better outdoor living at home spring


Your Minimal Traditional Yard


The Minimal Traditional is a modest, smaller house of 950-1200 square feet with great potential. If this is the style of your house, there are seemingly endless things you can do to give it rich traditional detailing.

 

Minimal Traditional was just that: a traditional architectural style with minimal detailing. The minimal detailing was a result of making housing more affordable during this era. Many homeowners may be perfectly happy and comfortable with the simplicity of this minimal look. On the other hand, because its beginnings were rooted in traditional architecture, this style provides great opportunity for creating depth and visual interest by adding the more traditional details and elements that were characteristic of the preceding late colonial revival era.

If you would like to add to the traditional heritage of your Minimal Traditional yard and house, to whatever capacity or degree, some suggestions to help and inspire are:

Lighting:

• Traditional style fixtures (wall-mounted, pendant, chandelier, sconces, post lanterns) created from metals, like copper, brass, bronze, and tin (including antique, aged, polished, or black finishes); lantern styles give a traditional look
• Traditional features also include glass styles of clear, beveled, water, and seeded
• a traditional fixture in cast aluminum (a very weather resistant material) with an aged-look finish can work, too

Mailbox and House Address:

• mailbox: metal or wood post with post cap or finial; metal house-mounted style in a traditional architectural style and finish
• address: choose numerals with a traditional typeface in materials similar to light fixtures; or, in carved wood
• traditional placement for numerals is on an architectural feature, like the front door pediment, porch fascia board over the porch steps, a porch or mailbox post, and, a wall-mounted plaque near the entry door

Hardware:

• forged cast iron (buy powder coated to resist rust), brass, copper (unlacquered brass and copper will age to a patina), bronze
• traditional hardware includes the Suffolk latch, strap hinge, H, and HL hinges, hand-hammered and machine-made nails, shutter dogs, and thumb latch entry door sets
• select traditional styles and finishes for the entry doors, kick plates, doorknockers, door bells, shutters, and gates (gate hardware should be strong and durable to keep it from sagging)

Pavement:

• for driveways: asphalt, concrete, tar and chip, or pavers (standard size clay brick or concrete pavers are very traditional)
• for walks, patios, and terraces: pavers (standard size clay brick or concrete are very traditional), slate, and natural stone, such as flagstone; traditional brick paver patterns include running bond, basketweave, and herringbone

This traditional wood fence with square pickets would be a perfect accent

Structures:

• wood fences (picket, rail, board-on-board, open pattern, i.e. square or diagonal lattice) and entry gates with more prominent posts, fence posts (with cap, finial, or chamfered top), trellis, arbors
• colors –shades of white paint or white stain are very traditional and work well for the Minimal Traditional; also, colors associated with traditional historical residential architecture (many paint brands have architectural color palettes)

Outdoor Furniture:

• tables (dining, side), chairs (dining, chaise, Adirondack), porch swings, gliders, rockers, benches (with or without backrest) made of wood, wrought iron (this material requires more maintenance to keep it from rusting), cast aluminum, wicker, and other materials in traditional styling and detailing can provide a classic look
• if you like retro outdoor furniture of the 40’s and 50’s – the Minimal Traditional era – there are the metal gliders and matching metal chairs, the metal umbrella table and chair sets, and large glider cushions

Plants:

• popular plants of this period included – rhododendron, azalea, boxwood or hollies or taxus (evergreen foundation plantings were popular), lilac, snowberry, forsythia, hydrangea, viburnum, spiraea, privet, roses, peonies, english ivy, myrtle (Vinca minor), pachysandra (Pachysandra terminalis), peonies, iris and tulips, perennials, wisteria growing on arbors, and herb or kitchen gardens
• some popular or common plants of an era may not necessarily be popular with you today, so do your research to know what you like and what you do not like, and also, what is best suited for your yard; selecting new and improved varieties work, too!

Outdoor Accents:

• window boxes (wood or metal), planter boxes and stands (wood or metal), traditional lamp posts, weathered clay pots, canvas or outdoor fabric awnings; weathervanes
• accessorize with cheerful, and colorful, outdoor cushions and pillows, tablecloths, dinnerware, and flowers

Detailed front gable porch replaced old shed roof on a Minimal Tradition

Exterior House Improvements:

• window shutters (raised panel, panels with iconic cut-outs, louver)
• dimensional shingles (provides textural 3-D appearance like the materials old craftsmen used)
• original picture or wrap windows, and metal windows in some cases may have a dated look, and may be replaced with wood/vinyl-clad divided double-hung or casement windows (divided windows are more expensive – if you are on a budget – and who isn’t, use the pop-in grids)
• choose a complementary 2-3 paint color palette (for the house itself, for the trim – this could, also, be the same as the house color, and for the entry doors), picking the right colors is a great way to add to the architectural quality of the house (it can also enhance its curb appeal)
• using traditional materials like wainscoting provides a classic look
• any dated or lackluster masonry could be replaced with a more aesthetic choice of stonework, or covered with a veneer – some of these veneer applications are constructed with a concrete product that beautifully resembles natural stone and may be more economical
• even modest improvements can add a richer architectural experience for the homeowner
• as a final note: if you are planning an addition to your house, you may want to have an architect design the new addition to make sure it is correctly designed and scaled to preserve the architectural integrity of your house; staying true to the architecture of the house, for any renovation, will add value to your property

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