It’s a lovely home but needs a new very light creamy color. As is, it looks like a dull yellow or tan. What color is the roof? Will it change? No pergola for this sophisticated home. Look at new wood garage doors and a front door to blend with them; not too dark. Your current front door looks like a black hole. New large outdoor lighting on the house near the front door and garage door. Toss all those cheap foofoo decor items in the landscape. One quality item is much better than 25 cheap items. Perhaps a stone fountain in front of the arch on the left? (Though I really can’t figure out what a shower on the inside of the house has to do with the outside of the house.)

It reminds me of a modernist view of a pure art deco style. But it is modern already, so to give it some life think about styling it with planters. How do you feel about the one pot with what I am hoping is a real plant? You could continue with more of that style to keep in line with a lineal style, or if you would like to soften the strong lines - you could repeat the pot style but plant with draping plants. You could stay with greens, or go with colour. The upstairs balcony area (?) - remove the grill that seems to be left there and you could again place planter in the “windows” echoing what you select for the lower area. Oh, and either give the front door a wash down or repaint.

The first thing I do when we buy a house is buy a notebook, a tape measure, and blue painter’s tape. I devote two pages at least to each room and label the pages. Before we even move, I start listing ideas I have for the house. Example: blue and cream rug, brass lamp…living room; striped rug, drop leaf table…entry; the bedding from the linen shop downtown, bedside tables with drawers…our bedroom…….. on these pages I also list the basic colors I think I want and drill down to the exact paint chip color I think I want. Then I wait. There is no rush. If you start ordering random furniture and accessories before you move, the sizes might be out of scale or the colors clash with the existing flooring, sunlight, etc. you already have a sofa-move it in and you have a place to sit while you plan the other family space. Buy your bedding before you decide paint. They can mix paint colors to match or compliment, but once you paint the walls, you are confined to trying to find something that “goes”. I have always found that my wants and ideas morph as we live in the new house. In our previous house, the center hall entry had wide openings into the dining room on one side and the library on the other. Dining room-blue, entry-red, library-green. The colors were perfect together. Unfortunately, when I started the green, a rich, deep Williamsburg BM color, it was horrid. I ran down to the paint store, told the owner the problem, and he asked a couple questions. “Easy fix”, he said. Two squirts of black corrected the color so all three rooms completely complimented the others. This notebook still has the formula for the custom paint mix. Now, as each room is painted, I ask for a second sticky label like they put on the can. This second label goes in my notebook on the room’s page.

I hadn't thought about the door colors - great idea! Yes, the front is the only side we want to change. The other sides aren't visible from the street. We will probably add windows to the other sides at some point, but for now we want the big blank space to be more interesting. Maybe two or three windows that are taller than they are wide? Or some light fixtures?