A neighbor of mine had her shingles cleaned and then stained them a light yellow tan and they look great. I think your house has great proportions and nice features like the bay windows and the round column posts. I even like the screen.

A little color in your landscape will help.

i've been working on my cedar siding this past summer. i had wanted 'clear' & natural and to keep the bleached cedar look. but my soon to be 30 year old cedar shingles were also majorly neglected by the previous owners, like yours. i cleaned the shakes with a scrub brush. let them dry for a few weeks and then used an oil based translucent stain so the texture of the wood showed through. i opted for the darkest brown color after much agony (lighter oils had orange tones and i hated that).

there are really a lot of options with cedar, including staining any solid color of your liking. there may just be too many different competing surfaces. unifying them by using a single color may give the home that contemporary feel you are seeking. it does have a lot of character. i like the contrast of the white columns and trim. have fun with your project.

Wonderful feedback thanks so much

Gray out your garage doors, and sharpen up your recessed porch with charcoal gray and stainless steel lighting. Remove the storm door and paint a bright color on the front door. Red is always in, but think about a different color to catch the eye. Cobalt or Turquoise blue.

Landscaping with a swath of colorful perennials and grasses, flowering shrubs and pronounced path lighting will highlight the entry. Transplant the conifer trees to a different location in the landscape.

I would replace columns with simple square columns, they would flow better with the way the brick coumns frame the garage and less eye drawing. I would tend to go with cooler colors, possible white and light gray. Once again minimzing the affect of columns and textures but giving nice shadows. Change exterior fixtures to brushed with whiter light, definitely turn the fixtures up and away from the garage doors to keep a cleaner line. New garage doors with windows and grilles to match house. Don't be afraid to paint brick, it will look clean and crisp..

The best way to bring attention to the front door would be to reroute the walkway with an arc that brings you directly to the front rather than along the side of the porch. This would also allow more area for plantings inside that arc and soften the front while de-emphasizing the garage.

Paint the garage doors "stampede" by Benjamin Moore ( a grey green colour, gorgeous!) Plant some colourful flowers and make a flower bed along the front of the walkway, maybe some bright yellow mums? Have the driveway sealed to bring back the black colour. Paint the front door a muted red.

I'd paint the columns a darker color, so that they recede back into the rest of the porch and let the white trim & woodwork show up better for the front door. I'll second the idea of painting the front door a brighter color.

The garage doors are too white. Light colors will pop out and for me a garage door is too utilitarian to want it to pop. Tone those down and maybe the colums too. With only one angle in this photo, it's hard to tell but the tree might need a few lower branches trimmed off to view the house better. Many homeowners neglect to do that and it can make a big change while still keeping the shade of the tree.

You are fortunate to have those cedar shakes. I would keep them if you can get them back in shape. They add so much texture and visual appeal to the house. I like the gray of the shingles and the contrast of the white trim, but paint the garage doors to match the shingles - I don't know why people paint their garage doors in the accent color. Since the garage doors are so much a part of the front facade of the house, you may want to consider replacing them at some point. There are a lot of very nice options out there. This is a nice colonial which already has a very appealing classic look with the white columns and gray colors, so work with it, not against it. I can't tell from the angle of the photo, but could you add another column off to the left of the front door as you face it? You can't make the house "modern" but by adding more contemporary accessories/touches - simple nickle finish light fixtures, address, planters, that sort of thing - you will update it in an eclectic way, playing classic against more contemporary. Paint your front door an accent color (lose the white storm door, and if you must have one, there are simple wood ones out there which you can paint to match).

As far as landscaping, the shrubbery looks kind of "mundane suburban". While you need some year-round structure, I would replace some of this with grasses, and for summer color, flowers of one color. Reds or oranges would look particularly nice with the grays and whites. It looks like your front walk is brick, so you're probably not interested in changing that, but what I would do is add a planting bed to fit in the curve of the walk. This would bring more interest further out into the yard. You could plant this very simply - pachysandra, perhaps - and put some kind of modern birdbath or sculpture in the center. I would then add a planter at the corner of the walk closest to the street.

pressure wash the shingles. You can rent fall protection equipment from the any equipment retail store.
Paint the door and the furniture great fun colours. Think lavendaer, yellow, blue.

That is a lovely house. I can't tell what the exterior material under porch is and there is wood and brick, again another material on Garage area? Needs unifying. YES, by all means paint those garage doors . I would pressure wash and stain cedar a lighter gray and do that a shade or so lighter on garage doors. Stain/paint garage surround to tie in with upper area. It is just a very lovely house. You are lucky. Too hard to tell from pic about columns but that should not be hard to get better placed.Pop of color on front door, maybe a navy. A gray/green somewhere would also loo lovely on this house. Enjoy!

oh and light fixtures please, all new!That will make a huge difference. Do in style you are going for, more oversized, somewhat transitional

Wonderful feedback thank you all

I have had to paint or fix up many entries over the years, and I'm always amazed what a difference a beautiful color on the front door makes. Here's what I did with one house that had a screen/storm door. If you want to keep a storm door, pick out a new one, in a color you like, and have it installed. Paint the front door to match. To me it was worth the price of a new storm door to know the finish would last a long time. I've not had good luck with trying to paint them and having them wear well.

My simple suggestion is..put in another column , to the left hand side of door..yes and the color need to blend in better

agree with Corbel Construction, LLC to replace columns with square ones. why don't you add 2 more at each end of the porch a few inches out from the walls? paint them all a color closer to the siding. is there a way you can lighten the porch ceiling?

clean your cedar shingles. You'd be amazed what a cleaning solution and a light/moderate pressure wash will do. Honestly, no one is really going to be looking at how your columns are balanced with the front door, and even if they do, it would drive them equally nuts if they weren't spaced equally in the porch. Replacing the garage doors with something much more attractive would probably make the most difference because they are such a huge feature to the front of the house. Just search garage doors in houzz and you'll find plenty of beautiful looking options.

I love these carriage doors but don't have the budget for this now, most of our budget is being spent on the interior although I will aim to update them in the next few years. For now I can paint them if that's an option so they're not such an eye sore. Sharleeg asked about the material under the porch, it's actually a light grey textured brick colour so it's very light on the porch right now.

I love these carriage doors but don't have the budget for this now, most of our budget is being spent on the interior although I will aim to update them in the next few years. For now I can paint them if that's an option so they're not such an eye sore. Sharleeg asked about the material under the porch, it's actually a light grey textured brick colour so it's very light on the porch right now.

Stain shingles, change garage doors to wood, add in landscaping. Maybe pink knockout bushes

What about putting posts similiar to these on the porch (to scale)? Also have you tried cleaning the shakes with a mixture of 50/50 (laundry)bleach and water with a wand sprayer. A friend uses that to clean his cedar fence. He also then uses LINSEED oil on them. Says it lasts 3-5 years which would give you the time (potentially) until you replace it?

In addition, if you didn't think it was too much maybe having cedar post/arch type post around/above the garage door?

Love those pillars, we move around nov. Would you recommend painting the garage doors the pillar colour too?

No, leave the columns white to match your window trim. They look very crisp and bright against the grays.

Kathryn would the garage stay white too?

No, paint the garage doors in so that they are not such a focal point of the facade. You might have to experiment with color a little here, because you definitely want to stay more towards the gray of the shingles instead of the red of the brick. I would try to stay close to the intensity (i.e. saturation of color) of the brick though, or at most a shade or two lighter. The white should be on whatever you want to highlight, namely your columns and windows.

Because the emphasis is to be on the entry, then color should be pointed toward the entry. If the garage doors are to be deemphasized, then they need to be played down. I agree with Kathryn about picking a gray for the garage doors, a medium gray instead of light gray will blend into the brick color.

At the beginning you stated you are more "contemporary traditional". Contemporary architecture usually highlights details by emphasizing through greater contrast. Wider horizontal trim lines of the roofline and inside the entry porch could really pop with white trim paint also.

Elise, I like the examples you've posted. Mav Helvad, it's hard to tell from the photo - what do the tops of the columns attach to? Also, I was just noticing: you have a small amount of wood siding above the garage doors. I would paint this darker than the doors themselves so that you don't get an odd appearance of the garage doors going right up to the roof. Also, rewire the out door lighting so that you can add some nice big sconces on either side of the garage doors (mounted to the brick).

Hello again, the reddish brown siding above the garage doors is also found on the side of the roof and under the porch. Can this be painted? I cannot replace it yet but will in a few years when I update the cedar shakes that are over 30 yrs old

Yes, it can be painted. Is it that dark red color under the porch, too? I guess it must be - dumb question! What material and color is the wall of the porch? Maybe that could be the color of the garage doors and the wood siding could be a dark gray.

Stain them all the same color. If they are in good condition, cedar shingles are worth keeping. Shakes are what you put on the roof. :)

Light grey stone brick under the porch, it's the only place we see the light grey brick. And thanks, Elise for the clarification ;)

Hmm...I think I would try painting the garage doors to match that gray stone brick, then' if that's too light, go a shade or two darker. Paint or stain the wood siding a darker gray.

I would use llinseed oil....the old fashioned way! Mix with turperntine. It does darken when used often and will darken to some degree. You may also add color to it if you would like...yellow is the highest seller for those buying homes. Double check this to make sure it has not changed..funny thing is it gets repainted most times! Good luck!!

Thanks again everyone. Note that the siding, windows etc are not wood, think they are aluminum.

Garage is 35% of the curb view, yours might be more. Fix the garage up, add hardware or paint it. Add flowers paint the front door. Google garage doors, find a cheap way to fix it.

What did you end up doing? Can we see pictures?

Hope I am not intruding on above comments. I need some guidance on how to improve look of wall. House built 1860's North West England. My husband likes character of wall but I think it looks run down. Looks like when ranch style house built next door they added the regular bricks to give height and top with original wall. I was thinking maybe put wooden panelling on top half of wall, giving it a clean look yet still kept character of old wall. Any suggestions would be most appreciated.

Barbara Stewart - please create your own Design Dilemma post.