Our home isn't entirely "French Country," but perhaps this will help. The color is Prairie Clay.

We are going to build a home with a French Country look but will use bricks and stone on the exterior rather than the more authentic looking stucco. Anyway, I have been lookng at websites for exterior ideas and see many French Country homes in whites, off whites and soft yellows.

One architect, Jack Arnold, from Oklahoma does what I consider to be very nice looking classical French country homes and his website is jackarnold.com. He has a photo gallery and you can see some of the soft colors he uses on his homes. Maybe this will help you decide on your paint color.

IF you are interested in more photos on his website, go into the section for media and you can look at several magazine spreads with more photos.

I am always looking for more photos of French Country. Do you have a picture of what your house will look like? Where are you building? We are in Texas.

We used Jack Arnold and built a European cottage. We used brick instead of stucco and did a mortar wash over the brick. A mortar wash can be thick or thin - ours is thin, but covers the brick but not the brick texture. We also used the mortar wash over our poured cement retaining walls. It is thicker and I had them sand for a finer finish.

Allison,

Your European cottage home is amazing! Do you have a closer photo of the stone work and the brick? I am looking for stone and brick combinations that have a real old look to them. I can show my builder and see what she thinks about it.

Thanks!

Hi gopack. We are building in Spring Tx. Will try to post an elevation view on here if I can figure it out.

Allison, great pic too. What exactly is mortar wash? we are going for a look of late 1800's on the brick with the mortar lines flush with the brick vs recessed. How did you get your pics on the post.

Thank you. Here is the website I got my stone combo from...of course it doesn't look exactly like it since it all depends on the stones that are delivered and how skilled the stonemasons are. If they aren't good, the stone won't look good no matter what you use. You can click on the samples to enlarge.

I do not have an up close photo of the brick. I selected a tumbled brick and since it was going to be covered, the color didn't matter (it was purplish red). It just mattered that they had enough of it in stock to do the house. A lot brick were back ordered for months - so don't waste time selecting what you want to make sure you can get it.

The window ledges, door stoops and interior of arches (lower veranda) have accent brick that was not covered with mortar wash. I selected it based on the mortar color.

Here is a link that might be useful: Garner Stone wall samples

Thanks for the info on your stone, Allison. I love it!

Sorry, Tom. Must have crossed posted! Thanks. A mortar wash is applied by the brick masons. The price is based on how many 1K brick they will be covering, or in the case of the poured walls - square footage.

They mix 1 part mortar with 3 parts sand to a semi-thick soupy mix in a wheelbarrow. Working in small areas, they wet down the brick with a large brush. They come behind and do the mortar wash; being careful not to overlap areas (causes streaking). They do not go back over sections and they work quickly, since the mortar wash dries quickly.

gopack, the best thing is to show a picture to your stonemason and see recent jobs they have completed. Imo, it really is an art and like all artist, some are better than others. I've seen some horrid stonework!

fyi, our masons charged us $11psf for labor, but after it was finished he said it was going to be $13psf if he ever did it for anyone else since it was more labor intensive than he thought. He recently came back to do the columns at the driveway gate and we paid $13psf.

Allison- Thanks for the info about the mortar wash. I'd never heard of it. We are planning on doing the same type look w/ a product from Boral brick called recote. It's a thick sanded paint that hopefully will give somewhat the same look your house has. I'd never heard of an alternate method until now.

There are several houses in our neighborhood that used Boral's PastelCote. I've never heard of their "recote." Is that different?

Hi Allyson,
I have found your posts in this thread through a search on mortar wash. For some reason I can't see your pics but would love to see them. I too am building a Jack Arnold design in Illinois. Any chance you would email me some pics of your place? Thanks
Pam

Sorry, Pam. I had some some cleaning up of Photobucket. I haven't been posting here for a few weeks but someone told me about your post.

Which design are you building? We love our home and hope you enjoy yours as much as we do.

Here is a Shutterfly link showing good photos of the mortar wash. The retaining wall is poured concrete and was sanded. The mortar wash on the house was done over brick (not sanded).

Good luck with your project.
Allison

Here is a link that might be useful: Photos

Thanks Allison! Your home is lovely. We are currently working on revising a version of Le Chablis. I purchased Jack Arnold's portfolios years ago. His elevations and mix of materials are the best! My husband is a Custom Builder so we have built and moved many (too many) times over the last 22 years. Which plan did you build?

Thanks and you're welcome. I'm not familiar with The Chablis. I'll have to look through the plans.

We worked with Trey Arnold and modified the largest Armand version. Added a full lower level, deleted the room over garage, bath and bedroom (and stairs going up) but built house sturdy enough where they can be added and lived in down the road if someone wants to. Also made numerous changes to the main level, even made it larger. It's perfect now. ;)

We live on a 4.5 acre lake lot and love all the windows, doors and verandas. I told Trey I wanted the windows as big as the house would allow. We bought the lot, purchased the portfolios, looked over them all and selected one. Looked over it for the next year, while children were finishing up high school, then started making changes/additions. Started building 2yrs after purchasing the lot. Build only took 9mths (was estimated to take 11mths).

His website is wonderful for inspiration. I guess you saw Arnold's personal home in Veranda a few months ago. Another home he designed is on this month's cover. Charles Faudree is the designer of that home (CF also lives in a home designed by Arnold).

My community has numerous builders living here. Some don't move every few years but a lot of them do. I can't imagine - I get too attached. We lived in our last home over 20yrs...granted we did gut and add on several times! lol

Good luck with your project. I'd love to see pictures.