Beautiful home. I like the colors you have. Spray paint the porch chairs black or white. The house will look most beautiful if the cars are always garaged. Hard to see what the property is in the back. The back steps could lead into a large patio with round wrought iron table & chairs for summer dining and enjoyment. In raised-foundation-planting-bed: plant herbs that are hardy and will come up next year. Keep it simple.

Hi baygirlie, not sure what your budget is, I think the front of the house in decent shape, but you can consider adding some covered area in the backyard especially when outside the sliding doors.

HI - baygirlie Nice house but you need an accent color and it seems odd you only have shutters on the upper windows. I think it would look nice to remove the shutters and add a frame around every window and paint it a strong color. A 3 or 4 inch trim should do it and bigger trim around front door. Paint the divider strip between the front door and the sidelight the same color as the door.You might think about replacing the cross lathing on the porch base to some horizontal boards for a less busy look. For the back of the house ,- a pretty striped crank out awning over the patio door and you could exspand the deck or put a stone patio area around the deck.

Pretty house. Baygirlie, did you save the old gingerbread trim pieces? If you did, build a deck off the back porch with an enclosed gazebo room built in. Us the old trim pieces to accent the new deck/porch/gazebo using them to accent a small, found table or as accent on the back and gazebo door. Do your construction work in stages to save on costs. Ex: Build the porch first, see how it does over the Ottawa Winter and then next season add the gazebo on top of the porch (check with local code officer and an architecht to draw up plans). Bon chance. PS Gardening friends could help with the plantings. Us gardeners always have pretty, hardy plants to share with our friends.

Hi Baygirlie
Build a deck out of composite wood spaning the back of the house,using gray and white to extend the colors from the home. Add a pergola over the area near the slider, during the summer you can weave a sunbrella (weatherproof) fabric which will provide shade, but be able to take it out to provide light during the colder months. Use furniture and or fabric to add your pop of color for Fun deck living. Small planting areas along the deck with one interesting shrub or small tree, mixed with perienals and a few annuals to add color. Keep plantings monochromatic so they match your main color of your outdoor furniture fabrics. Do several google searches on deck and back yard ideas. Best of Luck!

binkaba, you are so smart. A pergola is a great idea too. My sister-in-law sewed her own weatherproof shade for her pergola. It does a great job of cooling off the deck. Baygirlie might consider building in some deck seating with storage built-in for her sun shades. Share your pics with us during and after the build. Bon chance!

If the budget allows..or you win the lottery.. :-) change the front door. A more updated door..with a larger window insert. Either a gorgeous square or oval glass. Trim back the large tree that is too close to the house.
Put window boxes spilling full of flowers over the railings. (Hanging baskets are just so predictable for this house style.)
A tapered potted boxwood (christmas tree shape) in a nice fat container by the door...with white impatiens spilling over under the shrub ..
You can paint the front door a different color.
.. a charcoal gray or soft gray garage door.. a soft gold front door. Or if it is a new door..leave it white. There are so many wonderful colors to chose from.
Larger fatter outdoor lights on either side of the door. You can add
two potted shrubs for either side of the garage door.
if you really want to go wild and crazy.. :-) a new garage door with windows in the top 1/4. .. and with those lottery winning get a new medium grain decorative stone aggregate finish put on the driveway. There are l lots of ways to add more punch.

Ann Thanks for the compliment! I'm a big fan of built ins. But my out door decorating I like to mix it up and change my color focus every 5 or so years as things fade with the sun. But the sunbrella fabric is costly but doesn't fade. Next year I'm planning on using the colors of the rainbow and use all 6 colors! I'm still planning it out :) I love using the neutral colors for decking, pergola's and fabric on the pergola's because they are permenant. It's all thinking about what you like. I like to move my outdoor furniture depending on the event I'm planning, so when I rebuilt the deck I left out my built ins. I guess I enjoy change :)

for the back of the house..

I would add a deck the entire length of the house..that will give you a wonderfully large outdoor room for relaxing or entertaining. If possible add a step down level. ..as well with low rounded steps down to the grass.....making the deck..as far out as you can afford or the yard permits. With an over hang or pergola for shade over the door or one side of the deck.for the bbq or shade.

If you are really diving into changing your siding, windows, and doors, I would mix materials - do one material on the first story and another on the second. I would do a darker color on the first story. James Hardie makes great cement siding products that are durable and beautiful - you might look at shingles mixed with board and batten. Also, I agree with wider trim and modernizing the front porch railing and lattice. If money permits, I would also make the posts more substantial (bigger). For the back, I agree with the deck the entire length of the house. Here is a picture of a home with mixed materials for siding (stucco, redwood shingles and redwood siding). This is extreme, however you get the idea.

Hi Baygirlie,

There is an awesome Canadian designer who writes a blog www.MariaKillam.com. Today her post was about the perfect color for siding! Personally, I wouldn't change the color, I'd might remove the remaining gingerbread from the top edge of your porch and make the posts more substantial. Good luck!

Your house looks wonderful. I don't know what the backyard is like but here is what I did in my little cottage on Long Island for privacy and dining rain or shine: This project was done in two stages: 1. build a shed with side barn doors (I painted mine red to match my house) and put a small table and chairs inside for rainy weather dining or relaxing; 2. build a stone patio outside the barn doors for outdoor dining and extend the stones on a path around a pretty flowering garden. This will give you a private, cozy place to sit alone or entertain rain or shine. I wanted some nice outdoor space since I have been doing all the work indoors so far. I hope you can use this idea to help relax a bit during the reno.

In the front, maybe a little box or table in between the chairs with a big colorful plant.

hi,
I do not know your budget, but I would recommend 3 things to do immediately.
Invest in your local good architect, who knows the weather, where to purchase what prices are and can guide you.
2. Take a look at cedar siding and brick as a combination. You can paint the brick. But, I understand the insulation is great and then they put up this beautiful cedar. Cedar seems to fit where you live. And, you can break it up. Veneer brick the garage with good panel wood doors and cedar the house and the lattice and steps turn to brick. The windows stain the wood clear a good window with wood can never have to be touched well for a long time. And, the columns could be brick on the porch painted if you like or a lighter color. rick. There are lots of options in these days.
I would hire the architect block off my areas of work windows/doors, siding/brick?, back of house change look from tall structure to maybe high deck from x room down to
level with land. You could also cedar top area and where deck comes in have some brick. Mix it up.
So break the garage off, actually, I would do that first. upgrading your garage doors and garage outside can increase your. value by 78% nutty, but everyone here will check it.I just learned this and was surprised.
Back to the architect, once he gets you blocked maybe some ideas you can start to order samples, visit houses and look from the outside at windows, cedar, brick, shingle etc.
make a list for your are/hitect. what is your electric bill, water what water heater how old what can you get in energy credits where do you need to start first and what is your timeframe? do you want to change anything inside now is the time, put it in the budget.
I think having a plan is the first place you need to start. I would not order one item without calling in a pro if I was planning on spending more than 20,000 in an area I was not familiar with. Just think about a car, how long before you purchase the one you want?

as I see this there is no sense of entrance to your home. Strongly suggest getting a wider stairway first with color on the railing at either side...perhaps the same color as the front door. Strong visual element that leads the eye to the door.
Front tree is too close to the house but could be laced letting more light thru to the house. Walkway from the drive to the stairway could also be wider with an alternative material; brick, stone or even a combination of materials to say "Here we are. Come on in."

I am with Marvin. I would lose the tree and create a larger landscaped area. Plant new tree, maybe ornamental, as part of that design but farther from the house.

ADConstruction I must have missed your post, I do apologize that is exactly where I am, mixed materials. It is a very tall un identifiable back and I believe needs to be blocked out with two different materials and a cost. The thinking about it and reading nice ideas till you get the number. This is a good size building and I would think we are in the 60,000 range with windows siding deck doors garage, but if you started with a plan you could break the number down and know the final look as you build. 2 back decks would create a great look to bring the height in the back to have the connection to the front. It is a sweet home.

I'm seeing some great contributions here. I'm with binkaba on the full length deck if your budget allows. This would be a nice extended living area. I would consider adding another exit from the rear to the deck to give the deck more access. I would also have some shading device to break it up as binkaba suggested.
As for the siding, I concur with A D Construction and the mixed materials suggestion. If that's teardrop lap siding and it's in good shape I would leave it, (with a coat of paint), however there is too much of it on the back side. I like your idea of the shake and if you did it all the way around on the top half only I think this would be a great look. Check out Cedar valley shake siding or Shakertown. They're both great products and offer a little extra r value to compliment your insulation factor.