STEP FOUR
After considering the exterior styling of your home; what exists and what you want, you can put together your custom style profile. This is intended to be a guiding outline that you can refer to as you start to define and detail your project. Download the worksheets below or create your own profile template that includes the 8 key elements noted.
Establish The Current Style
Begin by establishing the current exterior style of your home using the key elements that have been covered throughout the various styles in this workshop. If you have no intention of changing the exterior then this can be the profile that you continue with as you move to definition of the interior style.
Establish A Custom Style
If you are planning to revise the exterior of your home then this is an opportunity to establish a custom style profile that reflects these changes.
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-This guide provides a brief, highly graphical overview of Canada's architectural heritage, highlighting the defining characteristics of various building styles and types across different historical periods. We love older Parks Canada publications.
Parks Canada. Buildings of Canada: A Guide to Styles and Types. 1980, https://www.historicplaces.ca/media/7173/buildingsofcanada.pdf.
-This guide, commissioned by an East coast municipality, is quite comprehensive. It provides more detailed information on the architectural styles that are common in Canada.
Town of Sackville. Heritage Architecture Style Guide. 10 Mar. 2014, https://sackville.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/01/Heritage_Architecture_Style_Guide_Final_10March2014.pdf.
-This book provides a comprehensive overview of major architectural styles and building terminology in Ontario from the late 18th century to relatively modern times.
Blumenson, John J.-G. Ontario Architecture: A Guide to Styles and Building Terms, 1784 to the Present. Fitzhenry & Whiteside, 1990.
-A concise introduction to considering the architectural character of your home is provided in the U.S. Department of the Interior National Park Service Cultural Resources - Preservation Guides. The National Park Service preservation guides are a great resource in general and well worth exploring.
-This book outlines what to look for, what to do and what not to do when working on important building details.
Cusato, Marianne, and Ben Pentreath. Get Your House Right: Architectural Elements to Use & Avoid. Sterling, 2007.
-This book provides an excellent detailed guide to American residential architecture (basically the same as Canadian architecture).
McAlester, Virginia Savage. A Field Guide to American Houses (Revised): The Definitive Guide to Identifying and Understanding America's Domestic Architecture. Knopf, 2015.
-This book provides detailed information on building elements.
Benjamin, Asher. The American Builder's Companion. Illustrated ed., Feb. 26, 2009, Dover Publications.
-This book provides detailed information on building elements indicating scale and proportion.
Radford, William A., Bernard L. Johnson, and Charles P. Rawson. Radford's Portfolio of Details of Building Construction: A Remarkable and Unique Collection of Full-Page Plates, Accurately Drawn and Reproduced to Exact Scale. Complete Details for Every Style of Interior Trim, Including Special Built-In Features. Illustrated ed., Dover Publications, Aug. 31, 2012.
Copyright Disclaimer: This online resource is for informational purposes only. All content is protected by copyright law and may not be reproduced, distributed, or used for commercial purposes without permission.
We hope this EXTERIOR STYLE resource IS helpful as you begin the process of planning your next project.
If you’d like our help to get your project started, reach out for a 1:1 consultation. We’d love to help!
Be sure to join us for Part Two in our style definition series, in which we guide you through the process of Defining Your Home’s Interior Style Profile.
