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It looks good as is. Not every surface needs to be decorated. Whatever you put there will compete with the pretty stained glass. You already have a bunch of objects by the sink; that is enough decoration.
Someone will probably suggest a wall clock. But don't you already have a clock on the oven and the microwave? Again, leave the space plain.
No railing
It's unfortunate the style of your home doesn't fit the environment in which it's located. It's like if someone wore a sports coat to a square dance.
I'd limewash the brick.
But, Elmer, I fear that we have little civility left and it gets more eroded with every passing day. Tensions are high and this coming summer and fall are going to be nasty, very nasty.
I missed the drama of what ever it was that was said.
We need a pic. No one is going to have a clue based on that description.
I like the idea of keeping the red door, but, maybe a bit lighter and more of a rusty type red. What you have there now, doesnt show up and it door kind of shows up as being dark, and unwelcoming. You dont want the door to blend in, you want it to stand out..
Please listen to your landscaper and do not plant anything behind the boxwoods. There are a couple of reasons for this. Houses need maintenance and cleaning so you need to be able to comfortably walk behind the boxwood to clean or repair the windows. Also, the area beside the foundation is very dry. You want the soil beside your foundation to be dry to protect the house (that's why the roof has eaves to keep rain away). Any plants placed beside the foundation would need to be watered regularly which would be bad for your house.
Boxwood fronting hydrangeas or roses is a great look. Since you're redoing that bed, why not bring the bed out into the lawn space and move the boxwood out six feet so you have room to plant behind them?
I would probablt enlarge that front bed and have nice foundation plantings there and move the boxwoods to mor eappropraite space like along the walkway . Bring the bed forwad to line up with the edge of that walkway right in front of the door . The bed then could have a space behind for the reasons mentioned but have some interesting plants that give you all the things you want . IMO anything planted in front of the boxwoods will end up not being able to see them . I often do evergreens and perennials in a large bed then add some annuals for that long lasting color you want .
The reality is that you are trying to do a lot in a very small space. And that the height of what you can do is limited by how close to the ground the window is. So you can't go closer the the house than the boxwood are now, and you can't go much taller than the boxwood.
I'd just plan on pulling the edging, and planting a row of annuals.
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That house is attractive AS IS. It doesn't need fake Mc Mansionizing. That would completely ruin it. That horribly done ugly application of stone on the entry way needs to go the heck away.
Sounds like you are only considering buying the house? If basing your purchsse on the stone, have you looked into the cost of doing/being able to closely complement? Consider as well: how do you feel about a jarring difference on the sides of the house and were you planning on extending to the garage?
What about “making it prettier” by painting the siding, even removing the shutters, reconsidering the entrance area (pillars/over door), and improving the landscaping. These will be more visually appealing overall, you can do in phases when budget permits, and have had time to look into the best options.
I don’t bake, and can’t remember the last time I used sugar or flour for anything. So it wouldn’t make sense for me to use up counter space for them. However, I do drink coffee…we have three clear glass canisters next to the Nespresso machine with her coffee, his coffee, and decaf.
I like those wood canisters a lot.
Megan, you are a trooper! If you had not pulled everything out, then everyone on here would have said - "Pull everything out. It looks terrible!"
I have no idea where these magical garden centers are that all provide design services. But, I would go shopping around at many and try to talk it up with the most knowledgable person there. Show them the pictures, and also make a little drawing so they know exactly how many feet you are trying to plant both length and depth. I do this a lot and get conflicting info from different centers. Plus, some just don't sell what I am looking for. In the end, you will learn a lot, and come up with your own scheme. Run it by here again and you will be good to go.
With regards to planting away from the house, I am going to throw in my two cents. When we first moved to our house almost 30 years ago, I was so excited to be able to have a multi-level yard that backed to woods. It was a relatively blank slate in the back once I got rid of the bamboo and ivy. Hmmm, still fighting both, but the bamboo was gone for a while and now returning from the neighbor's side of the fence. Anyway, there were shrubs very close to the house in front. I wish I had removed them! Anything I plant now goes pretty far from the foundation. It is true that the ground will be very dry under the eaves. Very dry. This year, I am regreting not putting evergreen trees in the far back since our elderly friend who owned the woods died and her heirs sold to a developer. I do have evergreens on the hill that are now doing a great job of screening one of the new horrors behind us (what is the allure of 9,000 square foot 'modern farmhouses'?). I have plenty of deciduous trees at the bottom of the property, but I should have backed them with evergreens. Sigh. Ah well, we all make mistakes, but I will be kicking myself every winter when I look out back.
Patience is a good thing and you sound like you are thinking everything through. That is great and you will be happy you did that in 10 years! And yes, asking questions is the way to help yourself make decisions! I hope you will keep coming back and sharing what you have done. I am sure it will be wonderful.
Since you're back to the design stage, can we consider your downspouts? At a home improvement store you can purchase a plastic extender tube that you slide/shove over the end of the downspout. They are like six feet long - it should be as long as the bed is wide so that the edging is built up over it. Then cut the plastic extender tube flush with the outside of the edging. This will ensure that rainwater isn't trapped behind the edging. Thanks.
I'm a blue/purple lover and my neighborhood has a very high deer population. Plants that work for me are as follows:
allium Millennium (August bloomer)
agastache Blue Fortune (summer bloomer)
aquilegia (columbine) (spring bloomer)
aster October Skies (aromatic aster has stinky foliage so deer don't browse it - other asters are deer candy) blooms in October
baptisia (spring bloomer)
iris (both bearded iris and siberian iris)
lavender (summer bloomer)
nepeta Walker's Low (spring to fall blooms if trimmed back between flushes)
perovskia (summer bloom)
salvia (late spring into summer bloom)
verbena bonariensis (summer to fall bloom)
veronica (summer bloom)
Hope this is helpful.
Let's not get carried away here and cause a perfectly reasonable thread to go completely off topic. This is not a discussion for the pros and cons of RoundUp/glyphosate, which the vast majority of the population have zero understanding about except what they read in social media or scare mongering publications.
Let's keep focused here!!
I'd look for numbers to match the hardware on the door and place them to the left of the small window or below it. Big enough to see from the street but not too big.
Not quite sure what is your question, but the room currently shows a lot of furniture in it so doesn’t look “ small”. Could be the camera angles, though. What are the dimensions? Is it truly small & does best as a cozy “ hearth room” adjacent to kitchen, and you instead want a large second living area with sectionals , big TV ?
Warning: I’m not a big sectional fan mainly because people seem to buy them then struggle with furniture arrangements. So in this open plan space & with a toddler , and lots of toddler stuff rightt now, using the room as a play area, getting furniture that can be moved around better as needs change, like sofa and chairs, might be better. A sectional is more likely to dictate “ flow”. Or to have more limited options if you have very specific size constraints.
Buying a house is complicated. The main criteria should be location, price, condition. Decorating and furniture placement is fun, but not top priority. From the pictures, this house appears to be in very good condition. That leaves price and most important, location. Best wishes in your house hunt.
Condolences to her family.
I am so sorry to hear this. I was just thinking about her.
I haven't seen her post in a while. She will be very missed. I will get her a empty chair. Sending condolences to her family.
She was such a help to people and shared great recipes and cooking advice.
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I know better than to play this way. Oh well.
Nice home and pretty brickwork. I’m always a sucker for a brick ranch.
I’m a bit confused over the sidewalk and front porch - there’s no front door there?
IMO, that blue is a misfit. Green is what you need, a soft sage green. Also, IMO of course, the brilliant white shutters and trim look a little cheesy. I’d toss them as though the shutters don’t fit your windows anyway.
I assume those are white vinyl windows so those and the brick are fixed elements. If so I would stick with white trim and get a warmer neutral color for the siding- roycroft grey from sw could be nice.
A nice gray would be a good color for the house. Whats on there is too blue. I too, am confused as to how you get in and out of that house. Looks like someone removed the front door at some time or another??? If so, can it be put back. The house needs a front door, and it should be in that front entry area, probably right where it was originally.
OP stated the mirror was there when they bought the house. Art would be so much better on that wall.
I found this general rule of thumb, but there are many articles like this on the internet. I googled “art over fireplace.” According to this one, your art should not be very tall at all since your mantel is high.
But obviously, the further back you can view your art from, the better. My room is very large so it can balance my large fireplace and art. Your room looks like it’s about 16x16 so you can’t get too far back. On the other hand, you have an open floor plan, so you can view your art from farther back from the kitchen area.
One more thing - I searched Houzz for ”compare fireplace to room size” and found an old post about this. It has several helpful comments.
I don’t know how to link it for you, but if you search here you could probably find it too. (Click the little magnifying glass at the top of this page.)
Thank you so much for this. I will read that post too.
To be honest, I doubt I will have one large painting up there. Probably a mix of smaller items with one larger piece.
I plan to swap out what is up there depending on the season.
Some ideas include the attached, though some are a little too cluttered for my tastes, but I like the idea of including 2 smaller prints, including a couple antique books, candle sticks or vase, and then having one larger piece, be it a mirror, antique window, clock or larger print.
I just want things to look balanced. So I gues I just have to plan things accordingly with a mantle that is 58" in height?
Zone 10? I would think that’s waaay out of the comfort zone for a lilac.
or
Please note that the advice to seek out a local nursery does not mean a big box store. Find a privately owned garden center/nursery which might employ a trained expert. Places like that may even offer design services.
I agree with the above comment that the indented wall is the better place out of the two walls you show.
I am not a fan of the cutting board wall, sorry! The pics of course look perfect, but in reality the likelihood is for it to look cluttered and busy. Plus, do you actually have a bunch of light-weight circular or narrow boards like that? A useful cutting board is larger, heavier, and rectangular. Or, if you are using small boards for charcuterie or cheese boards, do you have that many? I would not use up wall space for a busy display.
Vital information for any suggestions is your geographical location.
Remove the existing shrubs--both badly pruned and badly placed-- and pull the beds out at least 6 feet from the house.
A better picture must show the entire house head on from enough distance to see what's on both sides. We also need to know your zone, general geographic location and the direction the house faces.
The shutters should also go.
Hmm - I like the look of one. Seems more balanced with the sidelight in door & the window on that side. Also makes the entry more open & welcoming - not too crowded.
Just the one on the right. Remember the entry door will be experienced in 3-D & people may be carrying things or assisting someone. So you don’t t want to go through a tunnel. Symmetry is not needed- balance and breathing room are better. Plus I agree that there’s something about the asymmetrical door that works with the one planter.
You also will need to think of what grows in that spot & stays healthy.
We just had a new roof last year and got the Weathered Wood color. I think it would go with your brick better than black, which looks more tan than gray.
Good call on the shutters.
Good call on removing the shutters. I really like lisedv's first suggestion. It looks so fresh.
Thank you for the additional ideas & visual renderings! Lots to consider
I believe animals know when someone has saved them and can become very devoted because of that.
I am the one who adopted our two cats from a home where the owner had died and the caregiver and the daughters couldn’t take them. I picked them up the day before they would have gone to the shelter, the daughters were so relieved for the cats. Do they appreciate me? No. One became my son’s devoted companion (and life ring when life was hard), the other is DH’s devoted ”dog”. They ignore me, rarely let me pet them, even though I am the one who washes their dishes, buys their food and treats, cleans the litter box…oh, wait, just like kids.
I'm not sure why you think a river rock or stone edging would keep weeds out of a gravel drive. They won't. Debris and weed seeds will blow or filter in and weed growth is inevitable.
I would use limewash on the stone to tone it down.
This off white on Off white color scheme could work for your home.
Or you could consider a buff color with white trim for the house.
I used an app to add the furniture and TV on that wall, so I guess I placed it too high in the pic. The scale is off but I was more concerned about style and color at the moment. I hate how orange our floors are so I don’t know what wood color/tone to get for a console that won’t highlight the orange. The rug is too gray imo so I’m thinking of changing that out for one that’s more beige/cream.
Where is YOUR kitchen plan addition? The one with feet and inches , window, cabinets, appliances, clearances
To the inch........: )
Upload that. You're ahead of yourself at the moment.
No open shelves for me. They seem so 1950s-Joanna-Gaines-farmhouse-old-and-shabby. How well I remember my mom’s kitchen sink shelves that were always dusty and euphemera-collectors.
Pretty house. I like the house color but the orangey-red trim is definitely dating. I understand you have cedar accents, but painting something cedar-colored. that’s not cedar, is not attractive. IMO.
How about painting the trim the same color as the house but mixed with 50% white?
Looks like you've posted another discussion on the same house, here's what I just posted on your other post:
With the colour of your siding, I suggest black trim. Also suggest that you cover the painted columns with wood and stain the same colour stain as elsewhere on the house, with the exception of the 2 areas where you have handrails & columns which I show in black. Improving the landscaping with something that works in your area would also be a plus...
Pretty house! Maybe green with brown trim? There are some nice examples here: https://aprylann.com/green-house-with-brown-trim/?amp
Is the siding currently pale gray or blue? It’s not very attractive with your brick. A very soft nearly-white or sage green would be better and look cleaner. Many on this forum recommend the use of Romabio, a special paint/wash for brick. You could brighten the brick with that; Google it.
The tall evergreens on both sides of your door would be ripped out if they were mine. Too big, crammed in a small space.
I don’t know the exact current color, as this is how we purchased the house. It’s a light gray that reads blue and I agree, which is why I am looking for a new color. Landscaping we be redone after the house is painted. Thanks for the tips.
I'd leave the brick alone.