5 Reasons Mediterranean Architecture is growing on me: Our New House
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I have to tell you a quick story about our new house. I was against it in the beginning. Not because there was anything wrong with the house, it just wasn’t my style. My style as most of you know, is more of a Casual Modern Farmhouse with a hint of Coastal. Our new house couldn’t be further on the spectrum and is everything my style, is not. Today I am sharing 5 Reasons Mediterranean Architecture is growing on me. When we looked at the house initially, I didn’t want to go. This house wasn’t even a blip on my radar. Needless to say, my parents and husband loved it and they kept telling me how amazing it would be. I started to look at it from a different perspective and you know the rest, we bought it. We ended up looking at the house 3 times before we made a formal offer (all within 3 days) and each time I went, I found aspects of the house I really liked. The white trim, white kitchen, modern farmhouse lover found herself drawn to the five things below which ultimately, made me cave.
5 Reasons Mediterranean Architecture is growing on me
Architectural Interest & Roof Lines
If anyone knows what kind of the tree that big bushy one is on the left, leave a comment or message me. It needs a haircut and I think it’s a cypress tree but don’t want to kill it by trimming it wrong!
The roof lines on our new house are really pretty. I love all the different peaks and lines that create architectural interest. When we looked at the house last October I loved the exterior, especially the roof lines. One thing that I have learned in the last 4 months while studying Mediterranean architecture, this style home is very popular in California and the Southern States. Many of the Mediterranean Homes in the warmer climates have the red tiled roof.
5 Reasons Mediterranean Architecture is growing on me
Gorgeous Exterior Stucco and Stone Work
Our backyard below shows curved arches with supporting columns which are indicative of Mediterranean design. I love the stucco exterior and the stone work on the front of the house.
Oversized Large Windows
The ceilings inside are between 12 and 30 feet and the oversize windows are truly spectacular. I am still getting use to the dark stained interior trim but it’s growing on me. -ha. Mediterranean Homes typically have oversized large windows and wrought iron balconies. The backyard balcony below is actually in the room I showed you a couple days ago on the “tiny queen bedroom” project. The girls have a great view of the pool so check out that post to see the amazing view. These exterior pictures were taken from the MLS listing and provided to me by the previous owner.
5 Reasons Mediterranean Architecture is growing on me
You can see in the image below (source unknown) that the Mediterranean home has a similar style to our house above. The wrought iron balcony, stucco finish and curved architecture. My guess is that this home is in a warm climate. Living in New England, we have asphalt shingles on our roof. Can you imagine what snow, sleet and ice would do to a tiled roof?
The image above shows a cypress tree which makes me think our tree that needs to be trimmed is also a cypress. What do you think?
Grand Staircase
I snapped these pictures of our staircase below a couple days ago and when I first looked at the house, I thought, “oh I’ll just swap out the wrought iron rails for white wood balusters.” That was my immediate reaction was to swap out all the dark molding and wrought iron but I have to be honest, it’s all kind of growing on me. Dark interior trim was definitely not my thing but I have to admit, when done correctly (like this house) a thick 5+” baseboard and significant window trim detail, stained wood can be really pretty. I actually have read several articles in the past couple months that indicate gorgeous warm toned stained trim is making a comeback. I will share more of the interior trim in another post next week and show you the difference between dated 1970’s skinny wood trim and our thick detailed trim.
The staircase wraps around to an open 2nd floor cat walk staircase which leads to a second staircase on the back end of the house.
RELATED: Our new House move in day
5 Reasons Mediterranean Architecture is growing on me
High Ceilings
Another thing that I loved about the house when we looked at it initially was the ceiling height. The ceilings on the main floor are between 15 feet and 30 feet which is a huge difference from our old house which had 8′ ceilings. It’s amazing how much bigger a house can feel with high ceilings. We are planning to empty more of our garage this weekend and do some more unpacking. Our basement finally got organized last weekend and then I remembered, we had SO much stuff to still bring in from the garage. It’s funny how you get use to living without stuff (all the stuff in boxes) and it makes you question, “do I really need all that stuff?” Do you know what I mean? Stay tuned for a fun blog post tomorrow featuring my husband (follow us on Instagram to see a sneak peek) and a huge sale on a pretty amazing car ;). PS. thanks for the funny emails and comments about my grandfather and his red haired pole dancing friend 🙂
About The Author
What started as a hobby, Jessica’s blog now has millions of people visit yearly and while many of the projects and posts look and sound perfect, life hasn’t always been easy. Read Jessica’s story and how overcoming death, divorce and dementia was one of her biggest life lessons to date.
I love the look. It’s refreshing to see something besides the “farmhouse” theme. When we built our multi-generational 5 years ago (ranch style with craftsman hints) i did all the common rooms in tuscan colors.
Can’t wait to see pics of your parent’s Ralph Lauren influenced rooms. That is one of my all-time favorite looks!
Thanks for sharing your photos!
Love it all…glad you are adjusting..Jacquelyn
Hmmm a cypress tree??? What do I know about them? Here in the south, we have cypress trees. The kind that we have develop what we call knees. Kind of like root that grow about ground, similar to Magnolias. These “knees” can grow to up to a foot tall especially if they are near a good water source.
I’m a cottage/farmhouse girl too but those wrought iron balusters are spectacular. I think they would look great in any style house.
Just when I finally (FINALLY!) Convinced my husband to paint all of our baseboards white and switch out our interior doors for new white ones, now you tell me the warm woodtones are coming back in style. If only I would have kept my avocado green appliances…….
Your new house is beautiful and I just love reading about your grandpa and all of his stories.
I think your house is gorgeous! Every time you post pictures of it, I show them to my husband when he gets home. We were watching the Gilmore Girls on Netflix the other night, and they were invited to a dinner in a beautiful home and they had columns similar to yours. When we moved several years ago, I remember the same thing happening, that we’d discover a box in the garage we hadn’t unpacked, and hadn’t missed either.
This house is just loaded with interesting details. I await future posts to see what you do with the space as it is quite different from your earlier house. I am in LOVE with the outside yard details. take photos of the tree in question and go to your garden center who should be able to readily identify it. I’m living vicariously thru your postings. LOL More photos please .
Well i absolutely love your new home! It’s gorgeous, and when i see it i think “Villa”. So happy for you all, i always enjoy seeing what you’re up to next ????
Your tree is a weeping nooks, a type of cypress, that is not meant to be trimmed…we had one at our last house.
Nootka, darn autocorrect, lol
I love the look of your house. It looks grand and beautiful. We cannot have stairs in our home so everything is on one level. Maybe that is why I find your staircase so gorgeous. Thanks for sharing the photos.
After living with white trim, baseboards, and a white kitchen for several years I’ve come to the conclusion that dark trim is the way to go. There is just no way to keep all that white sparkling clean! While trying to sell our house I was constantly cleaning and we had the house painted less than two years ago!
I love your new home! I too like the modern farmhouse coastal look, but I picture your home being more of a Britush West Indies look. Your gorgeous wood trim is perfect for that… dark wood, black iron and white accents. It could look like an old sugar cane plantation from the south, but without the palm tree decor! Look it up British West Indies on Pinterest. ????
Beautiful photos of your beautiful new home. Enjoy every inch of it. You will have a great summer by the pool !
All the steps! I trust your parents will have easy access as they age as well.
My husband freaked out abiut steps every house we viewed, and although we finally settled on one with only three entry steps, I wonder how he will maneuver those in a few years. He has issues from diabetes and his balance and feet don’t cooperate some days already.
Beautiful workmanship! Are the windows cold? All the snow and harsh winters make me wonder if they radiate the cold, or heat later. So glad I don’t have to clean those big boys! Lol! This shorty would be doing Windows forever… Lol! But what views!!!
I look forward to all the finished rooms.
The home is beautiful! I can’t wait to see how you decorate it and make it your own.
The outside of the house is so impressive! I have no doubt you’re going to do fabulous things with it 😀
It’s a Weeping Alaskan Cedar. As the other person mentioned it is not meant to be trimmed, it should have been planted a little further from the house so it can grow and you can enjoy it beauty. Best wishes in your new adventure!