Chaotic curb 'appeal' help needed!

last year

last modified: last year

Top photo is what we're working with. Bottom photo is what I want, but don't get unless I win the lotto.

Currently the house has a lot of small windows + a few faux/painted on windows, and plenty of arched windows. I'm not a fan of arched windows on this scale. While I love a big beautiful arched window, these feel dinky and distracting. Also at issue, the strange foam molding at chair rail height around the exterior, and similar adornments around the windows. Two-toned tan paint is all wrong, the tiled facade around the front door is cheap (and so are the exterior lights) and the front door itself is disproportionate and ugly.

In short, I want to love this house we bought, but as it stands now, I pull into the driveway and look at it sideways and wonder what the builder was thinking when he decided to go ahead without a designer's input (i presume!)

I don't have money to change out all the windows. I'm considering some black metal slat awnings or something along those lines to camouflage the arched windows, but I don't want to ADD to the chaos by throwing another detail in. Thoughts on ways to make the windows more likeable?

We're planning to paint out the faux windows and remove the foam framework associated with them. We're also planning to paint the whole house a nice not-too-white, eliminating the multi-tone thing going on now. Removing the chair rail will require patching up the stucco, and possibly leaving a noticable patch in the texture. So maybe we leave it, and hope that the single tone color scheme helps it to fade away?? Thoughts?

We're thinking white limestone facade where the cheap white tile is now on the popout surrounding the front door. I'd like to invest a large part of our budget on a great front door that mirrors the arch of that popout in size and shape. But should it be wood? Black steel? Maybe that depends on what we do with the windows, if anything, to attempt to hide the arches. Aim to coordinate? And should we square off the opening in that popout, or keep the arch?

Beautiful exterior lights and thoughtful landscaping might finish the job...

I've been staring at the house for so long I don't know what to think anymore!! I will be so appreciative of any opinions, input, advice, product recommendations, inspo pics, winning lotto numbers ... anything!!

Thank you!

Featured Answer

Jilly

last year

last modified: last year

Your house is very nice and has character … with a few tweaks, it will look great.

I think the inspo pic looks like a commercial building — like a retail store, restaurant, or office building.

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Comments (16)

chispa
last year
Most would look at the house ... and think that you already won the lotto!

Yours is actually not a bad version of the Faux Mediterranean/Tuscan style I see all over FL. A few in my neighborhood are buying, gutting and ditching the arches and faux mouldings, but you have to go into it knowing you have the budget to make those changes right away.

I would not spend any money on anything other than repainting. If you really want to get new windows, remove arches and do major stucco work, then start saving for that major project ... and you can also play the lotto to try to speed it up!
tracefloyd
last year
last modified: last year
Your landscape is very similar to your inspo photo. Line the perimeter of the lawn along the mulch sections in a bright green perennial such as dwarf Boxwood or Jasmine to match the look.

Place two large shrubs on each side of the front walk or front porch. The Italian cypress in the photos will get too big. Look at Arborvitae.

And a small potted Palm under each porch lamp.
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Chiflipper is right. Repairs first, then cosmetics. Easy and inexpensive to fix the railing(s). As for the stairs, I would go in this direction for cosmetic changes or really gray treads and white risers.
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Is the pine tree a concern? It is very close to the house. Lucky you, you have white birch trees. They would be my inspiration: white, black for the house Shutters gone...they don't fit the windows properly.
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It looks like your porch is low enough that it does not require a railing to meet code. I think that if you are planting in front of the porch, I would leave the railing, however. Because the house faces SW, the only type of hydrangea that will work there would be panicled hydrangeas aka Hydrangea paniculata. Many cultivars of this species are too tall to plant by the porch, so perhaps a taller one diagonally off the corner and then some of one of the shorter cultivars. There are several that stay in the 3’-4’ range, but since several are new, check to see what the local nurseries have. In order to make other suggestions, I would love to see what is to the left of the driveway and to the right of the house as well as a photo taken closer in. For instance, I cannot see the position and width of the walkway in this photo. I think you need some larger trees out front to frame and ground the house. I think the lawn bed either needs a tree or needs to be larger or needs to be converted to grass. Right now it seems very small and isolated. Think about winter interest so that the yard does not look bare several months of the year. If you only plant a row of hydrangeas, you will have a row of bare sticks in winter. Most folks in cold climates want to have evergreens for winter interest, either in the foundation plantings or framing the house or as an area of interest in the yard. There are also plants such as Japanese maples that have beautiful stucture when the tree is bare or various shrubs such as some of the dogwoods and willows that have bright colored winter twigs.
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Your house is very attractive. A few suggestions. The bright white garage doors draw the eye to the part of the house that is less attractive than the front door. Paint it in a camouflage brown so it fades from view. The shutters are a country look that doesn't go with your house style. I'd remove them. Then just landscaping.
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BeverlyFLADeziner
last year
You have a Mediterranean or Spanish-style home and it would probably be better to embrace it rather than try and erase it. The arches are staying so it's best to enhance the style you have.
Kristen V thanked BeverlyFLADeziner
Lorraine Leroux
last year
I feel once you remove the two tone-three tone colouring to all white it will make a HUGE difference. The foundation cap, a.k.a chair rail and the window trim and arched windows will be fine once everything is painted one colour. Your door is really nice but I agree that the arch on the top does not match the entrance arch BUT that can easily be solved by installing a new surround that matches the arch or consider painting the whole wall the same colour as the door so then the arch is not noticeable. I do not feel you need to spend tons on restructuring that door opening. Forgo drawing any more attention to the windows with awnings. I feel once everything is painted out you may learn to like them till you feel you can afford to change the windows.
Rachel Lee
last year
I agree one paint color will do wonders to streamline things. Which windows are the faux ones? I would look into matching the door arch to the portico arch, but it may be pretty pricey. New lights, and potted shrubs will take you pretty close to your inspiration.
misecretary
last year
Yes, please indicate which windows are painted on. Might just want to paint over them. Are the two on the garage (?), far right on your picture, square on the interior. They seem to have different trim work than all of the other windows.
Sigrid
last year
My guess is most of the trim you don't like is basically glued on styofoam (EIFS), so could be removed pretty easily. That said, just painting it out would go a long way towards simplifying the visual clutter.

I'd consider reducing the acreage of concrete in front of the house, too.
Kendrah
last year
Painting all one color will do wonders. I understand the temptation to remove the "chair rail" and change archways, but it will be like pulling a tiny thread on a sweater and lead to so much more work than you are wanting to spend money on now. The mismatched arch and front door don't bother me, I really had to look closely to see what you were talking about. Yes, the faux garage windows are bothersome. I'd get rid of them or paint them out.

What is your landscape budget? Anyway to reduce the amount of concrete in front of your home?
Kristen V
Original Author
last year
last modified: last year
Thank you for all the input, everyone!

Looks like our best bet is to leave the structure of things alone and hope that paint makes some of the eyesores less sore. Landscaping will make a huge difference, too, and we're planning to spend a lot there.

The front door is actually a mess when you look closely - hard to tell from the photo, but my husband and I who are 5'11 and 6'1 have to almost duck to get through it. It's much wider than it is tall, and I can't imagine where it would work. A fancy playhouse, maybe? 😜 We'll have to replace it anyway, so we're prepared to invest a chunk of budget there.

As for reducing concrete, it's possible but would require regrading the hill to the side of the house. The concrete you see is a circular driveway, and it's the only place for guests to pull off the street. there's a narrow driveway that drives around to the garage, but it's really small already, and wouldn't be enough on its own. To eliminate the circular driveway, we'd have to widen the driveway that goes around back and create some space that way. Our house is in the country on some acreage, so theres room to do this, but the house is on a high point and the rest of the land drops off before leveling out again. I suspect that's why the driveway is the way it is now. May be a future project!

I'm attaching a photo of the house with the faux windows circled.
houssaon
last year
I would leave the faux windows, unless they look bad in person. They add interest.
Kristen V
Original Author
last year
last modified: last year
Wow, thank you for that image. I never imagined it would look so empty without them.
chispa
last year
The faux windows look pretty good ... at least from the photos! Could be very different in person. I wouldn't touch them, unless you have major plans to add real windows, if that is even possible in those rooms.
Kristen V
Original Author
last year
Yes, the faux windows have to stay, i can see that now. it would have been a huge mistake to erase them. I'm so glad for the rendering postend above. In my mind it was going to look great! oops!
Kristen V
Original Author
last year
On the topic of reducing the concrete in front of the house, behold the driveway layout. It's narrow, and the lot drops off to the right of the long driveway that goes back to the garage. It doesn't work that well as-is, but I don't have a better idea.
houssaon
last year
I really think painting the house all one color instead of contrasting trim is going to go a long way to making it look good. I don't think the concrete is a problem.