curb appeal help
J. F.G.
3 years ago
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exterior design - curb appeal help for a blah ranch house
Comments (12)I knew there is a way to update your beautiful home. Consider spending your limited resources on the front entrance and garage door. FIRST SUGGESTION: 1) Paint the front door, garage surround and window framing (the trim everywhere) a spruce green. (or med brownish green) See the first & second pic. 2) Paint the shutters a butter sand. 3) And now the fun stuff: Add a wood arbor over the front door to focus on a welcoming entrance. Add the same color wood garage door and short arbor as shown in the pic. Continue the same at the back. SECOND SUGGESTION: 1) Paint the front door, garage surround and window framing (the trim everywhere) a blue grey. See the last pic. 2) Paint the shutters a pale grey. 3) And now the fun stuff: Add a wood arbor over the front door to focus on a welcoming entrance. Add the same color wood garage door and short arbor as shown in the pic. Continue the same at the back. (see pic) IMHO I like the first suggestion because it's fresh and new and be a showstopper on your street. The second suggestion is more traditional and sophisticated. After that, we can concentrate on the plantings and landscaping. Hope this helps and please comment on what you think! Suggestion #1 Note the colors: Butter sand for the shutters and brownish green for the garage surround and trim Note the colors: Spruce green, butter sand and arbor. This obviously is a back area but can be adapted to a front entrance. Note Garage door and arbor Suggestion #2: Note colors: Blue grey and pale grey and black window frames and garage trim around wood door...See MoreChaotic curb 'appeal' help needed!
Comments (16)Thank you for all the input, everyone! Looks like our best bet is to leave the structure of things alone and hope that paint makes some of the eyesores less sore. Landscaping will make a huge difference, too, and we're planning to spend a lot there. The front door is actually a mess when you look closely - hard to tell from the photo, but my husband and I who are 5'11 and 6'1 have to almost duck to get through it. It's much wider than it is tall, and I can't imagine where it would work. A fancy playhouse, maybe? 😜 We'll have to replace it anyway, so we're prepared to invest a chunk of budget there. As for reducing concrete, it's possible but would require regrading the hill to the side of the house. The concrete you see is a circular driveway, and it's the only place for guests to pull off the street. there's a narrow driveway that drives around to the garage, but it's really small already, and wouldn't be enough on its own. To eliminate the circular driveway, we'd have to widen the driveway that goes around back and create some space that way. Our house is in the country on some acreage, so theres room to do this, but the house is on a high point and the rest of the land drops off before leveling out again. I suspect that's why the driveway is the way it is now. May be a future project! I'm attaching a photo of the house with the faux windows circled....See MoreCurb appeal help please
Comments (15)Hi Melissa c- I like your shutters. If they don't need painting, I would leave them alone and save the money to use on something else. I think the front of the house could be improved by putting something over the front door. I am not sure what, maybe a portico. If it could be something that sticks out a bit to protect from the rain, that would be great. if not, then just something for looks. What color is your front door? If it is wood, then leave it that way. If it is painted red, I might change it. Larger light fixtures might be nice. And big brass house numbers to the left of the front door. I love, love window boxes. Some people hate them. I don't know your climate and the exposure of the front of your house. Before you decide, think about whether you are willing to water the boxes upstairs. With the blue shutters, depending on your tastes, you can choose foliage that is variegated like coleus, tradescantia, plectranthrus and intersperse flowering plants. Or go for something like ornamental cabbage. If window boxes are not you thing, I would really buff up the area in front of your house with some great bushes. I am crazy for things in colors of purple, blue, pink and white, and that attract butterflies and hummingbirds like lilac, buddleia, hydrangea, salvia, passiflora, ipomoea, morning glory, jasmine, nicotiana, foxglove. I would get some solid perennials and supplement with annuals for color and things you can cut and bring in for your vases. Maybe some things you can sow by seed easily like cosmos. Drape a string netting against the bush and sow sweet pea, they grow so easily and smell lovely, and not too strong. If you have lots of money, maybe you can build a little sitting area, maybe even a pergola. Then perfect your sweet tea and muffins because the neighbors will come running....See MoreCurb appeal help for older character home
Comments (14)I think we're all focusing on the sidewalk right now because it's the strongest visual element in the current landscape. Choose a design similar to Doug's that gives you something interesting to look at from inside your home. When planting beds and a couple of trees are added, you'll hardly notice the sidewalk. My real concern here is why the dog didn't face the camera when his portrait was snapped....See MoreJ. F.G.
3 years agoJ. F.G.
3 years agoJuli
3 years agohoussaon
3 years agoOlychick
3 years agolast modified: 3 years ago
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