jamielynngardner

Curb appeal on a saggy 1980s PNW house

Jamie Gardner
2 years ago
last modified: 2 years ago

I’ve never even seen another home with weird saggy edges like ours. Researching curb appeal remodels never helps much because I can never find anything that looks like our house! Any suggestions to help increase curb appeal and bring our house more modern would be well appreciated, even just photos of maybe similar-looking houses that have been updated.


Roof doesn’t need replacing so we are hoping not to do anything to change it. But our siding is getting damaged in a few spots and we are open to garage door replacement. Also all windows will need to be done soon too. We just put in the grass next to the house, so we would leave that, but are not attached to the bushes. Unfortunately large bushes in the front left of the photo are our neighbor’s.


Comments (12)

  • housegal200
    2 years ago

    It's unfortunate that builders make garages so prominent since only cars live there. That means you need to spiff up the garage and draw attention to the entryway of the actual house on the left. It's great that your neighbors have those big bushes to draw the eye away from the big garage doors.


    Perhaps do a serious pruning of both bushes closest to the house to open it up. I like the red bush but it's too big . New foundation shrubs below the bay window in light and dark greens would also open things up. So would a bright front door in red, blue, or yellow. Maybe go for bronze windows when you change them out, especially if you get a wood or wood look garage door.

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    You could do garage doors with windows and a pergola over it. The vertical windows echo the vertical windows you have.


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    I like the straight windows on these garages since you have straight windows on the house:


  • houssaon
    2 years ago

    I like the style of your house. New garage doors with windows will look good.

  • chloebud
    2 years ago

    Totally agree with housegal's suggestions. Garage door with windows and pergola would look awesome, but even just windows would be nice. Love the yellow door with gray siding. Love the roof color, too. Gray is just easier when choosing other exterior colors.

  • suezbell
    2 years ago

    Since the white fascia emphasis the roof line over the garage door, you might consider painting the fascia the same gray color as the roof and/or siding.

    Painting the two angled side "ridges" over the garage leading to the point a white color might actually do even more to "unsag" the visual.

    Absent a roof change, there is nothing I can suggest for the left and right side of the roof over the house itself.

    If you do decide on a roof change, you might find it less expensive to leave what end slope is already there and ADD a point/gable over the down slope /sag roof, ending up with something similar to a dutch gable roof but with the top gable end overlapping the down slope of what you have.

    https://www.ohioexteriors.com/8-common-roof-types

  • houssaon
    2 years ago

    By the way, I believe the roof is called a clipped gable.

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  • tangerinedoor
    2 years ago

    Ooooooh. I like your house, and it looks so friendly! And I love the roofline. The dog-eared eaves would look like everyone else's house if they weren't dog-eared, and the scale of those features corresponds nicely to the proportions of the house. It is not a rare feature, by any means.


    If it were me, I'd actually not do a whole lot to it. Perhaps a color other than PNW grey might be a little cheerier. And I would absolutely drench it in colorful annuals: baskets and big pots. Petunias will do. You need color!


    Maybe build a little shed for the trashcan, hose, etc. in the same siding as the house. This will prevent animals from getting into it, too.

  • User
    2 years ago
    last modified: 2 years ago

    You need to get the bush/tree in front of the left side of your house far away from your house. If it is possible to relocate to the right side of your driveway by giving it to your neighbors, do that, but if not, give it to another friend or the local park.

    Prune down the reddish bush to the right of your entry steps.

    I also suggest you curve the walk from entry to driveway. It might look very nice if you did that with floating round stones of concrete and dark mulch.

    If I lived there, I think I might give up on the lawn completely and do ground cover. But lawns are easier to maintain, I admit.

    I’d focus on getting garage doors that I really liked, and then decide what color to paint the house, the door and the trim. Personally I don’t like gray.

  • User
    2 years ago

    I might aim for something like this


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    Maybe even with some brick in the walk to the front door extending in front of the garage (but not the whole driveway)

  • gardengal48 (PNW Z8/9)
    2 years ago

    The "reddish bush" is a weeping Japanese maple and one does not "prune down" a JM just to accommodate an online reader's opinion!!

    It's fine to get curb appeal tips regarding paint colors, window treatments and doors from whomever but might be best to let those experienced with landscape design and landscaping suggest what should be pruned, removed or added.

  • suezbell
    2 years ago

    You have a nice home and the roof line doesn't look bad even though it is not your preference.

    If you can find your property line markers, you could "outline" it with a row of bricks or pavers buried within and alongside your property line so only their tops show and then use that as a guide to keep the encroaching shrubs on the left front of the yard. Burying bricks or pavers to outline your property line and/or planting areas on the right as well could make tending the area on the right easier as well.

    Also, your high hung centered light fixture draws attention to the roof you don't like. You might check into your options about changing that for a pair on each side of the garage doors or hang a couple of brackets for hanging flower pots there.

  • mimimomy
    2 years ago
    last modified: 2 years ago

    "weird saggy edges like ours" ... I thought you actually had a sagging roof! Good grief, your house is lovely!! I would do nothing to it except hire a good landscaper to evaluate your landscape and carefully prune as needed. I am not a fan of gray houses, but it looks good. Very nice coach lights on each side of the garage (make sure they are large enough), and a lighter door color and some lighting under the porch roof, and you're good to go.

    On the right side, I would put a fence that comes out a couple of feet, and then across a couple of feet to hide the garbage can. Could even do something pretty with an arbor and some colorful plantings there.

    Nothing the matter with this house! Embrace it and the fact that you have awesome landscaping around it :)

  • housegal200
    2 years ago

    @gardengal48 (PNW Z8/9) I stand corrected on the weeping Japanese maple.

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