Guest Author - Rosemary Rugnetta

When I lived in the Northeast, the colonial style house was quite common to see. Now, living in the Southeast, I no longer come across this style home. The colonial style house is quite an elegant style with a look of days gone by. If you own a home of this type, you are familiar with its appearance and special features.

The house itself is usually a rectangular shape brick home and consists of two or more stories. It always has a pitched roof which usually includes one or more gables. The windows are all the same and evenly spaced throughout the house. Most of the time you will find that each window has a set of shutters. It is a very clean looking, straight lined house.

One of the elements that makes a colonial style house unique in design is the grand entry way. On the outside, there are usually a few steps in front that lead to a porch. It is the front columns that give it that elegant appearance. Upon entering, you come into an entry hall usually with the formal living room on one side and the formal dining room on the other. The staircase with its fancy spindles that leads to the upper rooms is in the front entry hall. Everything else is in the back of the house while all of the bedrooms are on the second floor.

The colonial style house will have beautiful wood floors, moldings and woodwork throughout the home. While the molding and woodwork has always been a common decorative element of this type of home, it has only started to become popular in other types of houses in recent years. Another common design feature of the colonial style house is the fireplace. You will always find at least one or more fireplaces in this home.

The best d�cor for this type of home is Early American. Using spindle back chairs, wood tables and hand made crafts to decorate will bring these homes to life. They appear warm and cozy with the warm colored walls, needlepoint chairs and quilted blankets. The best type of window treatment is a wood or brass rod with tab top curtains.

I remember walking into this type of house and having the feeling that I was stepping back in time. If it was built a long time ago, you begin to wonder who lived there before. What is the history of the home? Even if this is not your style home to live in, it is worth visiting one to appreciate their architecture.