I would consider painting the awning the yellow siding color and keeping the dark brown accent which works well with the brick. You could paint the railing dark brown to pick up the dark brown of the accent.

I think white on the siding would be too stark with the brick and that is why the current awning color sticks out. It would look much better tied in with one of the other colors.

I would go with the flow of the exterior of this house unless you are going to change it a lot. With its strong horizontal lines and the canted ends on the stone feature this house is Very Atomic Ranch and will stay that way unless you removed the canted portions altogether.

Its a particular style and a snapshot of a particular period and region, so I think you should embrace it.

I would remove the awning. Our first house was very similar to yours and we just had a small shingled awning over the front door. I can't find a picture though.

The metal awnings look very dated, plus you'll probably appreciate the extra light that comes into the living room with the awning gone.

Congrats on the first home!

I've never seen a ranch with the canted edge - interesting!

I found a picture....

Thanks for the replies!

Ultimately, I would not like to remove the awning. The front window is rather large and receives loads of sunlight as it is. I fear removing it would make our living room much too sunny in the summers. Also, I like the idea of a covered front porch.... Shade for sitting time in the summer and prevention of snow build up along the main entrance during winters (we get lots of snow = NE Ohio). If I had the $$ I would remove the awning and extend the roof to keep it covered, but that isn't in my budget.

As for repainting yellow to match the siding, I suppose that could work. However, I'm worried that would further date the look of the awning, but I won't rule it out..Any other ideas??

Thanks again!

Very cute ranch! It has sort of a prairie feel with the hip roof and the narrow section of dark siding above the buff brick. But then the canted edges of the brick make it a little more googie/MCM.

It's going to be tough to make the awning look like anything other than what it is. And I understand your desire to keep it. But is the front door going to be used much at this house? Because with the garage in the rear, I'm thinking the back door is going to be the main entrance/exit used.

Consider posting this over at lottaliving, where there are tons of mid-century folks who can offer opinions.

Now that you bring it up, I guess the front porch area won't really be the main entrance/exit of the house. I do like the shading it gives the living room, but maybe I will just remove it.

If I remove it the next step would be what to do with the railing....removing the vertical supports...repainting brown or black...

Hi, what about some of these BM colors?

http://s1004.photobucket.com/albums/af170/jterrilynn/?action=view&current=Benjamin-Moore-Color-32.gif"; target="_blank">

http://s1004.photobucket.com/albums/af170/jterrilynn/?action=view&current=10131903.jpg"; target="_blank">

If I go with a creamy yellow to match the siding, what do I (or do I) paint the two stripes on both ends of the awning? And do I keep the bottom border the same color or yellow?

I would paint all the awning Asbury Sand by BM. You may want to get a sample first (the color in the swatch above looks nothing like it)it does have some of the exact over all read of your brick. If you need to repaint the white, the Fine China is very nice and is so much lighter than the swatch above. I would get rid of the dark brown and bring in the siding color to unify the house/brick/siding.If you choose to go in that unity color range you could then think about an interesting color for the front door.

The Asbury Sand in real like is closest to the 2nd color bottom up on the right. It's a nice color because it's not bright but does have a muted warmth in an easy to live with way.

Or, you could paint the awning and the dark brown Asbury Sand and paint the front door the color of the siding.

I'm a bit confused...are you recommending painting the dark brown wood a different color as well?
I'm warming up on the idea of matching the awning to a creamy yellow color like the siding. I think it would tie in well.

However, I'm hoping there isn't too much peach/pink in the color choices as I would hate to have those undertones vs. the "cooler" colored houses in this NE Ohio neighborhood.

Hi spud, Are you asking me if the above colors have pink undertones? I have used the Asbury Sand many times and it has no pink, its sort of a warm muted beige w/yellow. The color next to it down is soft beige but looks more like a light yellow (but not a yellow with green undertones). The last one down on the right is closer to the soft beige. I wouldn't go with the soft beige for a creamy yellow though if I were you, its a nice color but may be a tad brighter than what you would want.
I only mention the Asbury Sand because you don't seem overly keen on the awning but do not want to remove it either so if you blend it into a tone that goes with the brick it will be less noticeable. Also, I understand your concerns with using non-cool matching colors in the neighborhhod. However, you already have a warmer color of brick so I would paint the brown and neutralize the over all look. You can then add a cool shade for the door paint that would match colors in the neighborhood. You can mix a lot of cool shades with the Asbury Sand.

Thanks for the suggestion. I do like the idea of Asbury Sand on the awning if it is not so pink/peachy in true color. I found this pic of another creamy/yellowy house + awning that works well:

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Assuming I repaint with Asbury Sand: Then...

Should I keep the vertical stripes on the awning? If so, what color?

Should I keep the railing white?

Should I repaint the dark brown wood on the face of the house to look like an extension of the yellow/cream siding or should I keep it as is dark brown?

I'm not much help with color, but if you want to keep the awning, I'm thinking what could make a difference is changing out the curly-que iron pieces. In your example above it looks like there is no railing. Could you remove, modify or replace just the railing and hack-saw out the curls in the vertical pieces...or replace them with something simpler?

Spud, thats a nice picture you came across! Of course it would look a bit different on your house as you do not have the pale yellow above...buts its real nice.

This is what I was talking about for the awning color although I do love your picture (remember that I cannot get the exact right shade on the computer of the Asbury).

http://s1004.photobucket.com/albums/af170/jterrilynn/?action=view&current=house-1.jpg"; target="_blank">

I would keep the dark brown accent but probably paint the railing either dark brown or black as well.

I think the brown accent adds something to the facade of the house that is important. I can't really explain it but the facades of this type of house were meant to be different and it might take something away by painting that horizontal band the body color of the house.

Hmmm...I do like the idea of the awning being that cream yellow/light beige color as posted above....I also agree that the brown accent tends to add some sort of depth to the facade that I don't think I would get if I painted those cream/yellow/grey/etc...

The only catch would be the railing color then...I guess I could keep it white and see how it looks, but I'm leading towards black....

Should I decide to repaint the awning the yellowy/beigy color...should I also repaint the side of the house to match? I'm not sure how it would look with the awning being a contast to the side of the house....this would be with keeping the dark brown front accent. I'm thinking I would like the awning to appear to be an extension of the house, which is why I'm leaning toward matching it to the pale yellow siding.

If I had bought your cute house, I would definitely remove the awning and the iron fretwork railings and posts. They don't seem to work with the mid-century design of your house.

Hmmm...If I removed the awning/railing...I'm wondering if I could build up the landscaping to block the sun from entering the main living area... but without having too much clutter at the front porch area...

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Bingo, jddar... You're right. The curly fretwork just does not suit a MCM-inspired ranch. I'd check out MCM sites to see what sort of railings etc. are more in-line with the overall style of the house.

I agree with the other posters in that you may want to give a little research time to your homes style. You can change the colors for now to make yourself comfortable until you decide on a plan. There are a lot of really neat landscape ideas to go along with your house styles future plans...wrap it all up into a very nice look!

Spud, when I saw your picture I thought to myself, wow, I have seen tons of houses like that around my area. I live in NE Ohio too! So I am very familiar with this style.

Ultimately there's not much you can really do to "improve" the look of the house on the outside, these houses are what they are. I think you're idea of a nice bold color for a border on the awning is great.

I don't understand the suggestions or thoughts revolving around yellows, creams...those colors are very dated on these houses. You just need some updated bold colours and it will help.

Congrats on your new home! It will be charming.

I think the awning spoils the lines of the house, and doesn't let you see the interesting angles of the brickwork. I would take it down. However, if you think it is really of benefit and you want to keep it, I would paint it the same color as the siding OR the same color as the roof.

I would also paint the brown wood the siding color - it makes the front windows feel like they are sitting in a hole, and doesn't really do anything special for the house.

I would also love to see you take out those bushes in front of the porch. They really date the house, and exposing that brick and stone would give the front porch more substance. A wider, curved bed in front of that with low plantings would be nice, and then perhaps a larger evergreen on the left corner of the porch. A second curved out bed in front of the left half of the house, perhaps a birdbath in the middle of the bed, and then a small tree of some kind on the left outside corner of the house, but a bit away and in the final curved planting area out even a bit more into the yard there.

The ironwork is also a dated look, but I don't know if you want to replace that right now. Personally, I might take out the pieces in between the vertical posts, and open up the front porch even more. I think I would leave it white, like the rest of the trim on the house.

Finally, I would think about a strong accent color for the front door. A rich navy would be very pretty, and a good transition between the cool grey tones in the roof and the warmer yellows and oranges of the brick and siding.

Oh I love the wings.

Instead of painting the railing, maybe try to replace it with something more authentic.

And get over to the landscape design forum.

Lots of great feedback here....looks like there is some split opinions between keeping the dark brown accents on the front of the house or matching it to the siding or roof. Also, I had never even thought about removing the curly Q accents in the railing. I'm not sure how possible it would be to remove it from the horizontal railing, as it would leave good sized gaps in a few spots, but it may be possible in the vertical railing.

As for the yellows/creams, I don't really think those colors are too dated. Plus, I think they work with the brickwork of the house. The only other color option I can think of besides the cream yellow or light beige for the awning or brown accents, would be a light gray/shale to match the roof. However, I think having the awning a grey color to match the roof would make it look even more metallic and cold, when it already looks quite stark

I'm leaning towards repainting the awning a color to match the siding of the house, and making an attempt to remove some of the Curly-Qs in the railing. I'm still 50/50 about repainting the brown accents on the front of the house. I can either match it to the yellow of the awning/siding or match it grey to the roof.

I think the best thing you could do for the house is take it back to looking like an MCM house instead of the variety of styles that it currently has added on to it. I think the curved awning fights with the angles of everything else. The scroll work doesn't look like it fits at all with the house style, however I think the house is really cool looking and I wish I had photo shopping skills to play around with it to see how it could end up.

What have other houses done in the area?

How tall is that porch. Do you have a code requirement for needing railings there? If you do you could replace the railings with a wood one. There are sections you can by already built at the big box stores.

Here are some pics of some MCM houses and porches. Might get you an idea for railings/columns

This one is not an open porch, but could be adapted.

You might want to do a Google images search and use terms such as MCM, mid century, mid century modern along with house, porch, curb-appeal, etc.

Thanks for the pics! I'm not sure if I will have enough time and money this summer to change/modify the existing railing or build a new type of awning, so I'm stuck exploring color options first.

Doing a google map scan of my neighborhood, not one house of similar style has my extended front porch or very large awning. I found a few pics to compare though:

First example shows what others have suggested ; painting the dark brown wood front a yellow/creamy color that closely matches the siding...a similar house in my neighborhood is pictured here with a similar gray roof:

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The next idea stems from that idea, but incorporates one of my initial ideas - which was painting the awning a dark brown. I think it looks better against the lighter colored front that matches the lighter siding. The house on the left has the matching front to siding, but dark brown awning...the house on the right has a lighter color scheme matching the siding, but their awning appears GRAY to match the roof(they also have more orangey brick).

Thoughts?

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The wrought iron railings are a vernacular adaptation that in a way are period appropriate: the house is atomic ranch in the sense of the facade treatment.

Essentially, other than that, its a vernacular house. Change the facade detail, and "poof" its a Colonial Revival ranch. If you look at Levittown brocures of the period you can see an example of this --pick the facade you want and change the character of the house.

So, the MCM houses that Lyfia posted are great, but probably only the last one has any real kinship with this house.

That said, you could probably cut off the curlicue panels on the railings and paint the rest. It could look interesting with a wood panel detail inserted in those spots.

I would also be really careful about "updating" the color scheme. A tricolor scheme is pretty typical of these houses. Remember people once "updated" Victorian houses by removing the trim and painting all the details out in white.

Hey palimpsest are you still there? I found these oringinal exterior paint color ideas on an atomic ranch site, would these be accurate for spuds house? I did not see any examples with homes with spuds brick color.

http://s1004.photobucket.com/albums/af170/jterrilynn/?action=view&current=atomicexteriorpaintcolors-2.jpg"; target="_blank">

A vote to remove the awning -- or really "prune" back the frilly areas. Then paint it all in a dark gray tone from the brick and from the roof color.

Paint the dark brown areas to match the siding.

Re-do the landscaping -- add clumps of tall grasses and larger gray-toned rocks throughout the gardens. Add a VERY modern fountain.

Add cool-and-groovy vintage style seating to the front porch.

Congrats on the home. I love ranches! I would definitely, without question remove the awning. Then, plant a couple of trees in front of the house to filter the sunlight. Add some shrubs and flowers and your place will be even better!