Agree with Brandi about keeping the brick and removing the shutters. The dark blue-gray trim with the red-orange brick is one of my favorite looks, but there are other options too, such as a lighter blue-gray or green-gray. The current white garage and front door colors don't do anything for the brick color.

Can you post a close-up of the brick itself? The roof color looks really different on the 2 pictures - what is its color? And closer pictures of the porch, walkway and retaining wall.

Not sure what you mean by adding trellises to the windows. Do you mean muntin bars? Your ranch house style doesn't really lend itself to those. I think you'll like the way it looks with newly painted trim and garage doors, renewed porch and landscaping.

Thank you! I will try and take some pics to post today or tomorrow. The roof was black but has faded... I think it will probably need replacing in the next few years. The brick is also old and very worn looking, and I am not a huge fan of the particular shade, but the picture Brandi posted definitely helps me to see the potential!

As for my crazy trellis comment (lol), yes, I was referring to muntin bars. Re-reading my post this morning, I am not sure what I was thinking!

Slarsen,

I will go a little away from the others (other than definitely no muntins), and this is all inexpensive or no materials cost. Go with your thought to paint the entry door and possibly the garage doors. Keep the shutters and paint them. For now, unless budget loosens, keep the 3 vertical decorative metal uprights on the porch (and possibly paint black to replicate wrought iron), I'd bet my business here in the Dallas area they are cast metal, but they usually contribute to support of the beam for the porch roof. Take out the horizontal sections of metal--heck, add to your remodel budget by scrapping them, or use them elsewhere in your landscaping. Next, leaving the bed plants, and the tall tree? shrub? at the right corner of your home, tear out the incorrectly proportioned now, because of age and growth hedges--it closes off the whole front appeal of this home. You ask for cost estimate, I assume you will DIY this, cost is a few hours work for you (and anyone you can sweet talk into helping, and by my count, probably 3 colors/sheens of paint...depending on quality, less than $100 + your hours.

Cost of buying a new home doesn't generally allow for all the wishlist remodeling right away, this is a quick way to improve your exterior street appeal, and once you have the home, get a feel for what you want to do with it when you have lived with it for awhile. Also, much as you want to improve things, with a tight budget, and a home you are not familiar with, it is sometimes wisest to keep some of the available funds for things that may come up inside that you have to have, once you move in. Replacing/covering the columns, adding dormers to the roofline (an expensive process, and best done with the imminent roof replacement you mention).

Here are some other ideas for colors to work with your brick. Personally I love your brick color, and the texture of brick (especially a bit worn). It just needs the right color with it to make it look great, and your current black and white isn't doing it any favors. For some reason the first one is looking very gray on the monitor I am using, On my other monitor is is a soft green. Using darker and lighter tones of the same color, as in the second photo, also looks good. You might consider that for your garage and window trims.

When you take your pictures, is there a way to have them so that they are larger when I click on them? It's so much easier to see detail and give suggestions. Your photos don't enlarge at all when I click on them.

Sadly, I am not technical enough to advise you on how to do this.

We are becoming bigger fans of painted brick here at our firm. Attached are a couple of before and after shots of a project we completed a couple of years ago. This was a very involved remodel but it does illustrate how much painting brick can change the look of a home. For your house I will say the addition of some dormers and perhaps an entry gable would alter the long, linear character. Replacing the metal supports with substantial columns might also help relieve the linear character and add some vertical elements. Since the house is lacking much in the way of architectural details painting the trim might add some interest.

Interesting comment by Norwood Architects. As architects, they see the possibility of changing the long, linear design of the ranch style into something else. But you may like the ranch style just fine, in which case smaller changes would suit you. With your comment about a tight budget, and the roof needing replacing in a few years I'd start now with the less expensive changes, vs altering the roof line.

If funds permit, spending some funds on a professional landscape plan or color selection. My SIL just hired someone who, for $120, is coming to her home to advise her on color selection for her interior paint projects. Money well spent in my view.

I'd think long and hard about doing something in an attempt to "update" the exterior of this house. It's a nicely proportioned, intact, charming sort of example of exactly what it is which is a mid-century rancher.

You could change it completely into something else with a major architectural overhaul like taking off the roof, but on a limited budget, tacking things on to make it look more current will look, well, tacked-on (to a midcentury rancher). In terms of gables, this has a low pitched gable roof. Gables on a house don't all have to have the same pitch, but you really don't want to have smaller gables with pitches that are a lot steeper than the main gable. (There are exceptions to this, but generally it doesn't look right.)

The insides of houses adapt because over half a century people live differently, technologies change, and things like that. Nobody expects you to cook over a fire if you live in an 18th century house. But the outside is different. I know it might be difficult to look at a house like this that just looks "dated" to the generation that grew up in these houses, and not want to change them so I am going to put this in a context where there has been a longer view of history.

Look at what our parents and grandparents did to Victorian houses. My mother had decorating books from the 1950s that talked about taking out those drafty leaded cut-glass and dark stained glass windows, and putting in big bright picture windows. Tearing off those creaky porches with all that hard-to maintain gingerbread trim and putting on a nice concrete porch with an aluminum awning roof and decorative ironwork (just like on your porch)

But in retrospect, the picture windows and light decorative iron work did not really change the Victorian into a different house, sometimes it just butchered it. They just didn't see that until later.

So you could make changes like wood columns if you really don't like the ironwork, but it would really be best to use narrow wood columns that were compatible with the period rather than trying to do something Craftsman inspired, for example, because that's popular right now.

My advice, (which you are welcome to ignore) would be to make the outside look like a nice example of what it already is, rather than trying to turn it into something else.

Palimpsest, I agree with you completely. Well said.

Palimpsest's right. A light touch to enhance your fine example of mid-century ranch is better than a mash up of current cookie cutter adornments. Houses like yours aren't made anymore, and they're starting to looking unique and stylish in comparison to what's being built these days (Home Depot Eclectic -- starting to look boring). I love your brick.

A gentle refresh without destroying the look might include:

Updated trim colors. The dark blue gray above is very nice. I thought this soft moss green was pretty with your brick too. A darker green for the shutters adds depth, contrast & visual interest. Perhaps even darker than shown here. Wider shutters would have more impact too.

Updated garage doors, but in the same style vein.

A bigger light for some bling. I used a transitional light here, since your house is transitional itself: not exactly modern, but not exactly traditional either. Perhaps in black to match painted black metal supports & railing.

A brighter color for the door, but that depends on your tolerance for color. Some people like color on their houses, some want a more refined look. Here's a dark greenish blue.

Maybe replace the ceiling lights on the porch with can lights: one over the door, the rest equally spaced. They would bathe that part of the house with a lovely soft glow at night, which would look very cool on your mid-century house.

And architectural shingles when it comes time to redo the roof. They will add subtle interest to an otherwise boring plane.

What would you all do to add to the curb appeal of my home? Our home is out of place in our neighborhood, it's filled with two story farmhouses, colonials and craftsman, many with front porches. I feel that if our home blended better with the neighbors, it would increase its value. I've been thinking of a major reno to change its style, but I'm intrigued by the idea of keeping it true to itself.

I would paint the wood trim (including the porch ceiling) a soft sage green, black shutters and new wooden columns with wood railings to replace the metal ones.

My husband and I are getting ready to redo the roof but would love to add some more architectural interest for street appeal. Any suggestions or helpful comments would be greatly appreciated.