My heart goes pitter-patter for updated mid-century modern ranch homes with clean lines and architectural detail. Our home is decidedly not mid-century modern. But as we make simple cosmetic changes we're finding that a modern aesthetic actually works really well on our house and more and more its becoming a house that makes my heart go pitter-patter, too.  

So far we've tugged our home towards the modern with furniture choices, such as a couch with a low profile and straight lines, a calm light grey interior paint color and by keeping our stuff to a minimum (which is done more of simplifying our daily lives rather than for the modern look but it's a two-for-one).

Next up are a few exterior updates! This spring we're planning to make these updates:

+ Paint house exterior. Currently our house is blah brown and the color scheme throughout the neighborhood is pretty much brown on tan on beige. We're planning to shake things up and after staring and squinting at paint chips and then finally testing a few we've settled on Roycroft Pewter as the main color and Windfresh White for the trim. Wish us luck getting the paint colors approved by the HOA!

+ Paint front door. We always stop to admire front doors that are bright and bold. We've decided to go with the aptly named Cheerful yellow that will pop against the dark grey house. We have a screen door on our front door and we wanted something that would pop even through the front door. This yellow certainly will.

+ Update garage light fixtures. We realized that updating our outdoor light fixtures would be another simple way to give our home character. We're considering an industrial barn light or a modern box sconce.

+ Update house address numbers. Every house in our neighborhood has its house address numbers engraved onto a stone that is affixed to the house. It's perhaps the exact opposite of what we would choose and I'm really looking forward to prying it off. Browsing custom house number plaques in a mid-century modern style on Etsy makes me giddy. We're thinking something like this, this or this.

+ Paint backyard block wall. We rented a small house for the first year we lived in Arizona. The inside of the house was painted CRAZY colors. As in gold swirls on bright blue and psychedelic flower wall paper border over pink sponge paint hallway. But what they did get right was the backyard block wall, which was painted a rich gold color. Ever since we moved I've remembered how warm the backyard felt and how the green succulents popped against it and so we're bringing something similar to our yard.

Which brings me to an amazing tip for testing out new paint colors: paint a large piece of cardboard with the color you are trying out and then hold it up to the wall! As soon as I saw my favorite cactus in front of Amber Wave I was sold.  

+ Add a quote to our backyard wall. After we have the wall painted we'll have a quote painted in white to fill this section of the wall (above). We're not sure yet what the quote will be and we're taking suggestions so if you have an idea please let me know!