How would you paint our exterior - and improve the look?
We are excited to have just bought our first home!
I wanted to get the wonderful Houzz community's suggestion on how to improve the exterior.
What we are planning already:
A. To paint the bricks white. I love the crisp look painted white brick provides.
B. Get rid of the yellow color of the door and mailbox
What we would love ideas on:
1. What accent colors to paint the window trim, door and small amount of siding.
2. Do you suggest we paint all of the above the same color? What color(s) do you think would look nice, considering the existing color of the roof, [soon to be white] brick and greenery.
3. Do you have any other [cost effective!] improvements to suggest to the front (e.g. potted plants, other ways to add texture/height variance, etc?)
Any advice, big or small, means a lot to us first-time homeowners!
Comments (11)
morz8 - Washington Coast
2 years agolast modified: 2 years agoYoni Harris thanked morz8 - Washington CoastRelated Discussions
1960's Colonial Exterior Remodel - How would you update this look?
Comments (13)Use the budget now to put get a landscape plan, and plan the trees and shrubs as soon as you can in your climate. The trees and shrubs are the only improvement that gets better (larger) every year on its own, so it's the first thing that should go in. You already have a good start although you may prefer a more natural look in your shrubs, rather than those clipped ball shapes. Hardscape (walkways etc.) can go in after the plants. Nice house. Is it brick all around or just at the front? I'm not a fan of the white bricks in your mix. I would paint or stain them a darker color to blend in. Your garage should be a color closer to the brick. If the front door is wood, don't paint it....See MoreWhat Exterior Paint Colors would you choose for our house?
Comments (3)I would not paint the brick. You take a no maintenance product and turn it into a long term maintenance issue. Deco has a good idea of beefing up the columns. If a new front door is not in the budget then paint the one you have and add a POP of color to the front of the house, drawing the eye to the entrance. None of your windows are appropriate for shutters. They would have to be so wide to cover the windows that they would not look right. If you're going to use white then use one color of white for the trim and the windows. If you use two different whites the one on the trim is going to end up looking dingy when seen with the windows. Your shingles are a brown so I would stay away from black. You could paint the trim taupe (brown/gray), sage green, etc. and leave the windows white. If you wanted to do a porch rail I would paint it the same color as the trim. New landscaping would of course also help. If you're interested in seeing some virtual makeovers of your house check out my web site, Creative Visual Concepts....See Morewhat can we do to improve the exterior of our house?
Comments (21)you'd have to do some samples, but you could do a darker charcoal that leans toward brown. I do like the lime wash look, but your home is more mcm so I'd do a solid color. I would totally go with the med century vibe of your home and run with it. Unless you think a neutral charcoal color (like in the pics) would work w/your roof. look at this one! it's similar to yours. (notice the porch post size) This is more of a deep charcoal brown like some of the following shades. I'm loving the stone pathway, the light, and the 3 colors they used here. and here is one w/lighter brown tones (with that natural cedar/redwood accents). I put your home in this picture so you can imagine how these colors would look w/your home. so these are darker charcoal tones that lean on the brown side. (And don't forget, in bright sunlight darker colors will look lighter. But don't be afraid to do some testing samples too!) Black Fox is another one, but any of these other 4 on this palette could work: very dark charcoal, almost black, with bluer undertones. If it's possible to do the slat wood around your front door, on the porch area, I think it would look great love your door, your pendant and your address plaque! I'd think about bringing in a larger, more modern post where your downspout is. just look at the painted brick (Romabio) and the porch post. this look is a farmhouse Ranch, not the mcm of your home. this one has a metal roof too. notice the porch post. maybe do something like this in either a darker wood or a white. you can DIY it w/a vinyl wrap Or, look at how they did these posts. Perfect for the look of your house. Get a cool door knob like they have on their door! and notice the charcoal color vertical slats. also an idea.(I like this porch post for your home) this is also Romabio, but I wanted you to see how they did the flower bed. you could easily do this under your windows. low maintenance and an easy/cheap DIY You could also use the brown or black mulch if you can't do the pebble rock but the black mulch or pebble rock looks really cool, especially against the slat wood! this is so cool looking With your large windows in front, this would look really cool...See MoreWhich floorplan layout do you prefer and how would you improve?
Comments (18)@Diana Bier Thank you for so many thoughtful notes The house is in NJ and is an existing structure. We are blowing out back to add square footage but cannot widen much (even if we got a variance) so not worth it. Cannot change entry to side of garage.. we do not have that much land. The plans are rough until we choose which general layout we really want to go with.. Plan A The sink in dining room is little nook for wet bar but I would definitely not do that. Don't need a family room and living room but that is generally style with houses here in NJ.. a family room off the kitchen area.. We could definitely do sliders for any closet doors.. I actually have no idea what that square is at the end of the hallway but would extend laundry if we chose that general layout to make closet perhaps.. Plan B I agree, my main issue is that door to stairs is tight - so to add entry space would get rid of that "wine room" to push hall closet there and then have the stairs push back maybe 3-4 ft Agreed, worried dining room may be too small.. would be nice to have table for eight And there would be no change in level on either plan (that was from early plan where they were not going to elevate 2nd floor and excavate out basement below but that's all changed)...See More
Catrina Alister
2 years ago
PROHALLETT & Co.
2 years ago
K Laurence
2 years ago- PRO
Patricia Colwell Consulting
2 years agoI agree the trim dark will be great . IMO the fastest way to devalue your house is to paint the brick and in this case a huge mistake for sure .This is anice ranch and this is one of my faves for inspiration for landscaping a ranch IMO a much more modern mailbox for sure .
Kate
2 years ago
Jilly
2 years agolast modified: 2 years agoGorgeous Live Oaks! Congratulations on your first house. :)
I wouldn’t paint this brick, I think you could make other updates. As mentioned, it really looks nice and natural among the pretty trees and setting.
I most definitely wouldn’t add ultra-MCM features to this house/yard. I’m guessing it was built in the late ’70s to early ’80s? Texas?
If you do paint it, I’d keep the other elements somewhat traditional in keeping with the era of this home.
This one is a bit more modern and trendy, but I think looks nice. (I wouldn't have done the uber-trendy barn lights.)
Celery. Visualization, Rendering images