned and taken care of on a regular basis. Thus you require very less effort to maintain it for prevention of leakages and seepage.

Thus a simply styled roof is both practical and efficient. The look of your home will be brilliant only if the roof is in good condition. Since you will need to do little for maintaining your roof, your house will also remain neat and tidy and look great. So you can very well imagine that selecting the correct roof design plays a major look in deciding the future of not only your roof but also your entire home.

Roof Designs

We also have other complex roof designs. They are quite complicated and require more money and installing them involves much more expertise. A well-installed complex roof design can immensely add to the charisma and appeals of your home. But on the other hand, it also requires additional work and needs to be regularly maintained. As for example, a complex roof that has various turns and corners with different lengths can be quite difficult to install in the first place. It also needs to have custom made gutters for proper draining. You will have to regularly clean those gutters for prevention of clogs. The various valleys and other such connecting points on the roof will also require constant looking upon to ensure they remain waterproof. Thus we can conclude that though a complicated roof design can tremendously increase the glamour of your roof but you should also be prepared to take very good care of it to maintain it in that shape.

Thus whether your roof design is simple or complex it can improve the general appearance of your home depending on whether you chose the most compatible roof or not. It needs to be attractive and in good condition. So when you want to choose roof designs for your roof then consider all the factors like shape, color, style, cost as well as its long term maintenance needs.

There are many things that you will want to consider when you are looking to improve your exterior home design. Remember that this does not only encompass the physical building, but it will include the landscaping for the building as well. Look at all of the different possibilities that you can make and create with the exterior of your structure. Many of the different possibilities can be tied in with the inside theme of the home. Look at all of your options starting with the color and the layout and then you can continue from there.

Window Sills

The window sills can be a large part of what it is that you will be doing with the exterior of your home. You could have ones that have been weathered or else you could be dealing with window sills that seem to be out of date. Take the time to update by either replacing the window sills or touching them up with new paint or reframing them. Do your best to try and match it with the color or style that you are looking to get from the home.

Lawn

Think of the lawn as one of your main aspects to the exterior of the home. Use it to be a focal point, consider adding statuary or a small fence. Consider the use of mulch as well adding in some sort of markers or boundaries to create different areas or sections of the yard in the exterior home design. You may want to consider hiring a landscaper to aid you in completing the look that you wish to acquire. These lawn care professionals can help you to beautify your home and make it into something that you will want to come to regularly in order to achieve the king of the neighborhood status that you are looking for.

Do not forget about the adding of flower beds to your lawn to create color and beauty. This is something that will work well in your exterior home design to aid you. Think of all of the different types and styles of flowers that you could incorporate to help set your house off and make it stand out. Consider the curb appeal that you will have when you use your home’s out side to the best of your ability.

The Exterior

Think of the walls and the siding. Do they need to be washed, painted or refinished? These are all things to look at and consider when working with the exterior home design that you are looking to create.

Pros: Sporty yet classy styling that will age gracefully, minimal overhang in front and back, impressive stance (especially with headlights on), 17 inch alloy wheels on GT models.

Cons: Stock antenna is huge, 17 inch wheel styling is mediocre.

When ordering our long term 2008.5 Mazda 3 s GT model we were sure to spec it out with almost every option available with the sole exception being factory navigation (We went with a Garmin Nuvi 760 instead).

On top end 2008.5 Mazda 3 s GT models the car is outfitted with more aggressive styling cues like a body colored split grille, sportier bumper design, clear LED taillights and all-season tires wrapped around 17-inch alloy wheels. With a combination of sharp edges and flowing body lines typically found on entry level luxury cars, the Mazda3 is a real head turner and is often mistaken as a car that cost $30,000 or more.

On the topic of appearance, the design of the 17-inch alloy wheels left us a little confused. Mazda freshened the wheels with a new design but the newer, snowflake style of the 17-inch wheels looks out of place on a car with such clear sporting intentions. In spite of the snowflakes, the 2008.5 Mazda 3 has a very dominant stance and shows very strongly in photos.

Something that has plagued the Mazda 3’s design since 2004 is Mazda’s choice to use a long antenna at the rear center of the car to give it a more European look. While we agree that the antenna’s placement does look sporty and very Euro, it’s also way too big. In fact, the stock antenna measures more than a few inches tall and sticks out of the Mazda 3 like Elroy Jetson’s hat.

Our first mod for our Mazda 3 was to swap out the antenna with a shark fin.

Other notable exterior features include turn in (folding) power mirrors, auto on/off headlights that come on automatically at dusk, fog lights, rain sensing wipers and adjustable HID headlights that can be adjusted to one of four levels (Level zero is when the lights are pointed at their highest and level three aims the lights lower towards the ground which is ideal for fog).

Overall the 2008.5 Mazda 3 is very well built with striking exterior design features and significant luxury oriented options that not only make driving safer but vastly more convenient. Whether lighting your path amidst thick fog or automatically sensing and keeping rain off the windshield at varying speeds, the Mazda 3 makes driving more user friendly and fun.

Looking through a company’s set of profiles you may be overwhelmed by the number of choices, and how similar each individual profile looks. At first glance, they do all seem to resemble one another, and it may lead you to thinking that you can pick any profile and stick it anywhere. Well, you can. But before you and your spouse decide to throw bar darts at the printed selection to decide which ones you’ll use, read through this and you’ll likely re-think, or atleast narrow your choices.

Cornices (also known as Crown Moldings) are usually placed at the intersection of soffits and walls. They provide a “finish” to the top of your wall and can make an otherwise boring-looking corner a focal point. More often they are larger at the top than bottom to give a tapered look.

Bands are the “chameleons” of moldings. They can be used almost anywhere, but work particularly well in the middle of walls so as to “break” the wall, or along the underside of building joints to mask their presence.

Headers are placed over the top of windows or doors and give them a sturdy sort of look. Often, they are larger and/or a different profile than the trims that run along-side the windows. Some may also contain a drip edge, which is an indent in the bottom of the molding to prevent water from running into the window joint. This helps to prevent water from infiltrating into your home through the window joint (but is not a solution to an improperly installed window!) and causing moisture damage. When compared to Trims and Sills, they protrude furthers and are in between in width.

Trims are used around windows or doors as a surround, or in a similar fashion to bands (the two terms are sometimes used interchangeably). They may run the entire perimeter of the window to give it a simple, clean look, or more commonly just between the Header and the Sill. They are usually flatter and narrower than Headers or Sills.

Sills are specifically designed for the base of windows, to help manage precipitation (such as snow) and protect themselves. When selecting sills in particular, it is prudent to ensure the profile has been designed according to EIFS Council recommendations; that is: “EIFS trim projecting out from the wall’s vertical plane should be sloped a minimum rise over run of 6:12 for drainage (ASTM C1397, Standard Practice for Application of Class PB EIFS). The length of the slope must not exceed 300 mm, according to most EIFS manufacturer’s specifications.” This is particularly useful to note as most manufacturers do not comply with this recommendation. Sills are typically largest in size and protrude from the wall somewhere between Headers and Trims.

Stone Sills meant as a replacement for expensive, heavy concrete sills. Due to EIFS innovation, mouldings can be made which look like stone, but at 10% the weight (and sometimes cost!). Due to the manufacturing process, they can also be made in longer pieces which makes installation cheaper and easier. Architectural moldings may also be finished at the joints much nicer than concrete, to the point you can’t even tell they’re seperate pieces. Did I mention they’re less expensive?

Baseboards may be placed along the termination of the EIFS (which should be well above grade [ground level]). Similar to Cornices, they provide a termination to the EIFS system and hide what may otherwise be an unsightly ending. With the right profile (projecting out from the building, with a drip edge), you may also help divert water away from the foundation of your house.

Pilasters may look like columns embedded in the wall, but are nothing more than vertical mouldings with caps and bases. They are popular at wall corners or at intervals along the wall to provide an illusion of “sturdiness” and are often associated with lavish greek architecture.

Columns are designed to fit around structural poles and posts. They don’t do anything in the way of structural support so don’t think they’re going to hold up the roof over your head, but adding them will certainly make your home more impressive.

Quoins have become so commonplace on houses, it has become fashionable to add them without them serving any real purpose. Quoins will add an air of elegant design to your house by making it look better planned and sturdier.

Keystones may have been the key to holding up bridges and windows in the past, but serve more of a design purpose now than a structural one. Like Quoins, they have become commonplace in modern architecture and serve as a focal point for windows, doors and garages.

As you can see, your selection of moulding will not cause your home to either stand or fall, but can serve important design roles and should be used with a purpose in mind. In the end, it comes down to your own personal taste and what will accomplish the look you want. Don’t be afraid to ask for a picture of a previous job with your moulding or 3D rendering on your selection if you are at all unsure of what the finished product will look like. No matter what you decide to go with though, adding exterior architectural mouldings to your home will bolster the essential first impression visitors and potential buyers get of your home.

One of the most important elements of a building’s exterior design is the signage. It is an announcement of the business, who it is and what it does. For retailers, this often makes the difference between shoppers stopping or driving by.

When designing exterior retail signs, several elements should be taken into consideration to attract the right clientele to the business.

Color
The sign should reflect the corporate colors of the business. Using a white or light background with bold, prominent colors makes a contrast that is easy to read. A dark background with light or white lettering is also effective. The name of the businesses, the logo and details about it can be in one color or two. More than that confuses the eye and the message may be lost.

Font
Creating signage with the appropriate font can be tricky. Choosing a font style with a bold enough width of letter stroke is important. From a distance, the details in the lettering will be lost. Elegant script fonts are lovely up close, but from far away cannot be seen or read clearly. Serif fonts are those with tails on the lettering. They are more effective than script and add a touch of elegance. The stroke of the letter is wider, making it easier to see. San-serif font styles have plain letters. They are clear from a distance and when the stroke width is very thick, the words are easy to see and understand.

Lighting
Exterior retail signage in should be lit at night when the store is open. Large signs in parking lots attract attention, especially in the dark, and will help potential customers know the business is there. When placed near a driveway entrance it helps indicate where to pull in. Anything to assist customers in finding a retail business will boost foot traffic into the store and bring success.

Entrance
Not all businesses require a parking lot sign and one over the business. Every retail design concept needs something special at the door to identify the entrance. Whether it is simple vinyl lettering with the business name and its hours of operation or a large window display, potential clientele need to know where to go and how to get in. Poorly marked entrances result in frustrated guests that would rather leave the establishment than enter a store embarrassed at not being able to find their way in.