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Building a Home Exterior

Help with exterior design.

2 years ago

We are at a loss of what to do with our front door side of the house. We have board n batten, hardie horizontal siding and stone. We are going back and forth on design and the siders are waiting.

I know the rule of keeping stone on the foundation level but my husband doesnt like that idea saying there is such a little strip of concrete it would look weird. Any help would be appreciated.

Other sides of our house.

Inspiration photo

Featured Answer

devonfield

2 years ago

If you aren't going to keep the continuity of the stone to follow the grade of the foundation line, then I would strongly suggest not using it at all. The rendering posted above would be a huge financial and atheistic mistake because you will ruin the illusion of having a stone basement by skipping the stone on the single garage and front door portion, leaving exposed concrete and then randomly adding stone to the walls of the front door portion.

Comments (7)

Zory
Original Author
2 years ago

Rendering showing approximate stone where husband thinks. this doesnt show the windows or the roof difference in entrance.
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Sorry, lglossner , but your sketch is way too symetrical and too many materials. I would stay true to the original design and keep the existing siding. Why waste money and add to the landfill? Same goes for the brick; no reason to replace with stone which is now a days is usually faux. Houzz has some great examples of lakehouses for inspiration. Put the ones you like in a Houzz ideabook with notes why and what you like or don't like. You can check out the ones I put together for myself. The point is, that these ideas you collect will be very helpful when you are working with an architect or designer. (I would not wing this without professional help.) Start with what speaks to you. This color would work with your brick.
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I don't like to advocate painting brick, but this house would probably look better if the bottom half were the same color as the top. If you don't like the idea of painting the brick can you make the siding the same color as the brick instead? Is it time for new siding? With the black windows you have doubled down on Modern Farmhouse. You definitely don't need the shutters on the larger windows. In the winter plants are not at their best, but your landscaping looks minimal. After you clean the brick (and maybe painted it) put some time and/or money into landscaping.
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Zory
Original Author
2 years ago

would this be the better option?
Zory
Original Author
2 years ago
or this, stay with the foundation line but add more in the entrance to break up the tall space over the door?
res2architect
2 years ago
last modified: 2 years ago
Don't further complicate an overly complicated entrance portico.

It would help to create a 3D drawing that looks more like the house becasue you need to resolve how the 3 gables meet.

Why does the middle gable appear to be hanging in space? What is the purpose of he little gable?
Zory
Original Author
2 years ago
The little gable is the main entrance, it will have wooden beams with stone on the bottom of the beams like in the inspiration photo. The middle gable has a covered porch under it.

This 3d drawing i got with hover app, I just did it too early in the process thats why it doesnt show a lot of the stuff.

I know we messed up with the design of this entrance, but its too late to change anything. Need to work with what we have. We are home owner builders and have already realized a lot of things we should of done different.
Zory
Original Author
2 years ago
We originally had the front gable built lower then the upper gable, but it looked weird so my husband raised the gable to match the roof level. But now there is a massive space there over the door....

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