judyg I like it exactly as is, stunning. Work on the foundation plantings.

Interiors International, Inc. Craftsmen details will look great on your house. It will make an already cute house even better.

Stacey McKenzie Wisteria! You can plant one by each pillar and have them meet in middle at the top. Or plant by the windows and have them hang on top. The house color is great, but you can go a little darker. Don't know how adventurious you are, but for the door you can paint it high gloss red, black, or eggplant. Make sure it's a glossy finish. Would look stunning. We live in LA and see that quite a lot. Also, you can hang Craftsman or modern style house numbers. I like the shingles.

Jayme Hobbs Are u set on taking off the shakes? I like them and think those look more Craftsman than regular siding would.

interiorsbyj I think your house looks great. But if you want to make some of the changes you mentioned, then I would invest in an architect. He/she can do some renderings for you so you can see the changes before you spend the money on them. It is much cheaper to make changes on paper than in brick & mortar.

Ironwood Builders Camilla, Leave the shingles, siding and brick..change out the columns...You are heading in an Arts and Crafts direction. With a bit of rework on the shingles you can add corbels to gable ends. Please don't put wisteria on the house. It is invasive and unless you are diligent in keeping it off, it will tear the house apart. I have some on a pergola over a gate...well away from my primary investment.[houzz=Wendell Arts & Crafts][houzz=Craftsman exterior]

handymam I agree with you Jayme! I think the shakes are craftsman looking. I think changing to square columns is more in keeping with craftsman as you mentioned camilia. Maybe a stone pier for them to sit on. You can find tons of pics in the ideabooks, colors too. Canging the door will really give you the feeling you are going for. I think your house is cute, but will look great when you finish making changes. :)

Jayme Hobbs pics

camilia Thank you so much! It sounds like everyone likes the wood shingles/shakes. If we keep them, then what color would you recommend painting the house? If we go darker, then there wouldn't be enough of a contrast between the wood and the paint color, right? Should we keep the house a light color for contrast?

For the tapered columns, I would love to do a stone pier, but would the stone look funny on top of the red brick? Should we make the pier out of the same red brick or maybe a white wood material? Or maybe even the wooden shingles like the photo Jayme attached - but would this look okay on top of red brick?

I definitely like the idea of a high gloss door. For red, would you do fire engine red or more of a brownish red like we currently have? Will have to look at some photos to see if I can find examples.

Thank you to everyone for steering me in the right direction. You guys are great!

losthorizonlisa Love keeping the shakes... wish I had them! Agree: add corbels, go with square columns with bases, Craftsman numbers, new door. I'm jealous! Your house already has great Craftsman bones... I'm remaking a 70's bungalow without half the built-in charm. I've seen photos of mixed element brick / stone, just not sure if too busy with 2 sidings also. Keep us posted.

libradesigneye For the craftsman look you want, you will want to redo the front entry portico gable that your contractor probably just built to open the eaves.

If you take the face off of it, and open it inside to the ceiling, then you can add a open truss timber to front of it extending beyond the roof line, with new posts - use more brick to bring the pilasters up underneath to be at least 30" above finish porch floor. You can incorporate the existing stoop in a larger stoop and just keep the brick as it is easy to find and add and is perfectly classic here.

As for shingles, you want to us a translucent stain to take them to a natural toned mid-tone mossy green, and all the white gables and trim around your white windows (keep them white for now) would go one shade deeper, like a forest green. The tan color on the body of the house then is fine as is with those additions. Make the new truss and posts follow craftsman elements noted above with rafter tails and exposed fastener plates / bolts, but you can do them in paint grade and paint them the same darker green as the rest of the trim. Your more brown red door is perfect with this color palette, but you may eventually want a craftsman door with the upper windows.

Jayme Hobbs If it were me, I would not mix stone with brick on the base of the column..not sure if that's what u meant. Do you have a plan for beefing up those columns yet? I know there are some pre-made Craftsman-like columns, but do not know any size info. Color wise, I think u can keep the shakes light or dark and that it would work with many colors. Or paint/stain them darker according to the look u want...On Houzz u can look at Craftsman homes..go under browse room, exterior, type in Craftman in search box...lots of good color scheme examples.

Precision Door Service of Hampton Roads I am going to recommend that for your front door you consider finding a Provia Dealer in your area. WONDERFUL doors, beautiful & a great warranty. An example of two that we did...

camilia LostHorizonLisa - Thanks for the great photos. I like the square (non-tapered columns). I think that would be a good solution for our house - so we would not have to worry about putting the shorter tapered columns on pedestals and what the pedestals should be made of to match the brick. Will definitely look into that.

LibraDesign - Thank you so much for the wonderful advice. Fortunately, the portico was built in 1997 by the previous owner (not by us), so we are more than willing to make changes to it. Anyhow, great suggestions. As someone else suggested, I may have to hire a designer to put this on paper so I can visualize all the changes. We hired an architect for our interior model, but for some reason I don't think he does exterior design work.

Jayme - I have spent hours and hours on Houzz, browsing through Craftsman exterior photos and other photos until my wrist hurts ... LOL! The more I looked at photos, the more convinced I was that my house would need major structural changes on the outside to give it a more Craftsman feel. We are already spending a small fortune on the interior remodel, so I am hoping to just make a few simple changes on the outside and not spend too much. Maybe end up with a "Craftsman-Lite" exterior. Anyhow, will consult with a designer to see what they say.

Thanks for all the great ideas, everyone. I will definitely post photos of the end result when we are done.

Camilia

Jayme Hobbs It does already have a Craftsman appearance...the thicker columns would add a lot, only thing is, not a lot of room to work with if you go with the same size portico..but u could have columns made smaller scale also. I really do not think it needs a whole lot of changes...I would also think about adding the "brackets"..sorry, I don't know the proper terminology...to the soffits...I really like your home!

camilia Thank you, Jayme. I appreciate your input. Yeah, I don't know the terminology either. Had to google "gable" last night. LOL! Will have to look into the options for the columns. So many decisions to make!

Ironwood Builders Sorry...I do my best to keep the tech jargon out of the discussion...but I don't know any other words for some of this stuff...and who would respect me if I said that big triangle thingy on the end of the roof!

Jayme Hobbs Not directed at anyone when I say anything about terminology..I know it is second nature to use it in our fields.....and I would respect u Ironwood if u said the "big triangle thing"..but I hear exactly what u are saying

Ironwood Builders no worries Jayme, nothing but respect for you!

Marie Hebson's interiorsBYDESIGN Inc. Agreed - I like the look of your home's exterior - maybe paint the front door a complimentary colour to the interior - re-do landscaping. Love the brick, love the cedar shakes - lovely!

Susanna I think your house is lovely as is, also. I read through this and I don't think anyone mentioned lighting. I think it would be an opportunity to add more of a craftsman-style look with exterior craftsman light fixtures. Sometimes it's the little details....

Susanna Like these maybe...

camilia Ooh, love the lighting. You are right - maybe in addition to the new columns, new front door/garage door, fresh coat of paint and landscaping, little details like the lighting and new Craftsman style house numbers is all that we need.