Ok - I'm back, and hoping to pick your brains once again... While at a thrift store this week I stumbled across a sofa for $75 and am seriously thinking of getting it for our new home. I have it on hold now, but am wanting some opinions as to whether you think it is a style that would look well in our new living room (and what is this style of sofa actually called, BTW?), and if so, what type of chairs, rug and draperies would best go with it? My brother is inheriting almost all of my Mom's living room furniture, so, other than a vintage Indian brass coffee table of hers, I will pretty much have a blank palette to start with in that area. The sofa is in almost pristine condition - just a little piping trim on the lower part coming loose, which I'm sure can be re-glued, and a very, very slight fading on the upper rear part of the back cushions, where the sun reached. I am assuming the good condition of the sofa is due to the fact that it apparently had a slipcover on it at some point - which also is in awesome condition and was included in the price of the sofa. The sofa is a greenish-yellow pattern. Here are a couple of pics of the sofa (please excuse the photo quality and that lump of fabric piled on the sofa, which actually is the extra slipcover.) And although this isn't the actual coffee table I might pair with it, it is practically identical: This post was edited by dianelu on Sat, Jun 29, 13 at 23:33

Keep the stucco, definitely - yeah it does require some occasional maintenance every ... oh, half a century or so... but it really is a quality item. Either patch and repaint, but make it an earthier color that realates better to roof and brick chimney - eg if green, a browner/richer/earthier shade of green. Or if you are resurfacing entire house, they can color the stucco itself to leave you with a more maintenance free surface that has a more of a natural masonry pebbly surface that can be VERY attractive. Im curious do you know what the original color or finish was? Not that you have to replicate it, but it can be helpful to inform you what the original intention was and look up pictures of other stucco houses of that era - could be Im way off about my inclination toward earthier colors for stucco. Your houses era/style, midcentury modern, is very fashionable these days and in fact a lot of contemporary architecture and home furnishings replicate or are inspired by that era.... so you really cant go wrong by remaining true to that style. You say "modernize" but IMHO, getting houses back to their roots and making changes that are harmonious with and true to the original design esthetic is usually the best choice. That in itself will make your house look totally refreshed and "new." Actually I cant see any sign of swirl marks in the photo - I don't think changing that would have nearly as much impact as repairing the surface & refreshing the color. BTW, I do agree with above posters that it is a very attractive house as is!

Awww I hope you keep the blue gazing ball - every garden benefits I think from at least one whimsical or kitschy piece! I like the red of the brick - it looks like a true brick red at least on my monitor. You might try scraping some paint on the siding to see what the original color was - just FYI, not that you want to use the same color. I was looking at these in the paint store other day - & thought there was something sweetly vintage and evocative of the 50s about them- maybe one of the beigy ones would tie red brick and stoney taupe together a little better: https://www.ppgvoiceofcolor.com/collections/frank-lloyd-wright/1955-taliesin-color-palette Actually what is that stoney looking piece - is it real? Is repeated elsewhere on the house? What color is the roof? If its blue (kinda looks like it?) and not changing then that would have to be considered somehow - whether that means changing/colorwashing the taupey stone parts to get it more harmonious wtih blue-gray, I dunno.

I think the inexpensive fix to what irks you would be to paint the siding a color close to the brick, OR whitewash the brick and paint the siding a matching creamy white and plant ivy to clamber up both. I quite like the proportions of the house. There's something federalist about its boxiness. The lack of a porch or portico doesn't bother me at all, because that's how historic American houses were. I'd go with Doug's basic concept.