Need help with the front of my house

9 years ago

Hello Houzzers,

About five years ago, I bought my home as an investment. I've stuck around and have now begun to make it my own. Over the past year, I've redecorated and done some minor renovations (all DIY stuff) inside. My interior personal style is rustic - think farm houses and simple yet cozy cottages rustic, not deer antlers on the wall rustic - and I pulled a lot of inspiration from traveling in Europe.

The problem is that the outside of my house is....uninspiring. I live in a split entry home (aka bi-level - insert groan here). I cannot for the life of me figure out how to bring any of my personal style to the outside. (No, I don't know why I bought a house that incorporates none of the things I like in design on the exterior; in retrospect, that was stupid). I'm attaching pictures so y'all can see what I mean.

Do any of you have any ideas as to how I could take this front porch area (or even the front house area) and make it feel more cozy/rustic and less 1960 Southern American suburbs? I have a limited budget, so doing a major renovation is out of the question for now, but I'm capable of doing minor stuff myself as a DIY'er. Also, looking for basic outdoor decorating tips.

Thanks in advance for any help you can give me!

Featured Answer

njmomma

9 years ago

last modified: 9 years ago

You need to change out your front door, update your out door lighting and add stone to the front of the house.

Here is some inspiration to making your house look rustic.

Exterior · More Info

Don't forget landscaping

Rustic Ramble · More Info

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Comments (22)

PRO
Unique Wood Surfaces
9 years ago
A good exterior decorating tip is to stay away from white. With the right painting pro, and sprayer you can recolor not only your white soffit area but siding. After considering your brick, maybe one of these: http://www.gardenista.com/posts/the-8-best-red-exterior-house-paints The nice thing about a refinish with columns is to complete the job first saving that until last. That way with samples you can sand off with the back ground color you like, and thinking a few colors darker for columns. On a lot of prior projects 5 or more samples is never to few. What's also easy and fun to do is buy a piece of sheet rock, 4x8 cost maybe 6 dollars and cut it into 4 pieces with 4 colors. Large enough for samples so you can stand at the street and look. Nail or hang from the siding, take time to do it right :) White just isn't right, lol
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Mary Nigro
9 years ago
I know why you bought it .The setting is beautiful! The style may not be exactly to your taste but it is lovely. I would suggest that since the budget is limited instead of fighting the style, embrace and go for it. I would say it is colonial. So look up that style on Houzz and see what you can do. I would paint the siding a grey green to soften the look and and I would put some money into a grand lantern light fixture to replace the white one. I would do a huge wrought iron one. I saw a lot of those a going into a pricey neighborhood near me and I mean big. Maybe black shutters and white trim. I would also go for a black front door. Good luck ,enjoy your home.
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pcmom1
9 years ago
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pcmom1
9 years ago
last modified: 9 years ago
Mmm... to get away from the Southern Colonial, maybe take off the shutters, go for a gray paint. And we need to shrink down those tall columns....encase the bottom section with brick and square them off (encase in wood).
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pcmom1
9 years ago
last modified: 9 years ago
Once you paint away the white the house will grab less attention. Then add great landscaping in your cottage/rustic/farmhouse style:
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amelia155
Original Author
9 years ago
Thank you guys so much! Does anyone have any ideas as to what I can do to make the bump out look less obnoxious? Or do you think the painting will take care of that?
pcmom1
9 years ago
By " bump out", you mean the white level sticking out above the bottom brick level?

Painting both the same color would be one way. And adding shrubs in front, so you see those, rather than the entire front of the home from the street.
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pcmom1
9 years ago
last modified: 9 years ago
Maybe add a picket fence close to the house and have a flower garden between the house and the fence. Leave the area in front of that lawn. (From fence to street)

Love the color of this house. Can't the brick be painted? Also like the sitting area in this photo.

And once there are some other things out front to grab your eye, the "flaws" you see won't be noticed.
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PRO
Unique Wood Surfaces
9 years ago
Find a neutral, pleasant, brick color you like on the lower half of your house and paint everything that is white. Then after everything is that color... stand back and find another color that compliments both brick and the color you picked but a bit darker 'maybe' to paint your columns. But as of now.. there isn't anything on the front of the house to highlight.

Look at it this way... what do you see above the house and to the right and left? Browns and Greens, leaves, green/brown, etc.

What do you see in between those colors? Something white that sticks out like a SORE-THUMB! :) Kill the white, and you kill your problem! lol

I have yet to understand why anyone would use WHITE on a large area of their exterior home, white isn't even a color! :)

The last image you see shows WHITE in small area's, good stuff!

Kill the white, do it right

Also notice how nice your vehicle looks next to surrounding area verses WHITE :)

st
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PRO
PPF.
9 years ago
>>> I cannot for the life of me figure out how to bring any of my personal style to the outside.

What is your "personal style"?
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sunnydrew
9 years ago
You can search "split level Colonials" on houzz and see examples of color schemes and rents to give you inspiration. It may worth it to pay an architect or designer a fee to give you specific ideas that you can work on as your budget allows. Also, I don't think there is a quick fix to completely changing the look, so as one said already, embrace what you have.
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decoenthusiaste
9 years ago
You might remove the porch roof and columns and clad it with cedar or rustic barn wood.
Entry · More Info

Barn Conversion · More Info
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sunnydrew
9 years ago
Sorry, my comment above meant to say renos, not rents.
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Craig CraigMDesigns
9 years ago
I'd think of a big weathered barn and paint the white that gray and maybe the shutters in a barn red color to tie in the brick. Wine barrels cut in half would be large scale planters for trees or bushes with red geraniums. Put these on the porch and they would help ground the columns and be beautiful and cottage like. A turquoise on the door and a rocking settee would be bright and pretty with the reds. Good luck!
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lucidos
9 years ago
last modified: 9 years ago
Bi levels can be tricky particularly on a limited budget some fast suggestions are

Remove the bottom shutters you want to reduce impact on that area.

Paint the top shutters a pale green and attach a mock hardware kit to them so they look like "real" shutters.

Make the door and sidelights wood..strip them or do a wood paint effect.

Get a great entry indoor outdoor rug.

Hang seasonal plants or winter arrangements between the pillars.

Get a larger bronze colored lantern for the front entry or spray that one with rustoleum.

Move the shed further back into the yard so it is out of view.

When the budget permits put a large window over the entry door it will serve you both for the exterior and interior.
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amelia155
Original Author
9 years ago
Thank you everybody for all of the awesome ideas! There were things I never even thought of; I'm so glad I posted this here. I love your thought processes and will definitely be borrowing ideas from each and every post here. (To include painting).

Also, Ludicos - super thank you for taking the time to do that picture! I did a double take and went "oh, wow, that's my house!" :) I never thought of removing the shutters, but just looking at this, it makes a huge difference.
lucidos
9 years ago
It's amazing how the simplest touches can alter an entire image.
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gaanderson
9 years ago
I like what lucidos did there too! I do think when able to add some thickness to the bottom of the columns,a bit on craftsman take, would ground those pillars a bit. could be done with rock to both make the brick more attractive, as part of an earthy, natural feeling. then, could even make a semi fence-like section from one post to the next, grounding the posts even more, and giving the entry a more porch-like feeling. I think you would really love the feeling a window above the door would give you. Sometimes people are selling windows for cheap when they have decided to change their mind about what they really wanted to do. You would probably need help putting it in though, so that could cost, unless you have some handy friends!
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ny_irene
9 years ago
I too have a bi-level, raised ranch. I took off all my shutters and was amazed at the difference. It makes the house more expansive looking. If you have a small budget I would agree that just dressing up the porch area with a rug, a wood chair, small side table and wood planters would do wonders.Painting your front door and sidelights the same color will definitely make the entrance more prominent. The porch is covered so you can leave them out all year, with evergreen and winter white lights for the winter.
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amelia155
Original Author
9 years ago
Thank you! It's giving me hope that you've been able to do similar things with your house. I'll see if I can find some of those things.