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Improve curb appeal

2 years ago

This house is pretty cool inside but the curb appeal is bad - from the street, all you can really see is the garage. The front door is tucked into an alcove behind the garage. Any suggestions on how to improve the curb appeal without doing a scrape or major remodel?

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Comments (8)

User
2 years ago
last modified: 2 years ago
Can you easily get into the house itself from inside the garage?

Would you be ok with a somewhat more narrow driveway?

Do you own the strip on the left of the driveway?
User
2 years ago
more interesting garage door for starters…

Modern Steel Collection · More Info
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Your house is beautiful as is! The ivy can mess with the mortar so it is probably a good thing the sellers took it down. I think you just need to work on the landscaping — the bushes are too clipped and uniform and short. I think it should loosen up with a more lush English garden style. You might have a trellis built for climbing rose or? There are some good ideas in this story: https://www.houzz.com/magazine/roots-of-style-the-indelible-charm-of-american-tudors-stsetivw-vs~16983798
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@sadkd I know. It always amazes me when I see a yard exposed to a street or of a certain age and there is no landscaping at all. Hang in there. It will happen. At least you're dealing with a blank slate that you don't have to clear out. When I bought my house 20 years ago, that backyard was basically a pine forest with an ivy carpet surrounded by a four foot chain link fence. Six weeks after moving in, there was an ice storm that took out 14 of the pine trees and as they fell, the fence. One of the enormous pine trees hit my roof, breaking the ridge and smashing about 7 rafters. Branches came through the lovely popcorn ceiling inside. While others in the neighborhood were lamenting the storm I was dancing at the thought of fewer trees, new fence, smooth replacement ceilings and a new roof replacing the ugly one that the former owners had put on the prior year to make the house more saleable. Long story to say, at least you don't have to have an ice storm to clear your yard. I paid a landscape architect to draw up a plan for the yard, including the addition of the dry creek to control a water problem. Little by little I did something big every year and now it's lush and mature. Those vines are two $9.99 one gallon plants from Lowes planted about 18 years ago. A good plan (which will change but at least you have something to work toward), patience (smaller plants are cheaper and they grow for free), some elbow grease and as much knowledge as you can gain will get you where you want to go without a big budget. Some of the big stuff you'll have to pay for, like the dry creek, but a lot of it you can do yourself once you've educated yourself on proper planting techniques. See if there is an area garden group on NextDoor (that's where you'd ask) or FaceBook. People love to share ideas, advice and plants. As @Seattle suggests, drought tolerant ground covers and plants are what you need. You can likely find people in your area who are happy to divide what they have (assuming you do the digging, I got beautiful, unique day lilies that way) but sometimes they'll just share. If you want privacy from the road, you can grow drought tolerant shrubbery inside the fence and over time, it will poke its branches out of the fence and you won't see the fence. My neighbor did that and it worked great. All the best to you on this adventure.
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Not sure what to do to improve curb appeal...
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Comments (1)
Don't know where you live but in my area, mosquitos are crazy so I would never give up a screened porch. Some ideas: Paint the frame of the porch white so it stands out. Paint the front door and shutters something brighter so they stand out. Once the framing of the porch is white, then red doors and shutters for example, will be a nice brightening and contrast. Paint the side door the same color as the house so it fades away. Once you do that, then add landscaping that directs a person to the side entrance and put some plants around the side door of the porch to sort of show the path to it. Maybe a pretty seasonal wreath on the door so folks know this is THE door Put bright white wicker furniture on the front porch in a nice seating arrangement maybe with a table with colorful flowers on it or something to pull the eye toward the door. Not sure if that bottom part of the screening is solid or just a cross piece so not sure if that should be painted or not. Playing with paint colors is a lot less difficult that construction. What time should we meet for iced tea?
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Improve curb appeal by adding front porch? What style do you see?
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Comments (5)
wondering if someone WANTED a crafstman style and did the brick work, and never added the roofline? It looks like an overhaul if you want to continue the porch style to include the pillars. It would also require removing the portico overhang that already exists. How much of an investment are you thinking??? If it were mine, and I was replacing shingles, soon, I would replace the roof with a taller pitch. at that time, I'd add the required porch roof to accomodate the existing pillars and create a so called craftsman style. Is it worth the effort and expense??? Is the brickwork stable enough to re use? Something to think about. with all that said, I'd remove the Bricks and build a nice composite deck, create a cute cottage look. You asked.
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reitz02
2 years ago
Maybe have trees trimmed, i have no idea what the house looks like! also think about painting garage door a darker color.
User
2 years ago
last modified: 2 years ago
Grass and pavers driveway could look nice with your house

240 Palm Ave, Miami Beach · More Info

If you take out the driveway and what is to the left of it, you could either exten the lawn into the driveway to create a more dramatic curve — and then swing a very prominent walkway from your front door to around the tree to the driveay

or take out the driveway and also take out the bottom left of the lawn. Be carefal not to enclose the tree in concrete, but create a much more dramatic layout of pavers in the front of the house than defines the path to the front door. This isn’t exactly like your house I realize, but …

Highland Village, Houston-Modern · More Info

I agree with trimming trees and bushes and painting the garage a darker color than the house main body.
Laura Mouse
2 years ago
I wouldn't be surprised if the garage started its life as a carport (the flat roof and the entrance being tucked behind it).

I think a bit of sharpening up of the landscaping will do wonders. Trim the trees so they are a bit neater and edge the lawn to have crisp borders. What is going on to the left of the driveway? It looks dead. Either plant it was some bushes or do something interesting with rocks.

There is a mass of green in front of the house. If there is a window behind it, definitely do whatever it takes (triming branches, triming down the shrubs or replacing whatever that is) to expose the window. If it is just a blank wall, trim the greenery to expose some of the wall, but create interest.

The paint is fine for now, but when it does need painting, consider something a little more distinct. The trees shade things, so that grey looks a little drab. A crisp white or a slightly darker grey would give the house more presence.
adorff
Original Author
2 years ago
It's an old picture. The house was actually just painted a bright yellow! Like crayola yellow. This is a house on the market that I'm interested in, so not my paint color choice.

To the left of the driveway is rocks. The backyard and side yards are all rock as well.

I was thinking maybe a pergola and patio area to the right of the garage to provide some interest and to balance out the garage? Maybe it would make it feel more welcoming?
Laura Mouse
2 years ago
Pergola and patio - where I live, if you have a backyard, you would never use the pergola and patio in the front yard. So, it would seem weird. But, some regions do seem to use their front yards more.

I don't think you really need to add anything to the front yard, but if you did, perhaps more landscaping. A nice garden area with some attractive plants. Since they already have rocks going on, maybe a little bridge over rocks:

Stanford Garden · More Info
acm
2 years ago
Well, right now the garage is prominent and the house is private. You could shift that substantially by trimming back the trees and making a walkway to the front door that's more central in the yard. Just shift the center of gravity of the front to the right. Not a huge issue, but be sure that the road is something to embrace, rather than to be shielded from.

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