Brick Siding

When we spoke with our architect about our new house plans, one decision that I really struggled with was how to choose between house siding options.  I have always loved the look of a beautiful brick colonial home (which we decided on for the architectural style) but I never realized how expensive brick siding is. For this reason, I have been doing a lot of research on alternative materials that we could use. One that consistently has been popping up is a brick veneer product. I actually found this product when I was browsing pictures of frontwards. This house was my inspiration picture, and the caption talked about how they used a faux brick product.

There’s nothing quite as classically beautiful as the use of brick to warm up a space or spice up curb appeal. Thanks to the stunning visual charm of thin brick veneer against the colonial windows and front entrance stonework, our latest remodel is certainly no exception. We provided our newest client with the classical look and feel of traditional brick, but with modern functionality. Unlike traditional walls, brick veneer siding doesn’t need special reinforcement to the foundation footers, yet still provides the benefits of noise reduction, thermal performance and damage resistance with minimal regular maintenance.

We just bought an old farmhouse that has a lot of cool architectural features like large large hearths, intricate panelling, and original brick walls in the kitchen and living areas.  Ever since I first saw the house, I knew I wanted to create some kind of brick backsplash kitchen utilizing the large wall with inset iron pizza oven. I have never seen a home with a design like this and I thought it would be a really unique way to take advantage of the beautiful period touches scattered throughout the house. These are pictures of the finished space featuring brick tiles on the wall that houses the double oven, hearth and decorative iron features. I decided to use a fun combination of glazed white cabinetry as well as a nice stained pine version.

We decided that updating our home's landscaping and curb appeal with things like brick pavers and beautiful new shrubbery is going to be our main renovation project of 2019.  Each year we generally select one area of our home to spend our time and money to makeover but, until now, we have mostly neglected to consider the outdoor areas.  As you can tell from our before photos, the house already has pretty nice contemporary architecture with a subtle maritime style.  There are mature trees throughout the property and some nice large bushes, but I feel that there is no real "wow factor." Ever since we bought the home 5 years ago, I have wanted to add a brick veneer wall flanking the entrance to the front steps.

I view my kitchen as the heart of our home and was the first room I had earmarked for remodeling when we moved. That’s when my interior designer and I played around with some kitchen backsplash ideas. Luckily for us, our new kitchen wasn’t in a bad shape. I actually loved the neutral-toned grey and white countertops and cabinets, however, I felt we needed to add just a little bit of character to the room. We agreed on a brick backsplash because I love exposed brick in any interior room. Something about it gives it both a contemporary and rural farmhouse feel. Brick siding was also the perfect option because it requires very little maintenance and this was ideal as we had already dug deep into our pockets when purchasing our new home.

Growing up I always loved brick homes because I thought that they were so grand and elegant. I was determined that when I grew up, I would live in a sprawling colonial mansion with brick siding. Unfortunately as I got older, I realized the costs of such a material and had to adjust my wish list to include exterior brick veneer instead. Much like faux stone siding, brick veneer is large panels of a brick-like material that looks like the real thing, but is significantly cheaper and easier to install. As you can see, we decided to use brick paneling on the new home we built last year and it looks just like the more costly alternative. None of our neighbors have realized that we have a veneer product rather than your more traditional brick siding.