Historic HOME APPEAL

This farm cottage in Maryland got a facelift.

The upside of old homes is their historic charm. The downside is that they’re old, with all the problems that come with aging materials—rusting, rotting, cracking and chipping. That was the case for this 1923 farm cottage in Maryland. “Since it’s an older home, there were some structural issues to address,” says Anthony Wilder, founder of Anthony Wilder Design/Build.

Those structural changes were first up to fix. “There was a basement below the porch, so we needed to reinforce the porch’s foundation to allow the owners to use the basement,” Anthony says. “We also had to waterproof the porch’s foundation so that water flowed away from the house and didn’t enter it.”

Alongside the structural changes, Anthony and his team modified the porch’s aesthetics. “The stairs weren’t centered on the front door, so that was corrected,” he says. “We also raised the porch’s roof, which brings more natural light into the home.” They added a small false window at the very top of the house, too. “This automatically draws the eye up, softens the lines of the porch and organically adds height,” Anthony says.

To finish off the curb appeal refresh, they replaced the roof and painted the home a navy blue shade. “That was the original paint color,” Anthony says. “The trim on the entire home was also replaced and painted bright white.”

The result is a darling farm-cottage exterior that fits into the surrounding historic neighborhood, while still looking fresh for the years ahead.