Help please! Need to improve curb appeal!

9 years ago

We bought this place a few years ago and still not sure how to go about it.... First of all we are trying to decide on siding colors. It needs to be something that goes with the brick. For awhile we debated painting the brick so we would have more siding options but some research showed that it wasn't good for the brick to paint it. So we have kinda decided to just leave it and work with it rather. I came across some photos of charcoal colored siding with white trim and thought it looked really good with the brick but.... we have fairly new shingles that are brown. So the charcoal is probably out. The only other two colors I could come up with was the color of the door (the close up of the door is more the true color-at least on my screen) and the cream trim on the door. Or the blue that matches the blue of the hanging pot to the left of the door. We plan to replace all our windows in the next couple years and it most likely will have white trim. Landscaping or comfortable porch furniture ideas would be awesome too. I had thought of adding a porch swing on the right side of the window facing the door. The patchy part in the grass in front of the house is part of our circluar driveway... needs some weed killer! Plan to get some flat stones or some field stones for the flower/perennial bed border. I'm trying to get ideas on shape of the flower beds. And yeah I know the garage doors are pretty pathetic....I'm looking forward to seeing what you all come up with!

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PRO

RappArchitecture

9 years ago

last modified: 9 years ago

Paint is neither good or bad for brick, it just needs to be maintained. I don't usually encourage painting brick, but in this case I think it makes sense because of the relatively small amount between the siding on the front and side. Brick can also be stained, but there would be at least a slight color contrast with the siding. The siding exposure is out of scale with the house, but replacing it is probably out of the budget. A light color for siding and brick would be best.

The garage doors actually aren't too bad. If you could afford to replace they would look better with glass in the top panels. Otherwise maybe consider painting them white to minimize them visually.

And landscaping will go a long way toward improving curb appeal!

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Comments (11)

everdebz
9 years ago
last modified: 9 years ago
Just me, not Pro.... thinking of new white trim windows later....what about window boxes repeating brick/ front door color, under the 2 windows... all for now, 'night.
Rina
9 years ago
I can't see the exact brown of your shingles -- the roof looks purple on my screen :-( -- but a light taupe might work a treat. I took my inspiration from the second pic below.

And as paving your driveway would probably involve increasing the national debt, how about landscaping with ornamental grasses for a casual, easy look that will go along with the casual driveway?

http://photos.hgtv.com/photos/viewer/red-brick-front-porch-/traditional-home-oozes-curb-appeal
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kcalgal
Original Author
9 years ago
By the way-I'm hoping to get ideas from anyone and not just Pros. There are alot of creative minds out there! With that said Everdebz- thanks for the idea! I was wondering that same thing if we ended up with white windows how I'd tie in that color scheme... Rapp- I can see now what you mean about the siding exposure vs the brick. But hopefully it won't be that way for too long as we are hoping to build on another car garage and turn the one closest to the house into a back entry/mud room/laundry room. As for replacing siding, I think what's gonna happen is that we will end up painting the siding then when that paint job wears off (which I'm not sure how long to expect an exterior paint job to last) then if we still like the color; replace the siding in that color.
kcalgal
Original Author
9 years ago
Maybe this link will help to see the true color of our roof.... It's called Heatherwood.(not weatherwood) http://www.delucaroofing.ca/index.php/category/6-iko-cambridge-limited-lifetime-warranty.html
acm
9 years ago
well, you seem to have two parallel threads going on this same topic. which tends to make many of us think you didn't like or want to listen to the advice you were getting on the first thread...
katinparadise
9 years ago
I like Rina's idea for a light taupe. I did the same with my trim and garage doors on my brick house and it really helped tie everything together. My windows were white as well and I did my front door in a deep teal similar to Sherwin Williams Cape Verde.
PRO
Creative Visual Concepts, Kevin Strader
9 years ago
kcalgal, I agree with not painting the brick as you take a no maintenance product and turn it into a long term maintenance product. The shingle color and the brick color do narrow your possibilities of colors. I think the direction of a taupe with more brown than gray overtones. I think if you do that you probably wouldn't want to go with white windows because they would be too stark of a contrast with the rest of the house. If you're interested in seeing some virtual makeovers on your house check my web site, Creative Visual Concepts.
spraguec
9 years ago
You have a lovely home with a lot of nice features. I see two options: go ahead and paint the brick and the siding all one color to bring these two textures together. You do not have a large brick area so any maintenance would be minimal. The second option would be to keep the brick, keep the wood stained trim and paint everything else a medium sage or eucalyptus green. For the front door you could go with the darkest of those colors or else lean towards a burgundy/mahogany hue. Power wash your generous front porch and steps, add a cluster of large planters, an inviting long bench beneath your large window. As for the natural, circular driveway, just keep it weeded and edged altho some ornamental grasses would be lovely. Add some dark green evergreen foundation shrubs.
kcalgal
Original Author
9 years ago
Acm- I didn't realize I had a double post going! Thanks for the heads up! Does anyone know how I can merge the two posts together? Katinparadise- I'd love to see your house! Any chance you could share a picture? If you rather not, I'll understand! Kevin- I'll definitely check out your website! Seems like a lot of people favor the taupe so we are considering that... Spraguec- Thanks for the suggestions! I especially like your porch ideas!
katinparadise
9 years ago
Kcalgal-unfortunately I no longer live there. I sold it 4 years ago and am living out of state now. It was a red brick cape with an addition and the trim and garage door, along with the siding on the addition, were the same color as the mortar in the brick (taupe) with the dark teal on the door. Sorry I don't have a picture!