The classic look of a house never goes out of style, no matter how hard modern flat-roofed houses try to take the lead. Today I'll break down a recent French château-inspired project I worked on and talk about the techniques I used while designing the facade.

The first thing to look for is symmetry, one of the defining traits of the classical tradition. The bold central projection, with the wide main staircase framed by balusters, immediately sets a stately tone.

The decoration is lavish, yet it never jars the eye, because it stays within a single pastel palette and the transitions between elements are kept as smooth as possible.

By decoration I don't just mean window frames or pilasters. The ground floor is fully rusticated, and above the openings there are rusticated arches and three-dimensional elements like keystones.

At the corners of the second floor are corner quoins that echo the ground-floor rustication.

Higher up, I added framing to the dormer windows with semicircular tympanums to balance out the many corners, along with graceful brackets on the pilasters.

But since everything is essentially the same color, you need different materials to keep the facade from looking dull.

The ground floor, which is more visible and interacts with people the most, is faced with the more expensive natural stone; the second floor is set off by a string course and plastered, and the projection above the entrance portal is tiled.

This project is several years old, but I still come back to it in my mind from time to time.

So what makes it so compelling? Which techniques made it memorable?

If all the walls were covered uniformly in brickwork, it would make your eyes glaze over, and the projecting section with the garages would steal the attention.

So I decided to set off the central part of the house with lighter plaster, and to keep it from looking like a random patch, I laid a decorative mosaic panel over it to tie it back to the mottled brick.

Notice the decorative surrounds — they don't go all the way around the windows, so as not to overload the house, but sit only at the top and bottom to emphasize the openings.

The window frames are graphite, matching the tone of the roof; you have to admit, it just wouldn't be the same with white plastic.

The result is a striking example of an understated classic — but with a twist.