I need some curb appeal ideas for the house in the attached photo. The center section of the house seems to need a little something. Currently there is a 70’s style stone around the front door. The center section of the second story with the gable hangs over about 18-24 inches. It needs something, windows, trim, maybe a cedar shake siding in the gable. I dont have any firm ideas but I need to develop a plan. Any Ideas?
Engineered-stone shower panels are waterproof, but proper installation relies on tight seams and silicone sealing.
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Replies
I think it's good as is.
Maybe shutters same color on windows (2nd floor) above entry door.
-bob
I don't think it could look more awkward the way it is.
Get that mobilehome off the front door for a start.
From a design standpoint there are too many different textures on the front of the house, horizontal clap, vertical board siding above setback busy rock next to vertical door surrounds. And there seems to be no unified color scheme. Fixing that will improve things a lot, at least replace the rock veneer... I am thinking brick. Maybe some columns flanking the entry and a door with sidelights.
As for the landscaping some bushes in between the house and the walk starting tall at the back and getting small as the bed approaches the front walk and then a short hedge row on the street side of the walk would do a lot.
I agree; some columns or pilasters flanking the front door at the edge of the stone. make it look like the front door is in a protective alcove, not just under an obverhang.
Maybe some matching bracketry under the main eaves and under the front rake to tie together the look.
I think massing-wise, the house is fine - just tie together the details
Forrest
I agree that there's too many things running in diff. directions. I'd definitely get rid of the board and batten looking trim on either side of the door, for something simpler and running vertically.
What about replacing the door? One without all the panels, maybe with glass in it and definitely with a brass kickplate.
Sidelights where the side trim is now.
Don't add anything else. Simplify what you've got.
I've always liked the garison look but that stone work is ghastly.Get rid of it, replacing with calboard to match that flaking, but break it up with pilasters. Add shutters to the upper window to mathch the others.Plant some bushes
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The second story center section should get the same horizontal siding as the rest of the place. Just so it'll look like part of the house, rather than a "hi there, I'm a design feature". Then add a pair of shutters. That should pull things together.
Edited 4/13/2007 6:10 am ET by Hudson Valley Carpenter
Pump up the landscaping. It's too orderly and too one level, too sterile.
I can see where this is going....
Thus far you have seven responses with 7 entirely different answers.
I think this is because it is not so bad the way it is. No particular element that offends everyone - no consensus. Maybe nobody likes the stone but I think that is simply because the pattern of it is a bit dated.
If you look at homes being built now, at least in my area, having 3 different sidewall treatments is not at all uncommon. Like maybe mostly stone & brick and some siding on more expensive homes, or on more average priced homes you might see horizontal siding, vertical siding, and a small patch of stone or brick. Sound familiar? Granted the purest here, including myself aren't really into the small patch of anything, but then again, there is no way this house is ever going to look like it was build in 1889 due to the garage... Changing it to all horozontal siding would really damage the whole appearence. Adding shakes would be a 4th sidewall treatment and would be too much - maybe OK on a $2mil house...
RE the stone, the fact that it is stone doesn't bother me and I like the color, just not the pattern. It kind of anchors the center section like a foundation anchors an entire house. If you wanted to change it out cultured stone costs about $13 a sq ft installed.
There are basically 6 openings on the front of the main part of the house - with the same pattern repeated in each - each of the 6 has a large taller than wide rectangle in the center flanked by two narrow tall rectangles. This doesn't bother me, and I think, tends to unify the look. And the vertical siding color is the same as the horizontal siding visually tying those together. The unification ends there though. The center section is entirely a different style than the side sections. I think the house needs a bit more to visually tie the center and the sides together. To me, the louvered shutters don't go with the style of the center section.
A front door with sidelites would really be nice, but then you would be talking structural changes, ie a fairly large header to support the cantilever, etc above. On the other hand, the shutters flanking the door don't "do it for me".
Also the garage door looks a bit out of place, being so big and white.
So, without getting into anything structural this is what my quick fix would be:
1) change out the stone for some dry stack style faux stone of a similar color.
2) Paint the front door the same color as the shutters on the main house.
3) Paint the garage door the same color as the siding.
4) Change out all the shutters to a "joined board-n-batton" style, keeping all the colors the same as they are now (window shutters different color than door shutters which match the siding. The vertical lines in the joined board-n-batton shutters would tie into the board and batton siding. Or, if you don't like that style of shutters go with raised panel shutters.
5) Try these same dark colored shutters on either side of the large center top window - although it may be too much. You could maybe even just "mock up" some of cardboard of the right color and stand back at the street and see how it "feels". It's ture that the center top section needs to be broken up a bit, but adding a new material like shakes would be too much.
6) change out a few of the shrubs by the corners for something a little more tall and narrow, especially the large round bush by the garage.
"Thus far you have seven responses with 7 entirely different answers"Did you READ the suggestions?everyone said get rid of the stone and most said do something with landscaping.
That is far from entirely different
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What is your budget?
Matt had some good suggestions.
If redoing the stone treatment at the entry, consider doing the chimney box with the same faux stone as the new entry stuff, and adding some kind of decorative cap to hide all the stack stuff.
For less than a couple hundred bucks, you can get some invaluable advice on an all-new color scheme. There is a guy I hired that teaches architecture at Michigan, who operates as a color consultant. He coordinated a pallet of many colors for our place, and the composition is wonderful.
Consider carriage-style garage doors.
How about some stone columns holding up the upper canterlever, with a beam across the front tied into the other beams . New garage door that looks like one of those carriage doors, and maybe change the front door visually, Tall Landscaping would also add interest.
Tim
Edited 4/13/2007 9:24 am ET by TimLoupe
WOW! Some good ideas so far! Someone asked about the budget. Well I guess there isn't a budget per se. BUT with that said, I will do what it takes to improve the overall look of the house. I don't want to get into heavy structural modifications and was thinking of keeping costs along the lines of windows, siding, landscape, etc.
I'm not a fan of the plywood looking board and batten center section of the second story. This is why I thought about the cedar shingle painted to match, look in that center section, perhaps with some wider window trim and a frese molding. I don't want to introduce too many design elements into the house, which is why I appreciate all your input!
Would columns look funny with the overhang only being 18-24 inches? I like the pilaster idea. I assume these would go toward the outside of the overhang once the stone is gone or replaced.
Keep the ideas coming! Thanks again!
Well, you asked for it.
On the centre bump-out, pull a dutch gable across, to tie the facia together and help to minimize its hieght. Lose the vertical siding and match the existing horizontal. On the face of the gable, cedar shake, stucco panel, painted creazone, anything that doesn't have vertical lines.
At the entryway, put a shed roof from the bottom of the bump-out, to the face of the concrete slab. Support it with some columns and have a handrail and pickets centre on the door. Lose the stone and replace with whatever, just lose the stone.
To me, its the upper bump-out that jumps at you. My direction is to minimize it and draw it into the rest of the house, as opposed to making it stand out, as it does now.
Lots of other suggestions to paint and landscape, to continue to unifie the facade.
No budget as such? Ok, then.
Perhaps it's the photo, but the siding and shutters look like crap to me. I would replace them. The second story paneling above the door needs to go. My personal taste would be to create a fake English half-timber effect up there. I think that would work well with the stonework on the ground floor. I would replace the panels beside the front door with window panels the same size. These panels should be co-ordinated with the door style, so perhaps the door would need replacement as well. I also agree with the poster who suggested adding stone facing to the chimney and capping it somehow.
George Patterson, Patterson Handyman Service
Three suggestions- not big bucks.
1) Posts under the corners of the cantilever. Perhaps set under a 3x12 beam.
2) 3x12 beam at the top of the windows.
3)Repaint bump-out to color of shutters.
My 2 cents.
1 - Paint the corbels & the trim around the Uberhang window the same rust-red colour as the shutters.
2 - And the shubbery has been trimmed within an inch of its life. Can you tell me what side is facing us? And the zone/location this house is in? I can come up w/a you-must-have-these-cause-they're-cool plant list<g>.
I've always wanted a child...ON TOAST. Bette Midler in Hocus Pocus
The budget is not limitless! please be kind to my pocket book! LOL!
The front of the house faces South-East. And its in the Chicago area, not certain of the planting zone.
The plants around the property are somewhat funny. Some are very trimmed, while others are too big and need to be trimmed. Removing a bush here, planting another there to soften the front will likely do wonders..
Thanks!
Great! You are in my zone (tho I'm west of the City), figure 5a or b depending on precisely where you are at.If what I'm seeing is south-east then you REALLY need a deciduous tree or 2 in the front. That will (eventually) cut down on your cooling costs in the summer. Hmmm, I don't see any power or phone lines. Are they buried? If so, then you don't have to worry about pesky ComEd or Ameritech rules.Oddly enough your place looks pretty close (especially those almost-to-the-ground bottom windows) to a friend's former house in Warrenville. I'm assuming no basement?Fur shur looks like you've got a Mugo Pine (lighter green evergreen by the front door), the darker green shrubs look like yews that have been hacked within inches of their lives. Just so you are aware, they naturally like to be 5ft (sometimes taller depending on the yew). The other shrubs I'd need to see better. Yews are pretty commonly available but yours are small enough to move if you want to relocate them in another part of your yard (please don't tell me you have acreage). I have to say, at least the sidewalk is curved to the front. Makes it easier to make things look better without the expense of concrete work.How into gardening are you? Realize that there isn't any such thing as a no maintenance yard. I'm seeing alot of lawn. What is the most time you want to spend mowing? Eliminating ALL of the lawn isn't feasible (especially if you want to resell). I remember seeing a study of 3 photos shown to "people". House with all lawn, a house with no lawn (trees, shrubs, prairie etc) & then with most of the lawn gone (I'd say maybe 60% gone - same house in each photo). The 3rd photo was chosen most often as the most attractive. I'll have to hunt down that study 's source, I think is was in a WildOnes Journal. I have this program I've been trying to test. Let me play w/your photo a bit & see what I come up with.I've always wanted a child...ON TOAST. Bette Midler in Hocus Pocus
get a door with glass sidelights. then find a window (the same width as the new door) with an eliptical transom window.
flank the door with 2 pairs of columns and match the clapboard everywhere
then landscape
i'd think about enclosing the area under the bump-out and moving the entrance forward. shouldn't be too costly as it wouldn't have to support the structure above.
but like others have said, which seems to be the prevailing idea, lose the stone. even painting it (although i'm not usually a fan of painted masonry) in accordance with any new colour scheme.
"Rome wasn't burnt in a day."
Go out for coffee somewhere, and when driving back, notice the first few things that catch your attention. Work on those -- either enhance them if they're good or figure out how to distract from them if not.
Ask a coworker or friend who's never seen the house to do the same thing.
My first impression is that it's a bit bland. Could use some shrubs in the foreground and something -- shutters, contrasting trim, etc -- to make the center gable a hair more dramatic. But it already looms over the entryway, so you don't want to increase it's "weight" per se. Rather make it lighter somehow.
But likely my impessions would be different from a "driving up" angle vs straight-on.
If you want to keep the stone, do chimney and garage to match. Use some timbers on front at top extending the overhang, and timber posts from top.
Then lose the shutters.
You've been given a lot of free advice. No offense to anyone, but that's just about what it's worth. No one here except you has seen the house for real...... only this photo. That's one two-dimensional view that does not show the house in any context: neighborhood, landscape, etc. If you are serious about sprucing up the look of your house, then shell out some greenbacks for some local professional advice. Look up a few architects, home designers, or designers in general and pay for some advice. Ask around for recommendations as to who is good. Interview these people and look at what they've designed. Don't hire anyone who designs out of your style. Based on the photo, I think your house needs some cosmetic help and you will be happier with a visually pleasing home. But if you approach this project with an attitude of "... let's try this," you are going to burn through a lot of money without satisfaction.