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Exterior Porches & Decks Design Dilemma

90s home advice needed! exterior renovation

2 years ago

Hi all! Hoping you can help me out. Our house has been completely updated on the interior but the exterior still screams 90s. We need to replace the front door, so now my chance to make some changes. The windows are newer except the huge one above the front door, with the mullions built in the glass so I can’t switch out to black. I’d love a more modern double front door, maybe square the brick arch off to a rectangle and change that window, and add a sitting area to the left of the front door, ala the attached photo. Not sure about painting or limewashing the brick though, we just painted the siding to match the mortar last summer. Think it could work?

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Comments (9)

Nicole Smigel
Original Author
2 years ago
Ideas we like for the front door
PRO
BeverlyFLADeziner
2 years ago
last modified: 2 years ago
Your door selection should be something charming to compliment the style of your home.

IMO you really need to tackle the arched center window. The grid design doesn't even match the rest of the windows. I might eliminate the grid.

I would consider a limewash with some of the brick exposed to provide a vintage appearance.
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Sigrid
2 years ago
Don't square anything off. The arched window over the door echoes the arched window to the upper right. That mass is asymmetrical. The two arches make it look intentional, give it balance. Without the repeating pattern, you'll have two mismatched windows oddly placed in an asymmetrical mass. The smaller, higher arched windows match.

You have an asymmetrical house with good balance. Mess with it and you'll lose the balance.

Your landscaping looks uninspired, but it could just be winter, when no landscaping looks inspired. When looking at before and after photos, like the first one you posted, always pay attention to the elements that are not about the house, like house in shade with brownish lawn and dark windows in the before and bright light, green grass, and warm golden light from the windows in the after.

The 90s is fine. You house is great. "Updating" and "modernizing" are ways to sell TV shows. Did you know sll the verbiage about openness and "flow" came from HGTV's discovery that men liked to watch sledgehammer scenes? You need a reason to knock down walls other than "it improves the demographics of our viewership".
kandrewspa
2 years ago
The doors you're interested in are not in keeping with the style of your house. They would go in a MCM house. No matter what you do to your house it is never going to be MCM. If you square off one of the round topped windows you have to square them all off. You will also then have to paint or schmear the brick because you'll never find brick that matches exactly to fill in the parts that used to be round. When you paint brick you create a periodic maintenance requirement where there wasn't one before - if you do it once you will have to do again and again.
PRO
RL Relocation LLC
2 years ago
last modified: 2 years ago
enlarge the lights, do not put a modern front door. maybe shutters?
Nicole Smigel
Original Author
2 years ago
Yes it’s winter here in Cleveland, so the landscaping looks much better when it’s green. Thanks for the advice on the arch.
flopsycat1
2 years ago
It looks like you have a great treed backyard. Do you honestly think that you’d use a sitting area in the front? Just a thought…..
Nicole Smigel
Original Author
2 years ago
Yes, I believe I would use the area. The girls play out front quite a bit, and it gets the afternoon/evening sun that the backyard doesn’t. With regard to the arched window, what, any grids would you recommend? Should the be the same as the front door or the rest of the windows? It’s hard to tell if I should consider them a package vs two separate entities
decoenthusiaste
2 years ago
To change the brick color, check with Romabio for masonry paints, washes. Lantern lights should be 1/3 of the door's height.

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