Some things don’t ever go out of style. More than fashion, a trend or a fad, sound function is the house built upon a rock, enviable as one style after another passes by.
Considering the family home, its purpose is the important core.
Exterior finishings protect your shelter, add interest and reflect something of the folks who live there.
In Virden we have a very few cut-stone houses; awesome creations of the late 1800s mostly. Costly, but lasting.
Many homes are made out of Virden brick. Beautiful and stones thrown by the lawn mower, and hail from environment Canada leaves no dent in these finishes.
Then, a product came out known as insulbrick. This was kind of a pulp and paper (sometimes asbestos-backed) with asphalt coating and, I guess it was thought to be insular, but it soon looked old and the homes uncomfortable in their skin.
Look around at house exteriors now and you will notice faux brick on homes built in the 1980s. Most recently, a new faux stone is often used on the bottom couple of feet, or as trim features. Some of it, foam-like and painted like dark rough stone. Some is actually synthesized stone and very nice.
Generally homes are sided with a wood-look in vinyl, or ‘engineered’ wood product or stone-like siding with a wood-grain. Rarely, you find a cedar sided home, which takes more maintenance I am told. Another siding that has stuck through the years is stucco.
Looking at buying, renovating or building a home, I wonder what skin a home will look good in, 10 or 20 years from now. What will look dated or frumpy?
Trends come and go. Take the ripped jeans effect. Great weather for them, and now I wished I owned a pair. I’ll just have to work harder throwing those square bales, or earning the big bucks that such high fashion demands. No, really – these are a great invention for 25 degree days with cool mornings and mosquito-ridden evenings.
So now, I am thinking, maybe, just maybe – in the name of shabby chic – my peeling garage door will also come into style. It would match my scuffed-up, 1967 coffee table that I could put out on the weathered deck, particularly if I had my friend over, who has ripped jeans! And, I could wear my shirt with paint spatters – and start a trend! Better add Swarovski crystal bling jewelry to finish the look though.
No, I’m thinking that only meticulously factory made weathered-look will be acceptable and I will have to choose between the cost of elbow grease and super metal paint, or a brand new garage door. Besides, it’s the life inside the home that really needs our attention. Right?
