Help! No curb appeal, no front door
Help with curb appeal! The front door is on the left side of the house. How do we make this look nicer?
Comments (15)
Alicia
2 years ago
KW PNW Z8
2 years agoRelated Discussions
Please help with Front Door and Curb Appeal
Comments (34)I can totally relate to your situation. We bought a retirement home five years ago, just one month before the real estate market started to collapse. We still had our other home and thought we would have no problem selling it. We were anxious to get all the "equity" we had in the first house. Now we can't sell either home. We don't want to get into the "renting" business either, but we have no choice. My suggestions to you is forget any flowers since you live out of state and can't take care of them. I would paint the front door a "brick red", almost like a burgundy. I would not paint the garage doors, take down any shutters or do any more work. If that is grime on the siding, I would get the house pressure washed. Anyone that buys it will know it is a fixer upper. I know from personal experience, as we sunk a lot of money into our first house ...new stove, new countertops, new cabinet hardware, had the entire house painted, had the porch steps ripped out and redone...believe me, any $$$ you spend (except getting rid of the pink door, lol) is going to be a waste of time and money. The market is bad and no amount of expensive repairs, color changes, is going to change that. It's definitely a buyer's market, not a seller's market. Chispa is right on the money! What WILL change it is lowering the price. We chose not to lower our price because the house we moved out of is a better house than the one we moved too. We couldn't get anymore for it than what we pay for the "downsized" house. It's really sad the market is so bad, but if you and your husband don't mind waiting, you may be able to get a little closer to the price you want, but don't count on it. By the way, our first house we tried to sell is on three beautiful acres, close to shopping, close to the interstate...none of that accounts for anything in a bad market. I wish you the best of luck!...See MoreFront door colour help - slow but steady improvements to curb appeal
Comments (18)jck910 - the storm door was both black and white, and the white parts would have been inaccessible to paint black. So we opted to paint the whole door white. I am really leaning toward leaving the front door white, just so that the storm and front door are cohesive. Thanks for the tip about the window boxes. I hadn’t thought about the upkeep. Decoenthusiaste - I think staining the brick is a little too ambitious for me, but thanks for the suggestion Bette P - the picture looks quite good, and on the side is a milk box turned mailbox! The shrub is a burning bush, I will trim that back in early spring. Good point that it should be below the window. Suezbell- the garden is looking better each year. I have a vision for an English garden, but I am not very good at bringing it to life. I have thought of replacing many plants and putting in more structured shrubs, particularly right by the walls of the house (ie. under the large window and next to the burning bush. The siding is white, but has turned a little yellow with age, except for under the large window (perhaps that is why it sticks out so much?)...See MoreCurb appeal help for 50's 2 front door rambler!
Comments (31)Make the walkway to your front door straight to the sidewalk. The way it is now, it visually looks like the door with the wreath is the secondary doot. Make the other walkway go to the driveway. Flank the one to the door with low-growing plants. Hostas are good if you have shade, lavender for sun. You fix the off-center window by putting something taller under it. Or a climber on the trellis (which should cover up some of the brick you don't like). I had a Camellia close to the house years ago. But a climbing rose would be nice, too. You'd need to measure. You want to avoid symmetrical designs, like Dig Doug gave you. That will draw attention to the lack of symmetry in the window. I'm not good with photoshop, so I'm not going to draw anything up. Another option is to put large house numbers in the space next to the window. If you do this before fixing the walkways, you're just putting another indicator that the wrong door is the right one. But if the right door was the only one with a path to the sidewalk and emphasized with flanking planting, the number placement would be okay. You can also put a larger tree out closer to the sidewalk, which would cover the wider spot next to the window. For example, if you didn't take our advice on the walkways, and you planted something like a weeping cherry in the V between the two walkways, most views of your house would have the off-centeredness not noticeable. A cottagey garden always looks great and makes any house look better. I like the brick. The thing I've noticed about homes and homeowners is that sometimes they just focus on something and hate it. If it's hard to change, just learn to like it. All houses have their plus points and their negatives. Focus on what you love about your house, not what your don't like. My take is aging walkways, no garden or foundation plantings, too much exposed concrete, and a lawn that could use some help are the areas preventing your house from looking lovely....See MoreHelp with curb appeal and hidden front door
Comments (28)From your idea book for the front yard, it's clear you prefer a clean, modern, angular design. I suggest changing out the garage door for one with a grid of frosted glass panels. (Search images for "modern garage doors" and you'll see what I mean.) Consider stucco instead of siding. Maybe you can find more modern windows as well. Use the horizontal fence idea to screen the trash cans. Remove the existing driveway and pour fresh concrete scored into a very large grid pattern. Or, use large rectangles of concrete and lay river stones in between. (Again, search for images of "modern concrete driveway" and you will find lots of inspiration, including many with the curve you need.) I agree a modest pergola at the entry will signal where the door is. If you have room for a small trickling pot fountain under the pergola, so much the better. Remove the grass from the parking strip. Figure out where car doors will open if parked on the street -- set large rectangular floating pavers at that point, and plant the other areas with succulents. Top dress around the plants with either thick mulch or a layer of river rock (smooth, flat, rounded stones). Minimize your lawn area. I'd use the corner swath between the sidewalk and the drive for a very large succulent (examples: Agave attenuata, Euphorbia tirucalli "sticks on fire", Aloe petricola) and lower growers around it (Senecio mandraliscae, Graptoveria, etc.) along with some that produce flowers on tall stems (example: Clandrina spectabilis, Kalanchoe thyrsiflora, Anigozanthus falvidum), and maybe some tufted grasses (Muhlenbergia capillaris, Sporobolus aroides, one of the many Carex). If possible, repeat some of the same plants along the house below the windows (I can't tell in the shadows if there is soil for planting or not). Good luck! You can turn this plain Jane into a stunner -- all you need is money, a vision, and more money. Did I mention money? ;-) I hope you will follow up with progress photos....See More
freedomplace1
2 years agolast modified: 2 years agoI would also remove the bin(s) from the left side and do some type of plantings and or pots and some solar lights. Everyone will immediately want to go over to that side.:)
Very rough mockup- but for the general idea:
freedomplace1
2 years agoOr you could just do all the landscaping etc. mainly in the area where a fence appears to be, and perhaps alongside the house, around the front door etc - so that there is no obstructed view from that drive area.
partim
2 years agolast modified: 2 years agoYour house would be have better curb appeal if the eye was drawn to the left side of the property, where there is a walkway to the front door. There are some fairly simple ways to do that.
The bright white of the garage doors makes them stand out. If they were painted a darker version of the siding colour, they would blend in better and not draw attention.
The decorative elements around the arched window keep the eye focused on that area, which is not good. You want the focus on the walkway to the house. So paint that brown area and the white trim around it in the same colour as the siding. It's supposed to be a fancy decorative element but a bad choice because the house looks unbalanced with that peak as a focal point.
Agree that the wheelie bins should be elsewhere. But if that's the best place, hide them in a small structure. It's actually OK to draw the eye there, as long as it's something attractive.
Maybe add a very simple archway over the walkway leading to the front door, to draw the eye there and say "here's the way to the front door". Paint it white to attract attention to it. Add plantings in that area too. https://www.bhg.com/home-improvement/outdoor/pergola-arbor-trellis/arbor-ideas/
Kendrah
2 years agoElina R
2 years agoHere are some recent photos. I moved the garbage cans and added a blue planter. There’s not a lot of room on the side of the house. Still looking for ideas on what to do
partim
2 years agolast modified: 2 years agoAny thoughts on my previous mockup and suggestions to paint the garage doors darker and paint the curved window area to match the siding? If a pergola is too involved then maybe a fabric canopy over the door to highlight it. Maybe repeat the blue colour of the planter.
jackowskib
2 years ago
apple_pie_order
2 years agojackowskib
2 years agoWildcat Blue
2 years agopartim
2 years agolast modified: 2 years agoThe most useful threads are where there is a conversation back and forth about the ideas, and why you think our ideas will work or won't work for you.
bargainhunter