We live 6 blocks from the beach in a small SoCal town and are finally getting around to painting the original exterior from when we first bought our house! Any advice on exterior colors would be appreciated. Going for a laid back, beach style look. Thank you in advance!

Our landscaping company did our lighting. They had loads of options, but we kept it simple. All low voltage, with a large enough transformer that we can always add more. LED's integrated into the retaining wall, and stairs are set to come on at dusk.

Thank you. I appreciate the color ideas! We are looking to change the deck color as well. Roof is black - if you can’t see it. A side note - those small shrubs are newer Next project will be landscaping, but one thing at a time.

Nice place; great potential. Have you consider creating at least one short (<4') retaining wall to create a level place directly in front of the left wing of the house? Could it be done in a way to create a need for less steps from your front porch? Otherwise ... Because I am prejudiced in favor of usable porches. I 'd want to start at the chimney and create an 8' deep deck over the garage entry and wrapping all the way around to the left front corner of the right wing of the house and then continue the same floor level all the way to the left corner of the left wing of the house with a shed roof front porch roof with a forward facing gable over the entry door above the top of your front steps You could always add a roof over the deck later, extending the porch roof over the entry. Put a hip corner in the porch roof on that left side.. Consider having the left side of the porch even extend beyond that left corner of the house by 4' or even 8' and wrap around the corner enabling you to easily add steps toward the back yard -- or even a wheelchair./baby carriage ramp aimed at the back of the yard if this is to be your forever home. I would definitely NOT cut/scar the front yard with a sidewalk straight forward across/thru the front of the yard. I'd begin the landscaping by leveling a place along side the driveway beginning at the garage all the way to the road and put a sidewalk there. I'd add a retaining wall above the sidewalk -- taller (4' or so) near the garage -- and where I transitioned from the taller retaining wall to a shorter retaining wall on the road side of the lot, I'd have the sidewalk create a "C" curve from the beside-the-driveway sidewalk to the front porch steps, with NO steps in that sidewalk. Between the "C" sidewalk leading to the porch and the road, you'd only need a shorter retaining wall above the sidewalk to keep the dirt off the sidewalk. You could curve it just before you get to the road to create a level walk space behind your mailbox and create a planting area as the wall ends. Even if you don't extend the porch/deck around the right three story part of the house, the rest of the above should work. If you do add that extended porch/deck, you could also add steps leading to it from the driveway/garage with the steps aimed at the back yard from the deck/porch beside the chimney.