Kitchen Update – Exterior

We’ve gone into great detail on the happenings of the INSIDE of our kitchen build, but today we’re going to take a deep dive into what’s been going down on the exterior!

If you remember from this post, the back of our house looked like this when we bought this house.

*This post is sponsored by our friends at DAP. Thank you for supporting the fabulous brands that make Reality Daydream possible!!*

That tiny white square with a single window (in the above picture) was the previous kitchen.

I’ll pause while you pick your jaw up off the floor.

After what seemed like FOREVER, we made it to this point and were finally ready for framing. Just in time for the snow to fly.

Speaking of snow flying, let’s take a gander at this gorgeous pic of our house in the snow. That white window-filled room is our ‘Solarium’. And since it’s the only non-brick part of out house, we wanted to mirror the architectural details of it in our kitchen build… with the columns, moulding, etc.

So that was the goal from the beginning. As evidenced by this picture from our architect.

Getting things enclosed before winter was the goal, and we BARELY made it.

The winter was spent insulating, drywalling, and installing heated flooring inside the kitchen.

But once spring hit and all the rain stopped (it was a WET SPRING) it was finally time to start tackling the exterior! Our buddy Tim is a very talented contractor, and he helped us with this monumental task.

We started by cladding the outside with insulation. We needed to create an air gap between the insulation and the siding by using 3/4 pine 1x4s.

After adding flashing, we installed 4×9 sheets of smooth LP Smartsiding. and added trim to the windows.

Adding these pillars to match the solarium is when the details really started popping out.

We accomplished this by building out the pillars using PVC trim and DynaGrip Heavy Duty Max and exterior trim nails.

We love the DynaGrip Heavy Duty Max because not only is it easy to gun on, this moisture-curing adhesive at a wide range of temperatures. It also offers exceptional adhesion to both porous and non-porous building material.

Using the same method we attached the pillars to the house.

Lastly we crowned the top and bottom of the pillars, and sealed all the gaps with DAP’s Dynaflex Ultra.

We still need to add the dentil molding, add gutters, and prime and paint the exterior… but it feels SO GOOD to have it done to this point! And I love that we’re honoring the history of our home by going the extra mile and adding all the details. So worth it!

I can already picture a patio and pergola… maybe even some bistro lights and a fire pit! Someday…

It feels amazing to continue making progress on THE BIGGEST DIY PROJECT OF OUR LIVES! Be sure to check out what the inside of our kitchen looks like, in case you haven’t been following closely.

Thanks for being a part of our journey!

Bethany