@mkd_designs Great tip about looking at the paint samples throughout the day. Never would have thought of that!

I think you should start with neatening up the bushes in front of the stone. Letting them grow too wild and tall only adds to the problem. I agree with putting up some window boxes and put colorful flowers in there. The tall bushes make the front of the house look stubby, if that makes any sense.

Hello, I'm a 35 year old female, just bought our first home a few months ago. The previous owners had exterior trim all along the stucco walls and chimney. I just removed it all by myself. Also, on the interior of the fireplace had huge rocks that covered what we discovered was a brick fireplace. Again, I removed it with my husband. Both jobs were very easy - I was very hesitant because I had never done anything like it but when you're trying to stretch your dollar, it was at least worth a try to see if I could do it myself. What's more... (I don't recommend) but I wore flip-flop sandals and no goggles (again, I don't recommend, but all that to say, it might be easier than you realize.) It was very easy for me. Even my girly-girl daughter ended up helping me with the exterior). I used 2 tools for the exterior and interior: Husky 3 lb sledge hammer $15 from Home Depot & 1-1/4 Mason Chisel $8 Home Depot and a pair of garden gloves. It took me approx 3-4 hours to remove the exterior and about 2 hours to remove the interior. Then I paid my painter about $500 to re-stucco the exterior since he was painting over the yellow. So far we've only painted the interior brick fireplace but we're working on what to do with it next.
Pic #1 shows the Exterior trim Before - it wrapped around the whole other side of the grass. Pic #2 shows the during process of re-stucco that my painter did. Pic #3 Before of the interior fireplace. Pic # 4 During the rock removal.
Seriously easy.

Hey @rachaelhz If you get a chance, would really love to see an 'after' pic of the 1st picture (exterior with chimney). Thanks for this info--definitely seems plausible as a DIY project now.

Before and Afters. Just removed the stone from the actual brick but still in the process of chiseling off the cement. Hoping for pointers on whether to stucco the chimney or not and landscape one day on the horizon...
My house looked short and stubby before because of the dark brown paint and the dark stone trim but now it looks more open and tall. I just posted a discussion as well for advise on what to do with my exterior chimney. Looking forward to much needed input.
Thanks!

Please do start at the top when removing any heavy stones from any thing! lol I'm glad you survived, rachaelhz!

We were told by other contractors and workers to actually start from the bottom of the fireplace. I would have started from the top too! I still am not sure why, but it was pretty easy. None of them just fell off. Though it certainly looks that way! I did the bottom on my own but when I got to the mid point, my husband held each piece as I lightly chipped at one rock at a time. As for the trim of the exterior, I started from the top. Who knows... but I'm glad I survived too!!

You could use a stone veneer to cover the existing stones you want to hide. Stone veneer is lightweight and lower in cost. Stone (the right kind!) and stucco can compliment each other nicely. Here's a few examples of homes with the stone and stucco combination... Let us know if you have any questions!

venicekeystone, from the looks of your 3rd picture posted... showing the side view of your stone trim, that would come off very easy. Get the right tools and try removing one stone from the side of your house that isn't very noticable from the curb - starting from the top-down and I bet you will find how simple it really is.

I would go with a dark grayed brown on the stucco. Lower some of the bushes that have grown up the stone and add an ornamental tree between the two windows about six feet away from the house for some vertical interest. and

I agree with taking the shutters off, and the photo-shopped picture without the shutters was very helpful. After you have made all the adjustments to the house, I think that a small ornamental tree or trees (within a bed of other plantings) between the windows would break up that bare look and fill in the space. Make sure that the variety of tree won't get over maybe 12 to 15 feet high when mature, perhaps a crabapple with persistent fruit that the birds would take care of in the winter.

Rachaelz's stone was veneer stone and your stone is real stone - removal will not be the same in any fashion as hers. What about the potential for using corrugated metal panels and screwing them in horizontally? This is fairly inexpensive but / and would give you a really high end modern look - either in galvinized finish or (with the brown roof), especially in core-ten finish - then you don't have to redo and you also don't need to worry over water / connections as the metal will weather beautifully- you can buy an autumn flame stone "cap" to top the cut edge and rest it on the steel, but grout it into the top of the rock.
[houzz=]
search exteriors for corrugated metal for more images and ideas if you are interested.

White wash the whole wall. The problem with the shutters are that they are far too narrow for the windows.......replace them with shutters that would actually cover the windows if they were closed. The paint scheme could be a lovely tone on tone, perhaps a lite gray for walls and a slightly darker gray for shutters.

Your rock is much prettier than Rachel's was...please don't ditch it! In my opinion, the home would be far too bland with it gone. We live in a neighborhood that has plenty of rock on bigger 1960's style homes, but all of our neighbors have worked with them to breathe new life into them. I have to say, they look awesome, and not like all the new developments that all look the same. We actually have brick on the front of ours, but I wish the original owner had opted for the rock instead (we found the original blueprints where it was designed with rock and he switched it to brick.) I agree with others that the shutters are not fitting the style (they look Colonial to me). I prefer the simple shutters with no louvers (I think they're called board and batten?), or if the house is already visually interesting enough, no shutters. I think you need a more interesting color either on the stucco or as an accent color somewhere--even if it's in the vegetation.

If you paint the house a little darker the rocks won't stand out as much.I do like the rock and wouldn't remove it.Maybe a med gray.A gray color that's from one of the rock colors.

Love that sparrow color houssaon suggested

I think that the shutters should go, rocks should stay in place and the stucco painted a celadon green. There's a very similar house in my town and the green makes it a show stopper!

Rachaelhz, I don't usually like modern style, but I love your exterior after shot with the brick chimney! Don't change the chimney, it's an interesting contrast to the walls. Venicekeystone, for the least expensive option, remove the shutters (I agree with everyone who says they detract from a modern look) and paint the stucco a gray that is close to the color of the stone which will cause them to blend with the walls and make the stone less noticeable. Not too dark because of the dark roof. Then spend your money on landscaping instead of on removing the stone and re-stuccoing the whole exterior. Landscaping hides a multitude of sins. Engage a professional for a design unless you have a strong interest in that part of decorating and have a lot of knowledge about it. Good luck! Your neighbors will love you and your house when you're done, no matter which ideas you take away from this forum.

If there are budget concerns, obviously painting the stucco would be the least expensive option. I agree with several comments that a dark warm gray or gray brown would be the best option and remove the shutters. It looks like the white windows might be vinyl so you may not be able to paint them but if you can, I recommend a shade lighter of the stucco color. then paint the front door any color you wish. You could also add a long contemporary styled arbor on the front of the house to add interest.

Keep the stone, but have it repointed with a neutral lighter shade drawn from the rock like nikitasmom suggested.I like the BJ Sparrow color for the stucco too. I would paint the porch floor & steps a dark brown like your posts. But I would change the post to orange too, as well as the window trim. and Maybe replace those posts with round metal ones, in orange. Definately get rid of those shutters! You could go with the lime green door, or do it in orange too. You could take out all the vegetation in the flower bed & put in river rock with selected large rocks with large ceramic urns & pots with simple modern lines of varying height & shape , in lime green & orange 3 , with perhaps a large ceramic ball for balance. with interesting plantings or leave them empty & have minimal accent planting in the bed, like the reeds you mentioned. If I were on my computer & not iPad, I'd attach some examples. Husband using it now, I'll try later.

Remove the shutters, paint the window frames the color of the shutters. This way, the colors blend better.

What about having the bottom (rock) built out with some material that you can paint or stucco over.....sort of a wainscoting outside.

Just a quick observation....the mass of the stone v the façade is way out of whack. The stone has to go to achieve any sort of balance. No cheap solution, unfortunately. You said butt-ugly, I didn't :)

I'd remove the shutters and paint the window trim a darker color, get rid of the white. Jumps out too much. Then change the landscaping to something that fits the style better, maybe more ornamental grasses or desert style. I don't know what your climate is. Probably change the front door to a nice contemporary wood door.

Remove the shutters; our ranch in Temecula, CA. facia boards are 12" in width. Costly, but it adds a lot to the look of the home. We removed the cedar shingles and used 8" cement boards. The Podocarpus trees give
it style and the 2 trellis with Night Blooming Jasmine is just starting to bloom. I like your idea of the grey/yellow
and also like the grey/greens would also set the stage. Try the sample size containers of paint and live with
it for a few weeks at different times of the day to see how you really like it before buying gallons.

The old cedar shingles are on the left edge of the picture with the trellis. It's going to be worked on next week! Front door is red.The sides and back of the house is all stucco Behr "Ash" color.

From the looks of it, it looks like the stone was added after the stucco. This is not that difficult to remove. If you are lucky you it may come off and still have stucco in tact. If not, not too expensive to patch in. Other option is to replace with another, more modern stone veneer. Stucco will keep the price down!

Could you clad the bottom half of the home with corrugated steel (or some similar modern metal) to cover the stone? I think the stone has to go, but perhaps face-lifting it is the best way to go. It would work wonders for the aesthetics of the home. Shutters must go. Simplicity will be the name of the game, and a bright pop of color, like your yellow, would be a great accent!

What about leaving the stone - but staining the grout between the stones the same color as the stucco to tie it together?

I think if you would anchor a wood framework over the stone like a frame, w/verticals every 8 ft. and then nail horizontal 2x4x8 boards that could be stained in a red tone, remove the shutters, apply Benjamin Moore Sag Harbor Gray on the stucco (a green tint gray) and paint the white trim w/a reddish brown and the door the same, you would be able to move to the modern look you love. Alternate color choice w/the wood could be a gray tone on the stucco, the a strong graphite trim and your orange on the door you like. Good luck w/the project and more importantly follow your instincts. I am sure it will be great!!!

The rock is great and could be incorporated into a modern exterior. Put a ledge on top of the stone to separate it from the stucco (See Judyg ... Los Altos, CA house). Remove the shutters and add wide trim around the windows ... 10" or so. Paint the wood in a grey/beige color. I would paint the stucco in a color similar to the color of your steps ... a little more yellow in it than the current color. A bright mustard yellow door would look wonderful. Add a few modern accents and voila ... a fairly simple update with great impact.

Do you have any pic's of what you decided to do? We have the same stone on our 70's house that I am trying to figure out what to do with.....

We've come a long way since I started this post. We hired a designer to come up with the master plan, then hired a contractor to execute. We're happy with the results. There have been A LOT of lessons learned on my part as a first time homeowner working with a contractor. Here's a "before" pic along with a picture of the design. I'll upload "after" pics tonight.

@goingcoastal The rocks were actually surprisingly easy to remove, and we're glad we did. I was considering doing it myself as a DIY like @rachaelhz did, but VERY glad we hired pros. Our contractor ended up doing it as part of the overall project, but I did get some quotes to remove the rock wall from a couple of subcontractors as well. They quoted ~$700 to demolish and haul away, then we would've had to hire another sub to patch with new stucco for ~$1000. The rocks were REAL, not lava rocks--they were extremely heavy. Ultimately, we took down the rocks, repatched stucco, painted it a color we'll eventually want to paint the entire house, and slapped on the wooden slats for a more modern look. And yes, we would've preferred to get rid of all the stucco completely, but doing that for the entire house (sandblasting, re-smoothing, re-finishing, etc) would've cost about $10k (and it'd look funny doing just the face of the house). So we decided to keep the rough stucco for now mainly out of budgetary concerns. More to come.

Thank you for the update - really excited to see finished pic's! Any tips on finding a budget friendly designer who gets that you are not looking to turn an old house into a way more than you can afford piece? :)

Love that design you went with! Can't wait to see the finished product! It's been a year since you first posted lol

@goingcoastal The newer designers are more budget friendly than the ones that have more experience. I've been doing this about five years and my fees are starting to go up. Although, I'm a sucker for clients that do most of the research. Look for someone who charges for exactly what you want. I charge for consultations if that's all they want. If they want more then I take that fee off the final price. I like to work with people. EpicSwankDesign.com

We are getting ready to do the same---same damn rock but taking it down was quoted as $3000--we are thinking of leaving ours and just adding brick with it. We currently have cedar 4x8 panels that are 28yrs old. Our contractor found a brick ledge, so we are thinking brick is the way to go--now to match brick to the stone :/

$3000 sounds like a lot just to take down the wall, but I don't know how big your wall is. Just demolition and hauling for our wall, we were quoted ~$700 (no patching/stucco work, that would've been another ~$1200 I think).

Anyway, we took down the rocks, had it patched and stuccoed, and then put the wood slats over it to match the front/side fence.

Blah

I think you might be able to change color of mortar between rocks. I bet there is a product better then paint. Usually after you patch or replace bricks or rocks you have to acid wash the surface to remove the mortar stains. So maybe acid wash alone might help. Make sure to check with a pro first but that is another option. There are all types of colorants for concrete. Just a thought

We had a project similar to this we had cut out the top 3" of the stone veneer and installed a 2" thick by 3" deep blue stone sills creating a define separation between stucco and stone

Hey there! I just stumbled across this old thread and was wondering if you've completed your work, and if so, if you have any before/after pics to post!

@vp_78 Please see my comment above from June 2014--I posted a couple of pics. We replaced the window with French doors.

Looks great -- love the horizontal lines!

Curious on your landscaping and look after a couple years! Would you be willing to share an updated photo with your landscaping?

@angelflorek See attached from March 2016. We have since decided to cover the DG with artificial turf.

@venice Did you use an adhesive to attach the wood to the stucco? Or screw them in?

Want to modernize the exterior. It is now vertical cedar siding in 70’s yellow. How do I modernize this?

@Cyclist411, this is an old thread. If you'd like help on your house (which I would love to work on BTW; it has LOTS of potential), go to the main discussion page and start your own thread. You'll find that page here: [https://www.houzz.com/discussions/design-dilemmas-dsbr0-bd~t_28561[(https://www.houzz.com/discussions/design-dilemmas-dsbr0-bd~t_28561s-dsbr0-bd~t_28561)