You can try to nudge it in another style, but it will be very, very expensive and probably won't look too convincing. You'll need to decide if you want to sink that kind of money into your house or move.

That said, you'd probably have better luck nudging towards a more colonial look or perhaps a farmhouse. I too have faux colonial, a 70s tract home. Yours has good proportions actually, much better than mine does. We spent a lot of money making our house more attractive -- only semi-successful, but we're much happier. No regrets.

It wouldn't be too hard to make your house more stylish. Trim banding, prettier garage doors, a beautiful entry door with sidelights, and lighting. You could bump the entry door forward to make a more attractive entry or close the entry porch in with beautiful windows to make a vestibule. And while we're daydreaming, add a sun porch to extend the length of the house.

The problem with your house, like mine, is that flat pitched roof. Your craftsman examples have lovely roof lines: steeper pitches or hip roofs, and wide eaves. You could blow a fortune trying to fix the roof line, but it's not worth the expense, IMO.

I'd love a covered porch of some kind, but probably not in the cards unless we get an unexpected windfall.

This has most of my ideas. I could also see going with a 2 divided light (or more) up top of the windows if 3 lights are too craftsman iconic. But I just don't want to go with a colonial grid, it is what my eye goes to rather than outside. Narrow black shutters to keep the colonial spirit going might work.

I could see going in the following color combination or something similar. It was hard to mess with it much in the above pic, lightening up the brown kept making it pinkish, lol.

I agree that the low roof pitch makes things difficult, but maybe the lines of metal roofing would make it look a bit steeper?

I love the idea of the new door, btw, but not sure there is budget/space for a major door change. Though it does lose air too, sigh.

I can't see anything about your house that needs improving. The craftsman houses that I have seen all have a wide long porch. The columns are bulky but they fit the porch size. I don't think a craftsman column will ever look good on your stoop. Adding window trim seems possible. Shingles might look nice on your garage. Landscaping could make a difference as well.

If you can afford anything close to your pictures--seems like a full across the front porch would not be MORE..should be less. Other than a full porch and some cosmetic things like paint I am seeing a very welcoming design.

We have an 80's colonial too with similar goals for updating the siding and so on. Not sure about changing the style to craftsman, but farmhouse absolutely. We've been moving in that direction and so far we've been happy with the results.

You could do something similar to our house by extending the overhang of the door across the lower window to create a front porch; you could even extend the overhang to the side for a wrap around. Since I took this picture, we've installed a bed under the left window and power washed which cleaned the aluminum up a lot. We also just painted the shutters. Next year we have plans to install a flower bed in front of the porch and start replacing the windows, garage door etc.

I can't do the mock ups on my ipad, but here's an example on an similar house to yours with the wrap around.

I like most of your ideas, but not the idea of the 3-pane window top. If it were my house, I would skip the window bump-out in favor of a larger porch. That smallish overhang over the door is the only thing I don't like about your house.

So a couple things went into nixing the full porch idea on our part. (Not being argumentative, it is a good idea, but we all like to discuss house ideas, right? It is why we're here.)

If we did one, we'd want a full on wide southern porch with ceiling fans, etc. It would be expensive and block the light coming into the windows unless we put in a skylight ... which would be more expensive. Plus, we'd have to find a general contractor to handle the permits and such, maybe an architect because we'd have to figure out how to work the wider porch into the roof line, merge it into the garage, etc. And general contractors are hard to find and schedule in my area ... A lot of people are scheduled months and months out. And architects mostly don't want small projects. They want x percent of $100k projects.

And then if we had a new wide southern porch, why not screen it in. Mosquitos keep us from using it a lot of the year. Then why not make it 4 season .. and we've spent 50k. We pretty much decided if we ever add on, it'll be a more private, elaborate porch in the back. Maybe in 15 years after our kids are gone and educated.

Whereas, there are a lot of window companies looking for business. And I'm already spending money on windows because our current ones are junky. The independent guys who could handle the framing I want are more in demand, but it is a simpler process, especially permit wise.

My husband and I could diy the columns.

My line of thinking is that if we are already spending x amount updating roofing, gutters and windows, why not spend something more to go in a cosmetic direction we like? Instead of putting all that money into recreating an older design we don't like while just picking better colors.

I completely understand your thought process. It is difficult and expensive to get an architect involved in a small project. One concern I have is that having a bumped-out garage, the porch (obviously) extending out, and then the bumped out window could result in a disjointed look across the front of the house.

'I like most of your ideas, but not the idea of the 3-pane window top.'

Do you think this is a better look? Since I'm dead set against full colonial.

When you replace your roof how about re doing your porch over hang to echo the peak in the garage roof? The extra height combined with beefier posts will open up your entry and make it more inviting. You could also re work the concrete pad and do a graceful, rounded slate or brick entrance.

Heh. Now I'm back to daydreaming about a bigger porch. Isn't this pretty? (I'd want square, not round columns though. Look how it kills the light though ... we are shady in the summer, but in the winter all the sun through the front windows is welcome.

Hmmm ... that is an interesting idea deee ... if we left it open raftered, there might be room to hang a centered ceiling light too. Or even just a Moravian star in the holiday season. I have regularly bemoaned not having a tall enough porch to hang one since we've been here. ;)

Mine couldn't be that steep, but that certainly is pretty ... Hmmm. And the new roof line would be much improved, I think.

I think that when faced with a house style we don't love, it's easier to think in terms of big changes to a style we are attracted to rather than tweaking what is already there so it is more appealing. Does that make sense? You could spend a lot of money to make it more craftsman or farmhouse like, but it will always be a colonial revival. I think if it's taken in new direction, it won't be entirely successful. I do think it will look like it's playing dress up. That doesn't mean you have to go full on colonial either. It's a pretty house that just needs some love and freshening up.

You said have to change the roof, windows, and paint for maintenance. Those things alone will have a huge impact on the way the house looks, because right now, it's very 80s. Don't underestimate how much better it will look with updated colors. Here are some other pretty minor tweaks that I think would have a dramatic impact:

• Paint the garage doors the body color of the house to make them blend and visually recede a bit
• Paint that downspout by the door the body color of the house
• Remove the thing above the garage door (is that a light? if so, choose a larger one)
• Build up the column
• Swap out the front door and paint it a bright, welcoming color
• Add potted flowers and an oversized welcome mat to the front door area to make it welcoming and cheerful.
• Trim the tree/bush to the right of the garage to take the height down some. Otherwise it will compete with the front door as a focal point.
• Redo the foundation plants on right side of the house. A small tree to the right of the downstairs window will help anchor that side and balance with the garage. Remove the scalloped bed liner.
• Remove the shutters from the downstairs window and consider replacing the upstairs shutters with working shutters or shutters you really like, nothing ye old colonial, just something that you like. If you like the ones you have, reuse them.

I do think these simple things could have a tremendous impact on the way your house looks. These are fairly low cost ideas and things you'll be doing anyways. You can always live with it a while and decide to tweak it further later.

4 over 1 window sashes look fine. Or no muntins at all, just one pane per sash.

True, prettybluehouse. But if I were to change the roof line on the porch, I wouldn't want to do that after the roofing was done. And I'm not going to frame out a bumpout after I've replaced the window. Etc.

The other reason for the bumpout window ideas is to make the room inside seem airier. We just have 8 ft ceilings. Decent sized living/dining room, but they are divided by a huge immovable bulkhead. I hoped bumping out a window might help a bit. But I could do a barebones bump out in the dining room, I want to turn that area into a window seat anyway.

[https://www.houzz.com/discussions/80s-colonial-needs-curb-appeal-dsvw-vd~126828[(https://www.houzz.com/discussions/80s-colonial-needs-curb-appeal-dsvw-vd~126828) This has some ideas I'm pondering too for anyone with the same issues.

Here is the most embarrassing photo shop ever. I couldn't find any examples on line so I made my own terrible one. It only took a few minutes, as you an tell.

No, it gets the point across! Thank you for putting the time in.

Hmm ... Looking over this renovation's pics, which has some of the ideas tossed around here: http://notquiteateardown.blogspot.com/

I'm not quite sure they achieved craftsman, but they wound up with updated and attractive. (IMO.) Not dress-up, but maybe not entirely cohesive either. Of course, changing an exterior is easier when you are already adding a 2nd floor. Other opinions?

And y'all are thinking 'obsessed much, lady.' ;)

This is contrasting paint. Took out the siding change, simpler window change (something that worked with the 4 above style. I think it would be ok with the original porch too if I kept it simple. The dark color below might be more of the dark gray/charcoal rather than the chocolate brown in the pic.

Oh, that pic is lovely awm03. Such awesome mocking up skills! And nice windows on your house, too. I love how well it all suits its position on a hill.

I was wondering if you would be interested in a two toned siding job to break up the box. We could play around with that idea.

Those big windows on my house: they look like gaping holes, but we decided you live IN the house, not on the outside. They are delightful from the inside, even if they aren't well proportioned looking at them from the outside.

Yeah, painting that bottom section feels less stressful too because I could do that myself (and change it if it didn't work). But the 2nd story stuff I have to hire someone for. I see a two tone ideabook coming my way soon. Ah well, have to take a break from this for a while.

I know these blues aren't your color choices. It's just an example of dark color on top, light on the bottom, just to see how that would look:

Awm's mockup is lovely! Nicely done! The 1960-70s eagle above the garage could move to the inside, but I would keep it somewhere just as a throwback to its era. They were so popular back then.

i think I bring the garage door color closer to the house color, or consider a wood or wood-look steel door.

for the windows, I just don't think the craftsman-style panes, with three up high, works. It's still a colonial house, and while some style adjustments seem to work, that one goes just too far. Also, would they still be double-hung? Or casement? But 4-over-1 double-hung, looks good.

dont go smaller with your shutters. Either have the same size you have now, or go with the beefier trim.

(and to awm, your front door is wonderful.)

It's an 80s colonial you could shove easily into "semi-farmhouse" territory.

Keep the shutters.

Paint the garage doors to match the siding to make them less visible.

Add a full-width wide porch, maybe a wrapped porch (you have plenty of room for it) with a nice railing and room for some chairs. Landscape well out into the grassy area to add importance, using a mix of suitable perennials, evergreens and deciduous shrubs. (whatever grows well in your area)

Just a word of caution on the window bump out idea. We have a bump out box bay window in our dining room (northern exposure) and it does not allow more light to stream in. If it's a regular bay with 3 windows, that's a different story and you might get more light. Just some food for thought.

I don't think you've priced how much a whole new metal roof and new (good) windows really cost if you think adding a porch is too expensive! And the wraparound porch would add more (appropriate) character to the home.

I have a pretty good idea of the price of windows. 8k cheap - 20k mid/expensive. And the roof would be about 7k shingles and (not entirely sure yet) but I think around 10-11k metal. Gutters will be what we put into them. But we need and will use windows and a new roof and a painted house. I mean, it will take a while to pay back in heating costs, but in the winter sitting by the front window, there is a gusty cold zone. And I'm in a mid-atlantic area, I'm not going to start covering my windows in plastic like my VT relatives!

But the porch would just be cosmetic unless we actually put enough into it that we would actually use it. Heating, cooling, more windows, bug protection, lighting, finishes. And I'd rather have that someday in the far future if we ever choose to invest in it in the back of the house which is very private.

Believe me, I know, before we even closed I had mocked up this but we tabled the idea after much discussion:

And the typical simple extended porch you'd see with with a colonial doesn't excite me either. Sure it might not be that expensive, but why should I invest in turning 'bleh' (to me) into 'that's ok.' I'd rather invest in something I really like. I'm not investing in curb appeal for future buyers, but in my own home satisfaction.

But if you're going to sink money into a house, better to address the utilitarian components first: windows to better moderate the interior climate, a sound roof to prevent water ingress. A wrap around porch, though pretty, isn't as important. And it blocks light.

Hmmm ... I'm looking at pics in this article: http://www.thisoldhouse.com/toh/photos/0,,20721634,00.html

Plenty of those colonials didn't have shutters, or added bumpouts or bays, or differing decorative elements. It just seems to be a matter of balancing it.