Not Your Average Ranch

Michelle Toivonen Thanks for this piece of reality! Many of us must beautify homes with less auspicious beginnings. This is full of great ideas to add elements that would make any ranch more interesting.

designchallenged Thanks for this ideabook and the ideas for enhancing the curb appeal of these ranch-style homes.

Mary Roberts_Williams LOVE the little ranchers!!! Thanks for this article...are you in Austin?

newsprout I too have a little ranch and know exactly what you mean. You have to make the best of what you have. I wish more small homes, cottage houses and ranch houses were featured which probably reflect a larger portion of your readers. I love to see and read about these elegant very large custom homes, victorians and coastal beauties, but the reality is most of us live in more modest homes and are trying to make the most of something more common.

Sarah Enloe I have a ranch, too. We've taken off the old iron porch rails and added chunky columns, removed the "green meatball" plantings (my mother-in-laws term) and replaced them with grasses and have more landscaping plans in the works (as soon as we take care of one of the other traits of the ranch: too few bathrooms and closets). Thanks for the ideabook.

Kimberly Niesz Nice article! My husband and I love ranch style homes and just recently purchased our second. Last year we gave our previous home (a small 800 sq.ft. ranch) a face lift by adding a front porch and new landscaping.
It made a big impact on it's curb appeal.

jenifleur Great ideas. I have a bit of a builder generic two story home and I Love the peaked portico. We have a flat one. Sometimes I wish I could knock down my 1990 house and build a little ranch with tall ceilings and less space to clean :)

Bette My motto when making decisions for my home was low, horizontal and simple. I call my home "The Unremarkable Home". I did rebuild the portico of my home with a less George Jetson feel to the traditional vertical pillars. I recessed the entry lamp, and designed my Ticonderoga Yellow door with the vertical light.

kjr0809 Thanks so much for this. We just purchased a ranch style and it definitely needs something to break up the kleenex box feel of it. Was going to send in a picture and ask on houzz, but this covers it.

nasafemme We have a 2-story barn-style home that looks like a raised ranch due to the sloping eaves on the top floor. To add pizazz to the entry, we built a small portico with stone-wrapped bases on the columns. The stone matches the garage level which has three bays surrounded by the same stone. I would love to see a feature on raised ranches or drive-under homes.

Amy Renea So great to see ranch fans coming out of the woodwork and commenting ;)

Mary - I'm not in Austin...I'm in Hershey!

Kimberly - WOW! Your place looks amazing!

Amy Renea nasafemme and Bette -- your improvements sound (and look!) right on!

Y'all have me thinking about more ranch articles!! Bring on the everyday!

Ieteke Ruypers Volpini I enjoyed this idea book immensely ! I agree with newsprout... I enjoy the over the top, one of a kind homes on Houzz but that isn't reality for many of us. I love to see photos of modest homes, with smaller footprints, lovingly cared for by their owners. This is our small 1940"s one floor retirement home.

appleflag Thank you! We are learning to love our dated 1978 ranch & celebrating it with a big remodeling this year. Can't beat the cozy, well-located neighborhood & walking to school. Love your design ideas.

thebeatonpath I needed this! We live in a 1966 ranch that has never been updated. I, too, stare at the front and wonder how on earth I can make it a bit more updated. I'm thinking Craftsman!

lindadunn2545 I too agree with newsprout. We're currently updating our house and I loved looking through the photos and idea books on Houzz, but when it came to actually implementing them I realized most were out of our price range and did't fit our small home. Hopefully this will spur more idea books on ideas for the average home owner.

stormpeak Our ranch home's curb appeal suffered from too much wood: Cedar shake roof, cedar plank exterior, cedar deck ... To ground the home and vary the materials, we added boulder retaining walls, placed large boulder "outcroppings" among planting beds, installed brick paver walkways and porches, and planted colorful trees and shrubs. Flower pots and flower beds add pizzazz in summertime. Landscape lighting adds drama at night.

Whitney F We bought a mid-century ranch home that the previous owners attempted to turn into a traditional home, complete with crown moldings, leaded glass window details, valances over the windows, etc. We are slowly removing the "fluff" to bring out the beautiful simplicity of the interior spaces, and emphasize the clean angles and lines inherent to its architectural style. We love ranch style, and the casual, friendly, active lifestyle it evokes!

Kristina Iggulden Great ideas and I love the embracing of the ranch! I see a shift towards the reality of most home owners to appreciate and love their more manageable sized homes rather than the palatial houses we have been taught to lust after. Do we really need all that square footage in the end? I love old homes of all styles, but a mid century ranch makes my heart swoon. Thank you for your article!

Amy Renea It's so exciting to see so many positive responses to loving the classic ranch!!

Patsy Carter This is reality - and, most of us live in reality, but there is very little published which offers ideas to the general mass.

noname12 They are nice, but come on these are not your typical 1960 ranch homes. I wish some of these so called home improvement sites would get a REAL house to make over at a REAL cost not something that hits the $25,000 mark and up. I have a POOR TYPICAL RANCH house. The ones here were over my price bracket even when they were 1st built let alone now.

stargazer51 I need to remodel a 1978 ranch that is our retirement home. The original owners combined Mediterranean (orange tile roof) and Tudor (steep roof pitch but framed with trusses so we can't expand up) plus Tudor-like trim in the gables. It has a wonderful view and is private which is why we bought it. My style is spartan traditional but I want to include natural materials. Any suggestions? We are replacing the roof with comp shingles.

Brian Wimbish Now This is Impressive!
...

snicklefritz Really like the simplicity; the biggest problem is none is deer-proof. If we in central Wyo. don't use colored rock, it'll all be gone in the morning.

Amy Renea Snicklefritz -- good point! We in Pennsylvania have the same issue. Fencing has helped as well as mixing the deer resistant plants (daffodils, onions, spurge) in with the crocus and tulips and roses and such. Now if I could just get my chickens to stop scratching up seedlings!

Amy Renea jacqued - I hear what you are saying!! There is much inspiration to be found in larger, luxurious homes, but sometimes it doesn't translate to a more modest house. I love homes like yours and would suggest a cottage or cabin look might look nice on your home. On the front facade, the garage door takes too much visual weight on, while the columns are too light. Since the garage door is a large part of the facade of your home, consider investing in a wooden door, or painting the door a darker color that blends in more with the brick. Boxing the columns and making a railing to porch in the front walk would add balance to the right side of the house. Your chimney is a striking feature and plantings and/or color could make a bigger impact with it. If it is in the budget, the driveway could be replaced, but if it is not, inexpensive plants in brilliant colors (like creeping thyme) could be placed in the cracks to make it look more intentional.

Moving to the back of the house...The base of the sunporch needs some plants or windowboxes to break up the strong white line. If you can put in a patio or porch, it will extend your living space significantly. You have a nice space for a garden that could transform the look of the house!

...and finally...there are a bunch of people that would kill for a brick fireplace!! I would paint that puppy in grey or white and you have a HOST of modern options for decor paths or you could leave it natural brick and go rustic/modern with natural blond woods (lighter to contrast the dark brick) and industrial metals.

YOU HAVE OPTIONS! It doesn't matter how small or dated your home might seem, it can always be helped with good design choices! Hope this helped a bit!

Amy Renea Re: I need to remodel a 1978 ranch that is our retirement home. The original owners combined Mediterranean (orange tile roof) and Tudor (steep roof pitch but framed with trusses so we can't expand up) plus Tudor-like trim in the gables. It has a wonderful view and is private which is why we bought it. My style is spartan traditional but I want to include natural materials. Any suggestions? We are replacing the roof with comp shingles.

Stargazer -- I'd love to see photos! Color can blend styles that seem disparate, so that would be a good place to start, but I can't really give specific advice without a photo. You are blessed to have found a private space with a view!!! Play that up!!

Nancy Sloop We are in the beginning throes of renovating the kitchen and some parts of the rest of the upper level of our 1982 ranch (it has a walkout finished basement where we're living until the main floor is done). After we do the interior, then we want to update the exterior. For example, the faded orange brick just does nothing for me, and my husband really, really wants a large front porch, big enough for us to sit on (despite having both a deck and a patio in the back). I'm having a hard time visualizing how to add a front porch as the house is currently configured, though. Thank goodness this is at least a year off.

Jillian Ortner We inherited a ranch from my husband's parents when they moved to town. It's red, and matches all of our outbuildings. I see it in a warm dove grey, with a deep red and glass door, a honey wood and glass wood door, or a blue and glass wood door. I'm waiting for a good hail storm to damage the red siding, so my husband will get on board with changing it (and fighting my in laws in the process) every change we've made has been made with a fight. Even remvoing her precious Ewe (EEW) bushes came with a fight, and although I'm still working on the landscape, I get more and more compliments. This article added much to my idea book for exteriors. Thank you, now I can show my husband how much better and how much more reflective of us, this place can be :)