Hi all, we are renovating our new (to us) 1950s ranch home in Southern California. This house is lovely on the inside and has retained much of its original character, but the outside is fairly dilapidated and in need of upgrades. We'll be redoing everything--roof, exterior paint, landscaping--so it's essentially a blank slate. That all said, with so many options we're at a loss of which direction we should go!

A few things to consider: the roof is very prominent, so we're thinking of doing a light color to make it less heavy, such as a light gray or tan. The house is also an unfortunate "snout-house" shape with the huge garage, so we want to landscape with emphasis on the porch-side of the house to draw the eye in that direction. Landscaping will be drought-tolerant grasses and colorful native CA plants. Lastly, the front door doesn't face the curb at all, so my original dream of having a neutral house with a bold front door is pretty much out. We'll still paint the door a fun color, but it won't have the sort of splashy vintage/modern curb appeal that we were hoping for. (Also, the basketball hoop is gone, thankfully.)

Front runners are tan roof with blueish-gray paint, or a gray roof with sage green. Trim will be bright white, and the window awning will be removed. But we are totally open to all ideas and we'd love to hear your thoughts about how to give this little home some presence.