No, this isn't a post about the TV series about quirky people in a small Alaskan town. Though the subject of the post does make me understand why they may have named the show Northern Exposure. This a post about the exposure of the front of your home.
Unless you are in to Feng Shui, you probably don't give much thought to the exposure of the front of your home when house hunting. Floor plan, curb appeal and upgrades inside the home probably matter more to you than anything...except, of course, for price.
As someone who lives in a Northern Exposure home, I'd like to share with you my experience. As with most colonials in 
Northern Virginia, the front of my home (which faces north) is where my formal rooms are. The most frequented rooms in the home (the family room and kitchen) have a Southern Exposure, giving lots of beautiful light throughout the day.
I also have a two car garage attached to the home. It is also graced with a Northern Exposure, since it is a front load garage. In the summer, this gives to cooler temperatures and afternoon shade in the front of the home. The driveway, as a result, isa great place to wash and wax the car. That's summer. Now let's talk about winter.
Snow and ice take seemingly FOREVER to melt from the front of my home. My driveway, shaded in the winter even more, gets no direct sunlight to melt the ice and snow. The daytime temperatures may melt snow, but it only freezes as the job is usually incomplete without direct sunlight. So while it may be looking all clear when I look out to the other side of the street, seeing bare grass and completely dry driveways, my front yard and driveway is like the Artic.
If you don't like to shovel snow, and expect to live in an area where you get a decent amount of winter snowfall, Northern Exposure homes may not be the right fit for you. Any other exposure will help you get nature's snow and ice melting assistance. And with an Eastern exposure, you can still have great afternoon sunlight in those back of the house family rooms and kitchens.
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