We thought of adding foot and hand pegs and letting the kids "rock climb"!!

No, don't go that way for sure. It really looks fine especially with the exposed aggregate sidewalk. Embrace it. Maybe paint your front door & door casing a glossy charcoal color.

its not ugly! its the house color, the 70's side lights, and the landscape.

if your house was painted in a gray color, with a pop at the front door it would look awesome.

I had an uncle who used to install those kind of walls in the 70's. It was all the rage back then.......not so much now. I agree to leave it alone until you can afford to do it right. I don't think there is a quick fix out there that wouldn't end up looking worse.

Not sure where you live, but can you get something that grows on stone like ivy (although that will eventually ruin the grout), or some trellises with roses, or clematis or similar to soften that rock? Light pink might look nice.

Paint it white!

Leave it an embrace it like you love it. Paint the exterior the white/gray of the lava rock. Pretend for a bit that you LOVE the lava rock, How would you enhance it? Install a lava rock fire pit? If it's your "elephant in the room" and you can't remove it - enhance it!

It's not ugly. It has character and goes well with the aggregate concrete. But the green siding does not work with it. A color from the rock would work best for the siding. What color is your roof?

What did you do? Paint it!

Paint the stone the same color white as your trim until you can remove it. Similar to this photo. Add tall flower pots (match new door color) with tall colorful plants in front of each wall to accent the entry. Consider painting the wall above the door also white. Paint the front door a fun color like orange, yellow or turquoise to add some punch.

This is a different type of stone, but a similar idea.

Here is an Orange Door with a green house. I think the color contrast would work well on your home.

You could also hand paint the stone in similar colors to this house. But I am posting this photo mostly for the green house and orange door.

how do you remove it

Unify the color and style of the house entry. The paint colors, light, door and hardware, side stained glass panel all are different architectural styles. We can't see the entire house, so it is hard to tell what overall style it is.

Consider Charcoal Paint to match the stone. Frosted glass for the side window. Simpler door in an attractive accent color. Different overhead light in black matte metal.

I’m curious what you ended up doing? I have similar ugly rock only mine is peachy. I’ve vonsidered a concrete stain.

I think removing it ruins the house-- you can tell it's part of the style of the house. Embrace this stone when it's part of the architecture. But don't fight it with that wimpy white trim. In the 70s we liked dark colors-- natural and woody was in. The trim would have been brown and the siding would have been some dark color. Either that or paint everything white.

I feel the pain, especially as my mother's painter painted the rocks with bright enamel paint (red, white, black, and gray)! Hate it. May have someone sandblast the rocks because the paint is peeling.. I need ideas! The remainder of the house is white stucco with dove gray trim.

@ f5trouble It is 5 years old post. Please create your own and you get more help.

Put some plants like ivy to cover it.

Paint it for sure. And plant some IV to grow on top of it. You might get used to it with that update, if not it gives you time to save money to fix it and make it right.

I would leave it alone till you save up enough to properly renovate the outside. I would not paint it. I don’t think it is awful. I agree to focus on the inside renovations that are affordable❣️

Here’s what I did with the ugly 70’s rock…

Before

Ugh. Fella coming tomorrow for quote on rock removal

This is AMAZING! So going to Home Depot for paint samples! Thanx!

Maybe the plant panel can save you

I would have it painted to keep the stone character, maybe soft white. Then tackle landscaping and clean up the walkway. Lots of possibilities!

After:

Would love to know what you did and how it turned out.

Haha. Dong Chun!
That was before we bought the house. No one maintained a thing. That was on listing if you can believe....
i had painted the rocks with a light white wash as in the earlier more grayish rock photos and the house was painted dark gray.

Oh, maybe that wasn't for me... 🤷🏻‍♀️

The limewash was great for leaving the veins of rock but ultimately I went with removing rock and put up James Hardy board.

Currently as of June 2021:

After