I would lose the shutters, light standard, shrubs and tree....paint the brick and siding...extend sidewalk area..opt for rocks and landscape lighting...most of the work you could do yourself..good luck and have fun!!

I agree with many of the other comments: Kevin needs to start his own consulting business. Just because he is classified as a 'non-pro', he obviously has wonderful ideas and a great eye. More so than some of the 'pros'.............Go Kevin!

I'm not really sure how to go about starting a side business. No I'm not a pro but I do have, in addition to other degrees, an Associates Degree in Architectural Design so I feel like I do have some expertise. If people are interested in having me do some mock ups of what their house/room, etc. could look like I would be glad to help. I would say have those people email me and we could work something out, except I don't know how you email someone from the Houzz website. BTW, thanks We Do Stuff. I appreciate the compliment.

Kevin- I think the business would be something less than full-fledged architecture or design. The gap that you serve so well is people like me who are floundering to even visualize the realm of the possible. By being able to take a photo and use it to mock up concepts quickly and cheaply (at least more cheaply than design/architecture firms), I think you would be able to find a lot of folks hungry for just that type of work- rough visual concepts and advice on things that could be done to improve a look. For example, I would actually like to follow up with you on our earlier thread with a few more questions, but don't know how to communicate directly with you (without either of us sharing our private email over a public discussion). Does anyone know a way to do that through Houzz?

Kevin, what if you made a personal website, gave us the URL, then people could contact you through it.

Kevin, I just emailed you. It said it successfully submitted, so we'll see if you get it. You should post your website on your profile, if you haven't already done so.

Kevin, I would change the red or the font color.... it's blinding....

WOW! I don't even know where to start. First off thank you so much for all the wonderful comments. It's so nice of everyone to lend their expertise to this thread. I honestly thought it was dead after about 20 comments and forgot to sign in and check it until now. Only to be shocked that there 212 comments!! WOWZERS! Ok so a few things...

@kevin you're kind of a God on this page. You've definitely got a great talent. I really like your suggestions. Craftsman is very popular here in there North Shore of Chicago. I'd love to pick your brain more on possible paint colors, but your photoshop talents are amazing! Really! Thank you for taking the time to do that.

I'm still working on going through the suggestions. We are definitely open to changing the window size. I can't do floor to ceiling windows for fear it's the baby's room and you never know what can happen. I completely agree that tree in front has to go. We just brought this house and don't really know where to start. It is very asymmetric. I think the windows in front are a great place to start. I'm planning on reading everyone comments and taking notes. I really look forward to put this into play. Thank you so much for your suggestions.

Kevin, I submitted a request on your site too, so let me know if you get it,

Kevin, I google'd it and you didn't come up on the first 8 pages, but when I clicked on the link you provided, it went right to your site. I've saved it in Favorites so I can find you later. Thank you very much for setting this up!! I am a decorator and will surely be in touch as I have clients who need this service :)

@airstreamingypsy, Changes made. Sorry about blinding you but red is my favorite color. Thanks for the suggestion. I've added my website to my profile.

You can go many ways with the exterior and I think the first thing that would be of most benefit is to determine the style you want. You can stick with the rancher look, go farmhouse style, change it to craftsman, modern, your limit is really imagination and of course, budget. The safest and least costly is to spruce up what you have. I recommend you take your time and play with pintrist for awhile.

@Jackie Lyon. Would be glad to help you on colors, etc.

Hey Kevin fans- I just wanted to let everyone know that I engaged Kevin for some ideas through his new website (above in the thread), as (I believe) his first paying customer, and he did some cool mockups for me with a new style of porch roof, new colors, shutters, etc. for just a few hours at very reasonable rates. The process allowed me to get into more detail about what I don't like currently, some areas I thought needed focus, etc. (without hijacking Jackie's original post any more than I already had), then we did a few iterations on some aspects of the look. Great work and easy process! I would definitely encourage others looking for more than a few minutes of his focused attention to do the same!

dschulte1965 - awesome!! Thanks for posting that great testimonial :) Kevin, I am sure I'll be in touch as well :)

I'm SO pleased that Kevin is taking all of the comments seriously. We remodel, and I do the designing for our clients, but I would definitely keep his info for those difficult 'what on Earth should we do?' projects. Best of Luck to you, Kevin.

Thanks, We Do Stuff. I'm not trying to take the place of the designer, draftsperson, architect, contractor, etc., just hoping to provide Houzzers and others with a visual representation of their ideas. dschulte will definitely want to work with building professionals to do the actual work. Think of me as the guy who allows you to see how your "ugly duckling" can look as a "beautiful swan".

Jackie, just checking in to see if you have made any decisions on a design direction for your house.

Hi @kevin! Yes! Thank you... we actually found a really nice house in our neighborhood where we love the paint color. It's North/South facing like ours too so we're hoping the shadows cast the same light on our house but I believe they said it was a sears siding that we could match. It's called Costal Sage. I'm just curious how it would look against the wood garage doors. Here's the link to the color https://assets.searshomeservices.com/resources/WeatherBeater_101415.pdf

I used a similiar siding on a prior house..loved how it looked. It did change with the light, sometimes looked green, sometimes blue, sometimes grey. neighbors all liked the color too.

Awesome @RubyRoses that's great to hear! I really admire the siding too. I'm hoping they can find some paint to match it or else it looks like we might have to splurge on the real thing!

lol! we paint matched to a Behr paint but if you have a siding sample any paint company can scan and custom mix your paint.

Jackie... I've sort of lost track of your progress, but I want to say how much I like the siding color you found at Sears. I know your budget is limited (like everyone else's!!), however, I recommend you replace the siding instead of painting it. The cost of paint, tools, supplies, prepping, and labor will turn into a large sum of money even doing the work yourself. New siding will last a lot longer and look a lot better than a paint job, too.

I would not update with outdated Home Depot stock. You can definitely do it on the cheap but it will end up looking cheap. Why bother.

Details are important. Shop around for deals on quality materials. Put in some elbow grease.

Consider the exterior lit up at night when designing. This helps me bring in some dramatic focal points.

Jackie, I think that color would look fine with wood garage doors. It's similar but lighter than what I mocked up but I think it would work.

Hello,

We are in process of updating the exterior of the house starting with paint but we need some help guys, We are keeping the original cedar wood siding, shutters optional and red brick, but we desperately need help with the siding color and trim. The house faces east, but it is heavily shaded by many tall oak trees, so we do not get good light. I would really appreciate any suggestions to help spruce up this 1960s split level home.

Plz HELP!

Thank you

hunch..I think most of what was said in this thread would also apply to your home. you actually have windows that can keep shutters though.

New siding can make a HUGE difference for your home. Not only does it improve the look and feel of your house, but it can also help to increase value. There are hundreds of options and it may seem like an overwhelming task, but we have great tips to help you through the process in this post!

@hunchiechu, If you're interested, go to my website Creative Visual Concepts. I can do some mockups to show you how your house could look with different colors, new garage doors, etc.

Sorry for the late update. But we finally took the first steps on updating the front. Thanks to Kevin's inspiration we took it and ran with it. We still need to update the windows but this is where we are at so far.

More pics

Looking really nice!

Oh, my! What a transformation! It looks great. Perfect color choices. So warm and inviting.

Jackie, I'm sitting here wondering, where have I seen a similar looking house and then it hit me . . . oh, on the one I mocked up for you. LOL! It's looking good. Your house ended up being the start of a little side business for me. I've now done around 23 projects for different clients. They've ranged from Canada to Texas and New Jersey to California. What you've done so far is a big improvement. Come back and show us the finished product.

Jackie,

Thought you might like to see a side by side of what you've done so far and my mock up.

Love it!! Way to go, Jackie and Kevin! This has been a super fun thread to follow :)

Thanks minersus. I've kind of missed this thread. I'm glad Jackie came back to update us on her progress.

Very nice changes! The windows, garage doors, colors, and tree make a huge difference!

We have more updates! We chose Kevin's colonial window design vs the prairie style we had considered so it would draw the eye up. We still need to focus on landscaping next but it's still below freezing temps. I feel like it's looking a bit dark now though. Any advice for more curb appeal?

Jackie it is looking good. Don't worry about it looking too dark, it's March & cloudy, everything looks dark now. I'm amazed at the transformation. When the weather breaks and spring really arrives get your landscaping done and I think you'll have a great looking house. Just glad I could help.

My wife said to let you know that she loves it and to tell you that it's looking great.

I would add something over the garage doors a complete canopy extension of 3 feet or so and take it sidewall to sidewall. Consider shutters on all windows. The canopy over garage should be flat, perhaps even like the ones i did for the new canaan houses on my page.

Jackie,

Dvisionone suggested an extension over the garage doors. Since you are the house that got my business started I thought I would give you some mock ups (free of charge) showing some different canopies. The first one is a shingled overhang. The second is a metal roof and the third is more like an arbor.

Also threw in some landscaping for you.

The first two pitches of the roofs are much too steep to work correctly. These visually impose on the second floor too much. If you opt for any, and of the three, The slope should be around 3:12. or in other words, if it extends out 3 feet, it would be 1 foot tall with a 6" fascia. The second floor roof is about as steep as i would go.

a 3 foot extension can be cantilevered out off the facade using stainless steel cables and turnbuckles. If you want to project further consider 3 columns.

Arbors and lattice work can provide for some interesting methods of connecting forms too. If in the bottom picture, You might also want to connect the fascia of the garage arbor over to another one that provides about a 5 foot width cover over the pathway to the front door. That way you have a visual connecting line from garage to the front doors, while serving a purpose. I can't tell by any of the photos if there is a planter alongside the garage, but if not, consider one, omit the latticework cover over the path, and apply some lattice work of 1x2 pvc set off the face of the side of the garage extending down to a planter. Getting some green on that wall could assist by adding ornament.

What is the dimension from front door to front of garage? Why are the first two steps wider at the bottom? I might also consider a planter bed on the right side of the walk to the front door and along the garage with a 4 foot walkway between. But i cannot tell if you have the space to do all of that.

On my home page, there is a project titled stony creek... that has a balcony with sunscreen lattice box about 12" deep using 1x12's and cables.

Thanks for the great advice guys. I do like Kevin's third pic the best but not completely sold on the idea. I do want to build some sort of walkway and maybe add a modern planter box outside the big picture window. I'm not sure if I mentioned it already but we have some Kitcher lights that we are lining the sides of the garage and updating the light post. We obviously want to replace the drive but want to wait until the rest of the construction is done.

Lol - I laughed out loud when I saw this house pop back up . It's been a year - has the homeowner taken / completed any suggestions?

Julie just scroll up a bit and you can see some of the changes that Jackie has made.