Our Exterior Reveal: How Hardie® Fiber Cement Products Transformed and Modernized our Historic Farmhouse

This post is sponsored by James Hardie, but all opinions are my own.

I couldn’t be more excited to share our exterior REVEAL with you all! We partnered with James Hardie to renovate the exterior of our home by replacing our old, rotting wood siding with Hardie® fiber cement products. The result is beyond our wildest expectations. Billy and I now have big smiles on our faces every time we pull up to our house.  And while a smile is worth a thousand words, I’m still going to tell you all about how using Hardie® siding has completely transformed our home.

We viewed our siding project with James Hardie as an opportunity to rethink the entire exterior of our home. Our landscaping was a disaster, and our siding was not only a mess, but it also felt dated and, well, just not exactly our style.  After much deliberation, we decided to go with black windows and black gutters against the Hardie® siding with ColorPlus® Technology in Arctic White. The combination of the white and black is a classic duo that shows up in every room of our home, and combining the crisp Arctic White with the black allowed us to extend our interior style to our exterior.

The Hardie® siding in Arctic White is also classic, but with a modern twist. Knowing how durable and fade-resistant the ColorPlus® Technology finishes are we wanted to be sure to take advantage of the fact that our home would not need a paint job for a very long time and Arctic White seemed like the perfect option. Lacking nearly any undertones, this pure white not only feels more modern, but also serves as the perfect canvas for the ever-changing landscape here on Long Island. From the spring blooms of the purple rhododendron to the fiery red foliage of our Japanese maple tree in the fall, Arctic White serves as a perfect complement to our landscaping 365 days of the year. The colors of the landscaping pop against the Arctic White color to create a color story that feels unique to our style.

After finally settling on the color, we then had to choose which Hardie® fiber cement products we would use for the renovation. Our home was built in 1910, and the original lap siding was still in situ, but something about it felt dated. We were adamant about paying proper homage to the 111-year-old roots of our home and not replacing the siding with something that was completely anachronistic to the time period in which it was built. But we were a bit lost about how to modernize the home while still paying respect to its history. We finally came up with two ideas that would turn out to have an enormous impact.

First, we decided to increase the width of the lap siding. The old siding was 4-inches wide, but to be honest, the width of the siding wasn’t even something on my radar. It wasn’t until we had our first meeting with the contractor that I was set on increasing the width of the lap siding to 7-inches. If you’ve been following along for a while, you’ll know that Billy and I DIY nearly everything in our home. But, we knew replacing our siding was beyond our DIY capabilities, and we also wanted to make sure the job was done correctly. But, there was one unforeseen benefit of hiring a team of professionals affiliated with the Hardie™ Contractor Alliance Program: design advice. Rob of Premier Building & Reno Corp. carefully listened to what our vision was for our home and didn’t skip a beat before coming up with the perfect Hardie® siding and trim products to take our vision and make it a reality.

The next idea Rob helped us flesh out was mixing the Hardie® Trim battens with the Hardie® Plank. The original garage from our home still stands on our property and has the original board and batten siding on it. While we plan to knock down our garage as it is rotting away and quite unsafe, we wanted to find a way to salvage this piece of our property’s original design. What better way than to include it as inspiration for part of our exterior renovation with James Hardie? While we knew we wanted to use these two different products and textures from the start, Rob was able to come up with a scheme that would seamlessly incorporate this design element into our project.

Now that our renovation is complete, we are also relieved to know that Hardie® siding products stand up to weather, pests, fire and more. Because Hardie® siding products are engineered to help protect your home from the elements, some insurance carriers offer discounts to homeowners that have Hardie® siding products. Our home not only looks like a million bucks, it also may save us money on insurance. I’m calling that a win-win.

Before I leave you to go explore the possibilities for your own exterior renovation with James Hardie, I’d just like to mention how relieved we are that our exterior is finally as stylish, refreshed and beautiful as our interior. Prior to replacing our siding with Hardie® fiber cement  products, friends and neighbors would regularly remark how they couldn’t believe that such a beautiful interior existed inside that exterior. While we felt proud of our interior, the exterior was an eyesore. After renovating our home with Hardie® siding and trim, our exterior is now a source of immense pride. We’ve even had complete strangers and neighbors we’ve never met stopping by and leaving notes in our mailbox! It’s had an even more profound effect than we ever could have anticipated. Before the siding was replaced, our home was never one to turn a head. Now, it’s stopping cars in the street!

Our exterior finally matches the style of our interior, and we are ecstatic to now have a home that feels like a reflection of ourselves on the inside and out. We are so excited to finally enjoy summer parties with family and friends. Before we replaced our siding, we completely avoided entertaining outdoors. Now, our garden is the place I am most excited to entertain in. And our front porch is our family’s favorite spot to spend morning, afternoons and evenings. The Hardie® Panel with Hardie® Trim battens had such an impact on our porch and made it feel immediately more welcoming and modern.

Be sure to leave any questions below about our experience with James Hardie, and head on over to their site to check out the endless design possibilities, lasting beauty, and trusted protection offered by Hardie® fiber cement products to make your home’s exterior become as unique as you.