HELP!! Front of dated 50's House needs make over
Hi,
My wife and I are in the middle of a home renovation and we need some advice on the makeover for the front of the house. I have attached pictures of the current front of the house, which includes the new gabled roof. What I really need is suggestions on color schemes and materials for railing, posts and front porch/steps that will make things pop and anything else that might work for this house. I've heard different things about painting brick. I originally thought painting it would give it a fresh look, but now I 'm not so sure it is the right thing to do. Any thoughts there would be appreciated. In addition to what you see in the front, we will have vinyl siding in the back that will need to blend in.
The pictures are as follows-
1) street view of front of house
2) close up of garage, which is barley visible in the right side of picture 1. The same stone is used on porch
3) shingles, currently on garage. Plan is to use same shingles on roof of house
4) vinynl sample from contractor.
Thanks!!!
Comments (34)
houssaon
5 years agolast modified: 5 years agoI would do one of the tans to pick up on the stonework. Trim in white. Avoid the dark colors, the yellow undertones, the green undertones and the gray, which would compete with the gray in the roof. I would not go light because the gable will become too dominant. There are three I like I circled in green. The ones I think you should avoid are marked in red. All the others I'm not sure about. Of course, what you can see in person has to be the real judge, since I am working with photos and my computer's interpretation of those colors.
Good luck.
When you get around to landscaping, Plant a variety of taller shrubs right in front of the porch and clear out some of the shrubs on the left of the house that seem to be hiding lower story windows.
Don't paint the brick. It is a nice color. Why turn it into a chore and unnecessary expense?
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Comments (31)Make the walkway to your front door straight to the sidewalk. The way it is now, it visually looks like the door with the wreath is the secondary doot. Make the other walkway go to the driveway. Flank the one to the door with low-growing plants. Hostas are good if you have shade, lavender for sun. You fix the off-center window by putting something taller under it. Or a climber on the trellis (which should cover up some of the brick you don't like). I had a Camellia close to the house years ago. But a climbing rose would be nice, too. You'd need to measure. You want to avoid symmetrical designs, like Dig Doug gave you. That will draw attention to the lack of symmetry in the window. I'm not good with photoshop, so I'm not going to draw anything up. Another option is to put large house numbers in the space next to the window. If you do this before fixing the walkways, you're just putting another indicator that the wrong door is the right one. But if the right door was the only one with a path to the sidewalk and emphasized with flanking planting, the number placement would be okay. You can also put a larger tree out closer to the sidewalk, which would cover the wider spot next to the window. For example, if you didn't take our advice on the walkways, and you planted something like a weeping cherry in the V between the two walkways, most views of your house would have the off-centeredness not noticeable. A cottagey garden always looks great and makes any house look better. I like the brick. The thing I've noticed about homes and homeowners is that sometimes they just focus on something and hate it. If it's hard to change, just learn to like it. All houses have their plus points and their negatives. Focus on what you love about your house, not what your don't like. My take is aging walkways, no garden or foundation plantings, too much exposed concrete, and a lawn that could use some help are the areas preventing your house from looking lovely....See MoreDated Front of House, Ugly Shrubs Need Major Update
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5 years ago
Jennifer Canel
5 years agowarden261
5 years agowarden261
5 years agoLee Baer
5 years agohoussaon
5 years agoHere is a mock up of the gray - top row, third column. Hold off on painting the house until all the work is done.
sheloveslayouts
5 years agolast modified: 5 years ago
PRORL Relocation LLC
5 years ago- PROwarden261 thanked RL Relocation LLC
Pugga70
5 years ago
greenfish1234
5 years agoOk...
wrong:
right^^
you (please forgive my limited skilz)-stone steps too, New door or at least door color, beefier porch support beams
warden261 thanked greenfish1234greenfish1234
5 years ago
Bette P
5 years agohoussaon
5 years ago- PRO
RL Relocation LLC
5 years ago warden261
5 years agowarden261
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5 years ago
larkspurproject
5 years ago
Dig Doug's Designs