There are a few outdoor showhouse spaces that we haven’t shown at all in this entire yearlong process. Each of the seven showhouses were encouraged to include some fun outdoor spaces as well as indoor ones, so aside from the stuff you can see from the curb, there’s also a back porch and a back patio complete with a stone fireplace. The cool thing about these outdoor spaces is that they’re the places that we got to put our heads together with the builder and the architect the most – and they ended up being some of our favorites.
The craziest thing is that our house won 1st place (i.e. the “Gold Award”) for both Curb Appeal and Outdoor Living. With this being our first time doing a showhouse, we honestly weren’t sure we’d win anything at all, so getting those two along with the silver for Creative Home surprised and thrilled us to say the least.
We’ve talked a lot about the front porch already, since it has been one of the defining features of our home. Namely the exposed wood (stained with Sikkens in their “Cedar” color) paired with the navy siding (which is Newburg Green by Benjamin Moore) and the crisp white trim (which is Steam by Ben Moore). But it’s looking even more polished now that the landscaper worked his magic, and we got our big limestone pathway laid. In addition to the aggregate driveway and front pathway, we wanted to create some charming access from the street, so after sharing a few inspiration photos with the landscaper and the builder, they cut big 2 x 4′ slabs from the same material as the porch’s stone column caps, and laid the sod around them.
One interesting tidbit about the landscaping was that John the Builder and Chris the Landscaper had to submit their plans to the developer of this community, who actually nixed a bunch of larger plantings (we love more mature looking bushes and trees, but I guess for the show they wanted everything to have more of an open look).
The front porch is nice and spacious, with a large 14 x 11′ area to the left of the door, which is where we created the main seating area with a sofa, ottoman, chair, and a few side tables (some of those aren’t pictured in the shot below but if you look at the picture above you can get a better idea).
The other side is around 11 x 12′, which means there was room for a porch swing, a swivel chair, and another red side table (that’s hidden behind the chair in the photo below).
Most of the outdoor furniture is the Wyatt collection from Arhaus, including the sofa, the ottoman, and the swivel chair on the other side, which they kindly donated for the show (we’re sending them back afterwards). They’re all super comfortable, and the best part is that Arhaus agreed to give away an identical set of outdoor furniture to one of you for this week’s giveaway.
Most of the smaller accessories were stuff that we bought at Lowe’s (like the red metal garden stools and the medallion pillows) or Target (like the bolsters). They brought in some nice color, while the dark 12 x 24″ porcelain tiles that were donated by The Tile Shop grounded the porch.
The sun prevented me from getting good pictures of the other chair on that side, so forgive this photo from an earlier day (note the lack of sod next door). It’s a swiveling egg chair and side table from Green Front Furniture. Since Sherry is genetically one-quarter egg chair, she had to have it.
Here’s another shot from that same day, which is the best one I seem to have of the light fixture we bought from Restoration Hardware. The angles of the light are nice with the peaked wood ceiling, and the fans are from Hunter (they’re the same ones we installed in our own sunroom).
The porch swing on the other side was a purchase from Hayneedle.com, but we had to spray paint the gold chain black to make it blend better with the rest of the porch. I won’t admit to how many times we took breaks just to swing out here. Clara was that bench’s biggest fan.
The chair nearby is part of the same Arhaus collection, and it swiveled like the egg chair on the other side of the porch, which made the arrangement feel more flexible (someone sitting there could swivel towards the porch swing or towards the seating area on the other side).
The rest of the porch was filled out with random potted ferns (we bought the pots & ferns at Lowe’s), just to add some greenery.
We also had the carpenter build window boxes to liven up the trio of windows on the right side of the house (that’s actually the garage, but it has side access).
On the front porch we also went for dark bronze rain chains instead of traditional gutters, since we can probably all agree that downspouts aren’t the most charming architectural detail out there. These decorative chains help guide the water from the gutter down a drain to the ground and look pretty darn cute doing it.
If you walk around the side of the garage, we continued those limestone slabs so they lead to the patio area behind the house.
The stamped concrete patio is almost literally “hugged” by the outdoor fireplace. Most of the design credit for this area goes to the builder and his team. We gave input on the type of stone and a few details, but John and his guys built it seemingly overnight while we were tending to a few other spaces. Then we walked out back and said “yeah, we could get used to this.”
We kept the “styling” pretty light out here, since we were running out of time and wanted the focus to be on the fireplace anyway. There’s an outdoor dining area on the back porch (which we’ll get to in a minute), so we didn’t think another table made sense down here, so we landed on a casual seating arrangement. The woven outdoor lounge chairs, pillows, and planters are all things that we bought from Lowe’s.
Behind you as you face the fireplace are two staircases, one that leads up to the mudroom (which includes some closed, covered storage underneath it for yard equipment, etc) and the other that leads up to the back porch.
The back porch has the same exposed wood look on the ceiling as the front porch, but instead of tile this space has a Trex floor. The french doors lead into the living room/kitchen area, so this was a natural spot for an outdoor dining area.
The dining table and chairs were from Green Front Furniture, the indoor/outdoor rug is from Dash & Albert, and the runner & sodas are from World Market. All of the other styling accessories are HomeGoods (like the planter, the lantern on the table, etc).
So that concludes the outdoor tour. We’ve still got a few bedrooms, bathrooms, and miscellaneous spots like the laundry room and the mudroom to share along with a video walk-through of the whole house, so we hope to have all of that sourced and shared in the next week or two.
Psst – Wanna see more showhouse info & photos? Click here for Our Full Showhouse Tour, which includes final pictures of every room, the floor plan, budget info, a video walk-through, and shoppable showhouse furniture & accessories.
We’ll hey-o!! Congrats on snagging #1! I can definitely see why – I love the look and feel you guys created with the showhouse – it’s gorgeous! Speaking of gorgeous, I think I need that outdoor patio & fireplace :D Good work, guys!
I’ve been wondering about rain chains or whatever they’re called. Have you used them on your own home(s)? Do they work well, or is it something that works best if you have less than *x* amount of rain? Is there anything special you need to consider for the ground under it to help divert the water away from the house? I love the look of them, but want to be well-versed in them before mentioning them to my husband.
We haven’t used them in our own house, but hear they work well (from the landscaper, etc). We saw these in action when it was storming and the rain really hugged them tightly and went right into the drains in the ground. As long as you have some sort of diverter or drain at the bottom so the rain doesn’t just pool there you’d probably be all set.
xo
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I got one as my Mother’s Day gift! I’d never seen them before, I love the look of it!
That’s such a sweet Mother’s Day gift!
xo
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We have them on our front porch and they work great. If you have them draining a whole house roof you need a large size. Just a small roof, like a porch or bump out and you can go with something smaller. One thing to remember, buy one that is solid copper. If the chain is just coated in copper it can wear of and the metal underneath will rust. None of us want a rust splattered house.
first of all – holy cow!!! i’m obsessed with those wooden beams and seeing the the “ceiling” on the front porch with the same beams made me seriously swoon. They match perfectly with those gorgeous slate tiles.
AND HELLO!!! That fireplace is to die for. That’s an amazing entertaining space and sooooo beautiful. You guys shouldn’t be surprised by anything! Well deserved and beautiful work!
That fireplace is stunning and I love the different nooks on the front porch.
Hi! My boyfriend and I actually went to Homearama this weekend and LOVED your house! We totally agreed that it was top of the bunch. We did have a question that wasn’t covered in this post though— what about that adorable bar that was on the back porch? We’d love to find a source for that. Thanks so much!
That was from Green Front Furniture. Couldn’t get a good picture of it for this post, but for anyone who sees it in person, it’s teak and from Green Front.
xo
s
Yes! I loved that bar, too! It was a great touch! The back deck was SO welcoming and comfortable. I just wanted to sit down and eat at the table and have someone serve me a drink from that little bar :-)
Sherry, I’m curious because you mention several times that you couldn’t find a good picture of something from the showhouse for the post. How far is the showhouse from your home? I had thought it was in your hometown… but I guess not if you can’t go over and snap a pic while drafting the post?
It’s around 30 mins from our house (an hour round trip) so with a preschooler and an often-nursing newborn it’s not always easy to make it out there :)
xo
s
This is just lovely! The outdoor spaces are enough to sell the house without even stepping foot indoors. I can’t pick my favorite spot because I love them all. That’s one lucky family that’s going to get to live here!!
Wow, everything looks open and friendly, like a family b-b-q is just about to start. Congratulations on your success!
Hearty congratulations to you two on your multiple, well-deserved awards–lots of young house true love in every space. Bravo!
Totally loving the outside fireplace. Is it one that you can cook with or not? Loving the plants on the patio. Quick question, will any fencing be going up?
I think fencing has to be approved by the developer, so whoever moves in would have to submit plans and see if they got approved. As for the fireplace, it’s not a pizza oven or anything (just a traditional wood-burning one) but it’s great for s’mores. We have been telling John the Builder that we need to have a big marshmallow roast before the house is sold.
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All day Saturday, people were hanging out on your porch as though they lived there! It was so funny and awesome to see people hanging out and having long conversations on the comfy furniture. Congrats on the Outdoor Living award–no one deserved it more than you!
I love that!
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LOL! I was there Saturday, too, and saw the same thing. It looked like there was a big party going on at your place! Seeing your Homearama house in person was amazing! It was like stepping right into your blog posts!
Great job!! It was even more beautiful in person.
Thanks so much Vanessa!
xo
s
oh, and I agree with Clara–the swing is my fave!
You should get a swing for the veranda! Seriously…it would look good on the end. And congrats on the awards! Well deserved!
John the Builder actually reinforced that header beam knowing we wanted to add a porch swing when he framed the porch so we’re not sure our veranda would support one, but it would be so much fun if it would!
xo
s
Okay, here’s a question I’ve been wondering about forever: When you have all that upholstered stuff outside, do you have to keep bringing it in and putting out so it doesn’t get rained on? Cover it up? Or can you just leave it out? I love the look, but the thought of the work involved in putting it out and taking it in all the time makes me shiver.
LOVE the outdoor spaces. I’d love to hang out on that porch.
It’s all made with outdoor fabric (by Sunbrella) so it’s fine to get rained on and be out year-round. Most people would leave everything on the back porch and front porch since it’s covered anyway (they might carry the small accent pillows into the garage for the winter, or just leave them there since they’re outdoor fabric too) and they might stack and stow the wicker chairs in the back by the fireplace for the winter if they want to protect them a little more from being snowed on – but they’re made to withstand snow too.
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I was a total skeptic about fabric outside for a long time. I have a deck with a table & chairs (not covered at all) and I wanted to put a throw pillow out there to cozy it up a bit. It’s outdoor material and it’s been PUMMELED in the past two months (golfball size hail, torrential rains, storms, etc.) and still looks new! I’ve even gotten those little tree helicopter things as well as various storm debris off of it by blowing it off with the leaf blower! I’ll probably toss it in the shed for the winter, but consider me a convert. :)
That’s amazing!
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Thanks so much for the feedback! Maybe I’ll start with a small piece and see how it goes.
Well, now I fell even more in love with this house. I love the porches!!! I can just picture living there and relaxing with family and friends. Ahhhhhhh! Makes me so motivated to ramp up some decorating love on my own home!
It is gorgeous! You all did a great job. We are planning a fireplace almost exactly like that one for our side yard.
Very inviting & love the colors!
The house is A-mazing! Without even seeing the other houses, I can totally agree with the awards your house earned. The front porch is truly wonderful – functional as a family space, which I really don’t see in any new construction these days. Around the Midwest here people just hang out in front of their garage with camping chairs — even new houses are built without any front yard areas for a family or friends. It’s a total pet peeve of mine, and a great failing of our otherwise pretty cozy (if plain) rancher. Team Petersik (with your incredible contracting team) made practical and enjoyable choices, and just shows that you both have a great sense of creating spaces that feel good to be in. Enjoy our praise! You have all earned it!
It looks amazing guys – awesome to see everything come together so cohesively in such a short space of time. I really love that your styling is more ‘evolved’ than ‘contrived’ looking if that makes sense. I love a home that develops it’s style over time and you have succeeded in creating that feeling despite putting this all together over a matter of months.
You guys proved me wrong- even with all those pictures I still LOVED Homearama (and yes, there were tons of extra spaces I hadn’t seen here).
Gotta say, my favorite part of your house (which was one of 2 of my favorites of the show- the other was the pool house) was the journal in the boy’s room, that it belong to “Joey Peterson”. Did you put that in?
Haha, yes, that was just us being weirdos. We also had some fun writing in the calendar in the girl’s room (she has a lot of activities…)
xo
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2 questions – where does your builder find all of those gigantic columns they used on the porches and what would you roughly estimate the value of this house to be?
He got those awesome beams locally from a timberyard (I forget the name, but if you’re local I can ask John for that info) and the house is priced in the 600’s.
xo
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Oh, my. THIS is utterly amazing. I love, love, love the outdoor fireplace, the party-size patio and the cozy back porch. The exposed wood accents throughout have also thoroughly stolen my heart. Fantastic job to you and your team!!!!!
Hi! My business partner and I visited Homerama this past Sunday as we are just beginning to delve into design and we absolutely adored your house! We actually traveled all the way from Maryland because I had been following the blog and wanted to see it all in person. You guys did not disappoint! We sat on your front porch for a good 15 minutes and did not want to get up! I wanted to know if you could provide any information about the plantation shutters you used throughout the house. They were exactly what I’ve been looking for for my home!
Keep up the fantastic work!
Thanks so much Tamar! So glad you got to enjoy the porch. We love seeing all the pics that the builder has snapped with the porch full of people! As for the plantation shutters, they were made by a small local family owned company called A Shade Above. We loved working with them!
xo
s
Just out of curiosity, how much are these homes going for? You said they were all for sale, with the option to buy fully furnished?
There are a few different price ranges in the show (our house is in the 600’s, but the other house with the pool is in the 800-900 range). Ours isn’t available to buy fully furnished since a lot of the items were donated (and will either be sent back or given to the Habitat For Humanity ReStore) but some key pieces could be purchased “a la cart” by an interested buyer (like some of the art, the curtains, the rugs, some furnishings, etc).
xo
s
Wow, wow, wow. That is some gorgeous outdoor space! (Does it come with a grounds keeper?!)
Congrats on the awards!
I love all of your outdoor areas! I can’t believe they nixed the larger plantings… I know they want an open look for the show, but if I were a buyer who was going to live in one of these fantastic homes, I’d want some privacy. But I guess everyone has their personal preferences and “there is a buyer for every home” as they say.
“Since Sherry is genetically one-quarter egg chair, she had to have it.”
Best line you’ve ever written, I literally snorted.
Same here, cracked me up. High five, other Lauren!
Right?! Who thinks of something like that to say? So unexpectedly hilarious. Proof John must really be a funny guy!
i saw the house this weekend and loved it even more in person! loved the reading nook in the boy’s room! and LOVED the back patio and porch! congrats on your awards!
Congrats on the awards – definitely deserving. I love all the outdoor space. Kudos to you!
(P.S. Tiny typo below the third picture – I think you mean “John the Builder” there.)
Thanks Kelly! All fixed!
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Good Morning!!!!! I just love everything ya’ll create! Ya’ll are so inspiring!! I’m really loving the front door of the show house… any suggestions on where to buy one from without breaking the bank (too much). Thanks again!!
He got it through a local vendor here in Richmond that he works with, but I forget the name. I hope Justin can drop in with that info!
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Is it Siewers? They have a lot to choose from. We had good experience with them too.
http://www.siewers.com/index.html
Sounds familiar! Would love for John the Builder or Justin to confirm :)
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Your first landscaping paragraph, you have written john and builder and chris the landscaper.. is this meant to be john the builder?
Yes, all fixed!
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I am in love with that porch! Did I miss the link to the Arhaus giveaway for this week? I can’t get enough of that outdoor sectional!
We’ll be posting that tomorrow for you!
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I love the rain chains – I have been wanting some for ages but was shocked at the prices – $179 for 8 feet lengths of cooper ones at rainchains.com! Anyway would love the source for these – maybe they will be more reasonable. Thanks so much!
I think the builder got ours through the landscaper, but I’ve seen them on places like overstock.com and joss & main so maybe you can catch a deal there?
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WOW! *stops to pick jaw up off the floor*
The outside areas are AMAZING! No surprise that you won the curb appeal and outdoor living awards – congrats!!
Love the egg chair, so cozy…why does it remind me of mork and mindy? :) am I totally aging myself?
I love the whole house! Thanks for the outside tour too. We are putting in a patio. I love the porch floor. Can you tell me what it is? I love the color & the pattern/size. Thanks.
It’s from The Tile Shop but we can’t find the link to it online (or remember the name) but if you call them and have them check out this post they should be able to instantly ID it for ya! It’s a porcelain tile if that helps.
xo
s
I have loved seeing all the details of your showhouse in these past months, but I have to say I am absolutely GAGA over this outdoor space. My husband and I just DIYed a paver patio in our backyard this April so maybe I’m extra sensitive to beautiful outdoor sitting/dining areas. I also can’t wait to enter the giveaway for those chairs. They look so comfortable! I would live on that front porch of yours. Great job on the showhouse!! And congratulations on your awards!!!
WOWZERS!! I loved this house, and you have just made me love it even more — SWOONING over all those outdoor spaces! That fireplace area is TO.DIE.FOR!!
CONGRATULATIONS!!! on the awards — You guys kicked butt!
Amazing work, and made all the more impressive with Sherry being in her last month!!
John — you just kill me! Best line ever on a blog:
“Since Sherry is genetically one-quarter egg chair, she had to have it”!
I love everything about this house! Congratulations! :)
Congrats on the awards! The house looks fabulous!
Some good inspiration stuff here, thanks!
I just posted this morning about making over my backyard… it’s certainly no show home space but we like it, and I think I can make it pretty nice!!
http://hystericallyeverafter.com/2014/05/13/patio-a-go-go/
MB
“Since Sherry is genetically one-quarter egg chair, she had to have it.”
Those comments are why I read this blog, haha. I love the house stuff, but those are the best.
Another quick question – do all homes in your area, and the US for that matter, come without fencing? It’s not something that I would be comfortable without. Almost all homes, esp ones in metro areas in Australia are fenced.
I’d say about 70% of houses here don’t have fences (people usually add them if they have a dog or want privacy, etc, etc). In our neighborhood, fencing over 6′ isn’t allowed and it has to be “open fencing” – meaning there’s space to see through the slats.
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Love this whole house! Such fun to see it all come together. I especially love those medallion pillows! Do you know if they’re still available? Or online?
We grabbed those at Lowe’s about 3-4 weeks ago so I hope they still have them! They’re for outside so check the outdoor/patio section.
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How beautiful!! I would LOVE this yard!!! Nice work!
Congrats on your awards – well deserved!
Oh. my. gosh. I can’t believe you haven’t shown the outdoor spaces until now! I would totally live outside at this house. I DIE for the reclaimed plank ceilings. Dead. I love it so much! Congrats on hitting this one out of the park, among all of the other wonderful things you do!
http://www.thewonderfullymade.blogspot.com
Absolutely beautiful. Congrats!!
Absolutely stunning guys!! The exposed wood on the porches is like something out of a rustic dream! And that FIREPLACE! This home would seriously be a dream home for me.
Hi! My mom and I visited last weekend, and loved it! Just curious if you are planning to show the guest room? I was so surprised by that room, and wanted a closer look at it again. I wish I would have taken more pictures while there. Thanks!! PS voted for your home… Hopefully it wins! There were a lot of ballots in that box!! :)
Thanks so much Kerrie! We’re planning to share the rest of the rooms we haven’t pictured yet (the mudroom, the boys room, the guest room, the guest bath, etc) in the next week or two.
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This is fantastic. I’m so glad you guys did a post focused on the outdoor spaces of this house.
I went to tour the homes last week, and your house’s front porch and back porch were by far my favorite outdoor living areas AND were the most surprising to me – I had seen the pictures of the front of the house on your blog, but I had no idea how DEEP and HUGE the front porch is!
My friend and I sat outside chatting on the porch swing and chair for quite a while, dreaming about having a space like that of our own.
And later in the day, when everything was winding down, your front porch was the gathering spot for all the people working in all of the houses! We took one last walk through of your house before leaving, and as we left, everyone we’d seen working in all of the other houses was gathered on your front porch, lounging and just relaxing :-) It’s an AMAZING space. Great job!
That ALMOST MADE ME CRY! Dang hormones. Thanks so much for that mental picture. I love that the other builders and teams were hanging out there at the end of the day.
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Awww! It’s the LOVE in YHL that speaks to people and it shines through even on the showhouse project. :)
The porches are lovely. I really like the outside of your showhome. Love the rustic beams especially. But why did you ignore the patio????
Majorly disappointed with the sparse patio! You have all that space, that amazing fireplace, and a beautiful wooded backdrop…but it looks like you entirely forgot about it and just plopped some leftover ferns and chairs down (in an odd arrangement no less) and called it a day. So confused. Is it a thing in Virginia to hang out on your front porch instead a beautiful backyard? That patio could have been such an AMAZING outdoor living space! I think this was a huge missed opportunity guys. Your front porch sofa and chairs and outdoor rug and a nice rustic looking coffee table and some flowers and lanterns should have been back here.
We definitely agree we could have filled the patio more, and we’re sure the homeowner will (we mentioned in the post that we ran out of time down there so we went light). The nice thing about less stuff was that it let the fireplace shine, which didn’t seem to bother the judges :)
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I completely disagree with Lo. I get why that might be the opinion, but having gone, I was so disappointed in some of the other homes lack of finishing touches. There was one house where the master bedroom had only one night stand a completely open space on the other side. So, perhaps I just thought your house had so many small details that the back didn’t bother me. Also, your back was by far the best of the other homes, even just the patio without anything else, would have been enough to sell me on it.
I’m glad I painted an accurate mental picture for you, complete with almost-hormonal-tears ;) It really was a very special space. We met several people as we toured the homes, everyone was so friendly! And by the end everyone seemed to know us as “the girls from North Carolina” – one of the men we met lives near us and commutes up every week – I’m sure you know him. Anyway, it was such a fun day trip. Oh, and we went to Urban Farmhouse for dinner afterwards and the guys there were like, oh yeah, Young House Love, the chalk artist works here ;) small world!
So funny! I’m so glad you had fun and got to check out UF!
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I thought it couldn’t get any better but now that I saw the outdoor areas, wowwowwow! So beautiful! And I could totally use that Arhaus set, hint hint :)My jaw literally dropped when I saw the fireplace.
Congratulations on the awards! Well deserved!