Hi there!

We need to replace the siding for our 1950s Levittown Cape Cod soon. I'd greatly appreciate your advice on the sidings. Our vision is to add more dimensional interest, textures, and layers to the front of the house, and avoid the horizonal siding from top to toe. Sharing with you the current photo of the house and what we envision.

Our challenge: We need the siding in the front replaced now and would like to plan accordingly to the front porch/ entryway addition projects in the distant future.

Context: The roof and windows are new and will not be replaced anytime soon.

Our future plans: 1.) add an entry way, 2.) move the front door further out & make it front-facing, and 3.) add a small front porch.

We’d like to add an entryway to the left of the picture (where the yellow arrow is) and have a front door that faces the front yard instead (the red rectangle). The addition will provide a landing area and a coat closet, something that’s lacking now. Like many Levittown homes, our front door is on the side. When you enter the house, the chimney is right in front of you, dividing the kitchen and the dining room (and preventing the natural light that comes in through the kitchen window from entering the dining room). The kitchen is on your right (facing the front yard) and the dining room is on your left.

The small front porch (green lines) with an angled top to mimic the angles of the existing main roof, we think, will add more depth to the house and make the overly large triangle top section of the house look more proportional. To make the right section (of the photo, where the two windows are) more proportional to the opposite side, we think about adding a strip of a horizon overhang (where the black rectangle is) to continue the existing short overhang making it feel more connected to the front porch. Perhaps, adding a brick façade to the bottom (brown rectangles) for texture.

What are your thoughts? If all the above is a good design plan, what siding will be the best design option? Will mixing two different kinds of siding (e.g. shingles on top and vertical/horizonal at the bottom) OR mixing two colors work better? Will having just wide vertical siding be visually pleasant? Any color suggestions? (We like dark gray and navy!)

- Would you shingle the horizon overhang with the same roof shingles? What if it’s metal?

- What materials/style would you choose for the front porch posts?

- Would you go with the brick bottoms? Any alternatives?

- Would you add window shutters or a window box?

***Most importantly, if you have other ideas on how to tackle this, please share! We would greatly appreciate it. Thanks so much!***