I am about 80% sure I’m not going to be able to talk my husband into replacing our garage door when it’s practically brand new and works perfectly. I have a better chance of painting it. I agree, I feel that a huge focal point of the exterior of my home is garage door.

There are some pretty cool gel stains that you can use on garage doors! They are actually pretty impressive looking! I'm not sure this shade would go with your house, but there are tons of options. Just look up gel stains for garage doors and you'll find plenty.

Also another idea would be to add a wood pergola over your garage and add some vines with colorful flowers on them grow over it. That would add a lot of charm and it's not a huge investment! I think if you did the pergola you wouldn't need to stain your garage because it would soften it up and I think the white garage offsets the beigeness of the rest of your house.

@KLaff I agree, I would really like to add a Pergola or eyebrow structure above the garage. I would love to add a Pergola because it seems more practical and less costly. I only need to pick a design which works in my favor because our home has no exterior style lol.

@Stacy I too agree about the white block. Would black be too harsh? I painted the one beside my front door.

Update.

Update.

Just painting the door helps tremendously. It also looks like you painted the blocks behind the light fixtures.

The landscaping also helps a lot.

Upgrading the light fixtures would be an inexpensive upgrade you could do yourself.

The pergola idea would definitely change the look by providing some depth to what is otherwise a pretty flat front. It would also add some detail.

Know that you can replace the door with a nice looking steel door for around $2k. I'm not suggesting this color / style... only to make the point that there are nicer looking doors that aren't $4,000.

This one is $1,600 with an R value of 6.5

Pergola over the garage doors and a darker paint color would make a big difference. If you could afford to replace a panel with one with glass that would be bit of a change too.

Darker paint color?

Hi Jake,

I am hesitant to change our lights because the ones we have now are pretty new. I will be on the lookout for some on sale and try to sell our current ones. At most I might be able to wing a pergola next spring out of my budget. My budget is pretty limited for now. But I am shooting for light changes and a pergola for now.

I like the changes you have made so far.

Leave the garage door the paint you just painted.

I would get rid of the shutters but I understand if you don't want to remove them. To me, they are much too small for your windows.

Don't add the pergola unless you want to draw further attention to the garage door.

IMO the door is fine with the new paint, your landscaping and your new colorful chair cushions. You can rest now :)

Thank you so much Denita. Thank you for sticking with me through this lol. I have two more things to do. Add house numbers to the front and I was considering painting the rockers a lighter color. When I painted the garage I was very very pleased. I am still working on the shutters however I had to practically bend my husbands arm to paint the garage, baby steps.

You have done a lot in a short time Cee and it really looks good. The house numbers will help. I love the landscaping it is so welcoming. You have done wonders. Just tell your husband to trust your judgment :)

Thank you Denita. Means a lot, worked very hard and did a lot of research. Houzz members helped me tremendously. This is a straightforward view of our home (down the driveway) I’m going to keep pushing for the pergola. Also thoughts on these house numbers..

Pics didn't show up yet.

I like them. They are large, easy to read and near a light. Can you see them well at night? Thinking of safety issue if you have to have EMS service or something similar.

Yes, in fact our garage lights cast a direct light on them and we added some landscaping light that beams in that area.. picture before numbers added but shows light hitting that area. I was just worried about the wood color with the home.

Nice house. I couldn't help but notice the 3 different widths of siding on the front wall over the garage, and that white line going right through the upper story window. It looks disjointed to me, but I'm no designer. And the only way to fix that is to replace nearly new siding.

Cee Smith

I can't really see what the lights are from the photos to be honest. I am assuming they are functional but "builder grade". What I do know is that they are prominent and you could add some style for something under $100 each and it would be a contained and "do-able" project.

You have made big improvements without spending a lot of money. Live with it for a while and then prioritize improvements you want to make in the future.

Thank you Jake, This year I really dug into the landscaping of the property and managed to stay under budget, money was still spent however. I do want to change the lights out. I am a bit unsure of what size and styles would compliment our home best as I know they will impact the home greatly. Any ideas? I’d prefer something slightly larger yet somewhat modest.

I am wondering what you think of painting your chairs white. The white of your home. (My bias is always white rocking chairs) ☺️

Hi Cee Smith,

It really is a personal preference. You may just want to keep an eye out in the lighting department of your favorite big box store. Also, keep your phone handy and snap a pic of lights you like on other houses.

Your home isn't such a strong style that it will dictate the light fixture. There are some homes, for example, where they are clearly Victorian, or Mid Century, or Prairie, or Bungalow, etc. Likewise, you don't want a fixture that yells a particular style either.

I agree though, a little larger, and not too ornate.

Could you show us a closer photo of what you have?