Craftsman Column Wood Wraps on our Ranch Home
The Ranch Revival saga continues! Today's update: our front porch columns.
After we painted the house, I wanted to modernize the front porch columns with a craftsman-style look. While I liked the look of the old columns, I know that for our resale, an updated look would probably be more attractive to a potential buyer.
I spent countless hours trying to figure out what style to do for them. Originally I planned to do a grey-wash with decorative corbels.
After talking to my husband, we decided to live without the corbels and see what we thought of a clean, craftsman look - no bells or whistles. I did, however, want a nice decorative element at the bottom of the columns to ground them and give them the French-country look I was going for.
Once Nathan came over and started installing the columns, I gave the test strip of our pinewood a wash with the weathered oak stain we purchased, and was less than pleased. It was coming off a little blue in color and didn't have enough contrast to make a statement.
We took a strip of our wood to the hardware store and did a quick test. We liked Early American and English Chestnut. After letting the stain set in for a minute, we decided that English Chestnut had a prettier hue. The Early American had a lot of gold undertones and I thought that it might clash with the color of our shutters (taupe tone from SW).
I love the hue and how it compliments the copper light fixture next to the door. It warmed up the front porch, just enough not to clash.
For the base of the columns, I opted for a beveled moulding that Nathan made for me.
We are just about finished with the entire exterior makeover and I plan to share the after with you later this week! Stay tuned!
