I love your house!

I like the natural cedar shingles but I agree that the maintenance issue and lifetime considerations are a drawback.

The roofline is so dramatic on your home, I would look at the higher quality "shake-like" tile replacements. These usually have very long warranties (50+ years) and minimal maintenance. Unfortunately, it will cost $$$, but for your home I think it's worth it.

Check out Davinci Roofscapes and Ludoshake. The companies have some good options.

I wouldn't add any more dormers. The home looks balanced.

I would maybe consider painting your home a darker color, closer to the eventual roof color. This will help heighten your home and not make your roof such an overbearing feature.

First I must say this is a beautiful home. The hedges close to the house make the roof look larger because it makes the base look shorter, certainly remove them. I agree about changing to the Grand Manor Asphalt shingles. I would move away from the gray look. Try warmer and lighter brown tones such as "Brownstone" and work your color palette from there. I would suggest using a wall color that is closer to the roof color, in that way the roof will not be as dominant to the eye. Paint the garage door the same color as the walls. For trim, I would choose a lighter shade of the wall color.

As for the front door & recessed space, I would first add a large black wrought iron scrolled grille work in the entire recessed space. This will give an additional focal point on the front. Regarding the arched entryway, I would leave the front arch wall, but end it at the right corner of the arched section. In other words, make that corner a pillar. Remove the side wall from there that goes back to the house. If you remove that, it will let much more light into your entryway. Extend the floor of the porch to include the section to the right of the porch. Decorate with large colorful pots for seasonal plants with color, or a large iron bench.

Add very large black lantern lights on each side of the garage. As for adding another dormer, I really don't think you need it.

You may want to make a larger walkway from the driveway to the entrance, in fact, you may want to pave the entire area to the entry all the way up to the house. Make it more of an open area with large more bold colored pots with plants...sort of a patio area.

There are lots of options. Have someone draw some plans up for you so you can better visualize the finished product.

Tfitz - the only bushes I want to rip out are the long hedges in the front and plant something shorter that doesn't block most of the house. I'm keeping all the other trees and round bushes. The previous owners planted beautiful perennial gardens, so when those start blooming they really enhance the curb appeal.

I think your house is beautiful. I wish I could offer advice but I don't know what you could do to make it look any better because it looks so perfect!

Love your house. You are smart to think lower maintenance now that you have a major roof replacement that is needed. Since you have so many specific concerns, I'd speak with an architect to see what can be done but retain the integrity of your home. Then speak with a landscape architect about your landscaping. Do your research first. Look on-line for french country homes and keep an idea book of things that appeal to you. Good luck!

I agree color to give it a bam. Bushes away from house maybe a little cobblestone path to home. Beautiful home. Looks like a fun project. Me

Your home is absolutely beautiful. I think you shrub plan is a good one and if the cedar is a maintenance hassle changing the roof out makes sense. I hope you do not do any structural changes as it is hard to imagine that they could enhance your home as it is so lovely to begin with.

Beautiful home; great landscaping.

Stone coated steel roofing - durable, indestructible!

I would remove the box hedge that is getting overgrown and out of hand! The other landscaping is working well. Just try some dwarf azaleas (Encore blooms spring and fall) that won't grow to cover the windows.

Not a roof expert so cant offer any advice there but agree that a dormer over the garage is not necessary. Trim those hedges so that they are proportional to the house, add some flower boxes in keeping with the style of the home and opening up that dark and arched entry is a good idea. Remove the motion light over the garage and flank the doors with outdoor lanterns and perhaps a standing lantern leading the way to the front door. Might want to move those topiaries on either side of the garage since they can't really be seen by the front door. And a weathervane might be fun and make the expanse of that rooftop kind of interesting. Good luck...it is a beautiful home.

Who are you trying to impress; if you like the house, that is all that matters. With that said, the photos provided and the description do not offer enough information. A redesigned front should fit in and compliment the surrounding context.

As much as I like Certainteed's Grand Manor shingle (which i have on my own home), it is not as beautiful as a cedar shingle roof. It doesn't have the beautiful texture or depth of color of cedar. If you don't like your roof now, you will like it even less with an asphalt shingle. mmilos' suggestion to check out Ludoshake & Davinci roofscape is a great idea. Barbara Griffith has some great suggestions too.

I love your massive roof. It has perfect lines & proportion. It looks old world, sheltering & adds character to your lovely home. It requires truly beautiful material though, so I hope you research and observe before coming to a hasty decision.

Beautiful house! I also feel for you having to replace that big roof.

Beautiful home & Yard!! We have a similar roof which was shake until this year. As another post stated the DaVinci Roofscapes would be pretty but we chose Camelot. I think the Camelot come with a 30 year warranty & are very pretty. Check out the Camelot shingles - they come in several colors. I just read the above post - my roof is the same pitch 3300 square feet & we love the asphalt we chose. Not an ordinary asphalt - has depth. This may be the only change you need. I don't think you can improve on the yard! You might look at Jack Arnold homes photos.

Such a pretty house. I'd change a little as possible and get the replacement roof the same color as the current roof.

Our house is lots of brown and beige on the outside. All our landscaping was here when we bought the house. I love our red Japanese Maples. They add this beautiful pop of color and are under 5 ft so they keep the color low breaking up the brown house. We also have lots of rose bushes which I also love. I have zero green thumb but I'm somehow managing to keep everything alive.

Thoughts on adding decorative shutters to the windows on the ground floor? It looks like there is plenty of room and they could be painted any color you wanted to add some contrast. Just a thought.

I am against removing the hedge. If it is a broadleaf plant it can be reduced by half. Hedges go with the cottagey look of the house.

I also agree that a wrought iron scroll work would be nice in the recess.

I don't think you have to remove the arch. I do think the entrance area would look more open without it. I guess it depends on what you want.

One thing that bothers me is the messy look of the entrance as viewed from the street.

I think it would be much nicer if the round shrub was reduced in size and the tree or shrub removed. I would even revert this area to lawn. Not the entire bed. Just the part in line with the front door. The bed could easily be reshaped.

You only have the one single window that shutters might look appropriate on, and decorative stick-on ones are not the way to go anyway. The big issue with your hedge is that it hasn't been trimmed properly and so you are starting to have a "see through" bottom on a thick top. Consistent fullness of hedges depends on sunlight penetrating to all the foliage. Most people don't have the patience or skill to trim them more narrow on top and fuller on the bottom to accomplish this. Even if you cut it lower, it will continue to thin at the bottom if no sunlight reaches the lower limbs. That's why I'd remove it.

Pyramids - green and full to the ground

Contrast - the ones on the left are more narrow on top. See how the square one around the tree is dying from the bottom up, while the others remain green and full.

Replace wood shingles with a high quality asphalt shingle in a medium brown similar to the shake color. Cut down bushes in front of the house and replace with low, colorful planting seeds. Extend walkway towards front of street in a winding pattern with colorful planting a. Put oil rubbed bronze light fixtures next to front entrance and by garage...a light color paint with contrasting trim and vivid front door would be gorgeous. Go to Pinterest for tons of ideas.

We've put a year (so far) into the gut rehab of our 1932 Tudor house, including replacing the roof, which was covered with its original asphalt and asbestos tiles. After a ridiculous amount of research on my husband's part, we decided on slate. Not only does it look fantastic, but it's the most durable and long-lasting of all the roofing materials, and a natural for a Tudor house. It does cost more, but you'll have less maintenance and you're not likely to have to replace it in your lifetime, even if you're relatively young.

An alternative to slate (which needs a roof engineered to accommodate the tremendous weight) is a slate-look rubber roof. The extra expense is offset by the fact that you won't have to re-roof for 50 years. If you calculate labor and material costs to re-roof asphalt or even that $$ DaVinci stuff in 20 years or so it will have paid for itself. Our friends did their roof in the rubber shake and it looks fantastic. Great for resale too.

http://www.enviroshake.com/why-not-cedar/better-alternatives-to-cedar-and-asphalt-shingles/

I just put on a new premium roof from IKO with a 50 year warranty. They really make a statement over regular shingles, and have great color options. Attached photo is my roof.

Certainteed Weathered Wood. We just replaced our nasty black roof. It is beautiful. We have a white stucco house. Copied from a large local home near us.There are some pics here on Houzz but it doesn't do it justice in photos. Beautiful in person It really looks soft and warm. Love love love it!!!!!!

Love the look of your home as it is, however I understand your desire to change it up. My suggestions are as follows: 1) replace the roof with Duration Premium Shingles - Owens Corning in a sage colour; 2) paint the trim in a dark steely blue or teal colour, including the garage; 3) donate the shrubs across the front and replace with Purpleleaf Sand Cherry shrubs; 4) add a black decorative lamp in the space beside the door, perhaps a lantern on a pole or a post-mounted light, for extra interest. The lighter textured roof will lift the house, and pretty bushes will give colour, contrast, and a beautiful whimsical feel to your property, contrasting with the strong stoic deep-coloured trim.

Beautiful house! The only thing that I would change would be to change those two tiny roof dormers and make it just one, which would make the window approx the same size as the one on the far Rt of house.

The landscaping around your trees really fits in with the look and style of the home, so it is best to keep those. I am sure the bushes were planted for privacy, but it is true the roof line looks domineering since the bushes hide the rest of the house. I think leaving that area completely blank with landscaping would look incomplete, but perhaps you could plant flower beds or smaller plants in the front to give the yard definition.

So many wonderful ideas! Thank you all. I'll be back with some more commentary.

So I had someone who specializes in exterior remodeling come over and he loved our house. He said that we shouldn't replace the roof until we see actual leaks because it looks like we have some life left in our roof. He said that when we do replace it, we should replace it with cedar.

He said that he really like the exterior of the house as is and all he would do is add a pergola to the right of the doorway. He would make place three round columns the color of house walls and then the top of the pergola would be the color of railroad ties. He said I could plant some sort of climbing pllant to go up the columns. He'd add a small bistro set under the pergola.

He liked the arch in my doorway and told me not to remove it.

He also liked the large hedges and said to just trim them down a foot in the Fall.

He also suggested large lanterns on either side of the garage door.

Thoughts?

I like the lantern idea. As far as the pergola, I prefer an earlier suggestion of having a wrought iron piece put in the inset.

Your "specialist" recommended a cedar roof?! Has he offered to pay your higher insurance rates for said roof too?

Beautiful home, you need some boldness at the front door. Not sure if I can see how the door lays out but a red or periwinkle door would create great contrast.

The most important element is a great landscape package, the front has many shades of green. Need to mow the shrub down and pull away form house.

Also pull tall shrubs away from the door entry area to make entry walk feel wider. Extend landscape beds outward from house and focus on the flower material color and height.

Again the outside is very beautiful but needs contrast of color and that should come from a well designed landscape package.

Check out our products at www.gerardusa.com! It is a great roof replacement option because it is a stone coated metal product that will last a lifetime. It comes with a 50 year warranty that protects against hail, wind, and fire. Most insurance companies also give discounts for having a stone coated metal roof. We have profiles that mimic the look of wood shake, tile, and shingles.

Ps. Your home is beautiful!

Wow. Your house is gorgeous!!! I wouldn't change anything! However, you need a new roof, so you have to get that. I would get the new roof first and get used to it before changing anything else.

Pretty house! Your roof choice depends on where you live. If it doesn't need to be replaced, don't replace it. When you need to replace it, take a cue from your neighbors. If a shake roof is standard in your neighborhood then that's what you should use. And I personally think brown roofs are unattractive.