Sorry but what you did already IMO ruined the look of the house . Waht you added was something to add to a colonial home not a MCM typr house to add another gable would IMO just add to the mess . Who cares what the neighbors built ? Whatever you do you will need to talk to a godd architect to change the basic house to something else entirely and try to make what you have done fit the plan.. Yes before everyone syas I love MCM I do and if I bout that house the first thing I would do is take that from porch addon off. I also agree landscaping is a lot better idea now that adding anything else to the house.

Can you post a photo from farther back to see the house and its surrounding in the entirety? Increasing the height of your house would really involve adding a second story or possibly one or more popups in strategic places. Unless you need the square footage don't think I would suggest either of those. Perhaps the best way to enhance your house is with a really well thought out landscape design. That's my best advice for you. Good luck!

The suggestions for adding to your landscaping are great! Might I suggest that you remove your shutters…and switch out your front door to something less Victorian and more modern? Perhaps paint your front door a bright bold turquoise or another interesting color? Or black? Something Bold. Your lovely ranch need not compete at all with your neighbors. Your landscaping will win the prize!

Agree with landscape comments. Perhaps a new driveway would be the better upgrade.

Mollykeaton

You have a very charming home. There is, for lack of a better word a ”contributor” here that tends to spew venom rather than give constructive advice. I would let these comments go in one ear and out the other. However as the others have said landscaping wil give you the effect you’re looking for.

Too many columns holding up that gable IMO

Thank you all for the feedback! I love the landscaping ideas. We actually have removed the shutters and gotten a new front door. I didn’t realize my photo was outdated.

Believe it or not, this is how the house was originally built. There are several other houses in my neighborhood with the exact same design. I think the gable is oversized and we had 4 round columns before that tapered at the top. They looked so dinky and the gable looked even more enormous. We added one more column and made them larger and not tapered and this really helped the gable to look more balanced, though I think it still looks out of proportion.

I do not wish to do major construction to make the house bigger but to add some interest to the roofline and perhaps get the illusion of some height through a 2nd gable (or some other idea I haven’t considered).

Paul F, thank you so much for that beautiful rendering. It is lovely and something we could work towards overtime.

I am not landscape oriented and wouldn’t know what to add. But I definitely agree that landscaping makes a huge contribution. In fact, I used the picture that I posted because the house was looking its best - largely because we had planted some new bushes and the beds had fresh mulch.

And yes, to hopefully getting a new driveway at some point. Good to know that might make a big differenceinference.

But still, does anyone think something could be done to beef up the roofline?

In general, roofs are not areas for architectural interest or dimension. Your house is attractive, it does not need either. If you wanted to add a second story addition, then, think about how the roof should look, but you add additions because you need the space and it's a better options than selling and buying a bigger house. Not because someone built an oversized house next door.

Thanks for the feedback. It’s really not because of the humongous house next door. I have always disliked the extremely low pitch of the roof and

that there’s no dimension to it. The house next door just made these things even more obvious. If money was no object I would make the roof a steeper pitch and add some sort of dormers. I was just hoping for some more affordable alrernatives to this.

There are houses all over the place that are ranches underneath with details of historic revivals tacked onto the front. Lots of houses got the colonial revival treatment in the 1960s and 1970s because of the upcoming Bicentennial. It was popular, they were built that way. Residential design is not done in a cultural vacuum, and it's usually not done by purists. Americans liked contemporary floor plans but they did not really embrace pure modernism. If you look at Levittowns, more and more of the house models became colonial revival looking (on the outside) over time.

All that said, I don't think the structure of the house needs to have anything done to "improve" it.

If anything is not going to age well, it's probably the new enormous one next door.

You have a ranch house. Period. Roof changes - unless you commit to a second story - will look ill-suited (best-case) or even foolish (worst-case) for your house.

Invest in your landscape and hardscape. A lovely paver or brick driveway and matching wide walkway will work wonders; the existing cracked builder-grade driveway is devaluing your home.

Go with 4 columns like Beverly shows. Looks so much better. New driveway and landscaping.

Original colonial pedimented porches and Greek revival porches generally do Not have a center column and have an even number of columns, evenly spaced, spread across the porch holding up the gable. So a switch to four columns would probably be best if you were planning on spending some money on the facade anyway. It may also clear the space in front of the picture window. (Although often with the even spacing they ignored whether it blocked a window or not).