Our next project is a house that doesn’t fit neatly into any standard category. Debra calls it a “soft modern townhouse,” and that’s about as accurate as anything. SoMoToHo for short. Built in 1985, here is what it looked like when we found it:

The 80s was a strange decade. Big hair. Shoulder pads. Bizarre color combinations. Pink and grey  was a big thing in the eighties and this house was born in 1985. Pink and grey cavorted inside and out. The brick was actually a rosier, more blushing shade of pink than it appears in this picture. The previous owners had recently replaced the roof with a 50-year synthetic slate that had nice tonal variation but, again, coupled with the pink brick, the whole thing fairly shouted Tears for Fears,Culture Club, and Wham! For those of you youngsters asking “Who?” – never mind. Just believe me that the 80s was a strange decade.

We wanted to lighten the mood and contrast the roof, so we decided to paint. We went through much the same selection process as with the mid-century of the previous posts and decided on a velvety off-white with grey undertones – Benjamin Moore’s November Rain. Here is a shot during the process to show the contrast:I know that there are still folks out there who don’t like painted brick – or think that brick should never be painted. I trust that, eventually, they’ll come around and realize the potential for rejuvenation that paint provides can apply as readily to brick as to any other material. Here are a couple more pics to illustrate the point:

The more observant among you may have noticed that the door color changed (don’t get used to it – it likely will change again) and that the windows are different. The windows are another story for a different post.

I hope that you’ll take this trip with us and let me know how you feel about our transformation of the SoMoToHo.