Another image

It is neither craftsman or MCM just a ranch so really no need for either of those style , are the windows staying? Can you post a pic of the new garage doors ? I think you need to plan with those even if it takes a bit of time to get them. I can't see the porch so I have no idea about that . I would probably do all horizontal siding everywhere and change those farm hinges on the gate to vblack not exactly a decor item . I would continue the hedge to meet the brick and hide tha fact that the brick is just tacked on to the front of the house .

I think a verticle siding on the front would draw your eye up to help lift the heavy roof line .

being sun heavy, I would do a white siding, anything dark will heat up and show a buckle, not to mention fade. removing the stone garden in front of the porch and add a terraced step town would be an interesting feature.

By changing the details on a ranch house you can affect style change.

“I think a verticle siding on the front would draw your eye up to help lift the heavy roof line.”

Agree

Great comments and thoughts so far. Definitely wanted to take a moment to soak it all in.

@Patricia Colwell Consulting You can totally change the details on a ranch home and mold it into anything you want it to be. Windows are staying, this isn't a complete remodel. It was originally just a paint job, then it became a potential need to replace up to 30% or more of the siding, so that got me thinking about what tweaks I could make. Great call on the gate hinges (and landscaping comments).

@housegal200 LOVE all of what you wrote. fwiw, I actually have a light-medium brown roof. It used to be silver-grey (yuk). The exposure of the sky makes it appear grey. If I had to go with a wooden door, I would have to look at Faux, not wood. Wood I would need to restain every year or two because the sun will just crush it to death. For now, I like your idea of just receeding them (same color as the house). Sounds like you are a "no" on any other siding finishes I could do to spruce up some sections. How do you feel about the window boxes, do you think there's some touch that can be done there with either siding or paint?

My windows are white, so you're always going to have "white" outlines on each of them. I haven't had the chance to go over the picture yet to color the trim, but assume that would need to be a darkner color. That would include gutters and everything.

Just playing around with colors (I added board and batten to the window box areas). Ignore the exact colors and such as this free program doesn't allow you to customize. The house color and accent colors are going to have to be super harmonious.

Essentially the time to do anything different with the siding is coming up as siding repairs come before paint and other enhancements. I can continue to do horizontal lapping everywhere and call it good. The photo above I did vertical board and abatton (didn't color the window trim yet).

The current window areas have diagonal lap siding, which is kinda neat I suppose.

Love the idea of opening up the front porch by removing the handrail and doing something like @Lyn Nielson. That could be an in the future thing. The porch area is pretty small.

I agree anything is possible but the money tree has to fit the plan. Right now a far cry from MCM that is why I asked for a pic of the garage doors . Since you are residing please get rid of the angled corners on that garage front .

l like your rendering a lot.

Thanks for the rendering showing dark siding. Now that I see it, I retract my suggestion especially since the roof is brown, not gray. Can you take a closeup of the brick for us? Maybe a dark taupe would work better with light taupe trim.

Arlington Heights, IL Remodel Split Level Integrity from Marvin Windows & Siding · More Info

Here's taupe, brick like yours, and brown roof.

Here's some various other pictures around the house to get a "feel", summer pictures.

Other pictures:

This is an interesting read about moderonizing ranch houses. Basically paint them a super dark color, put on a metal roof (no thanks), and add wood accents. Basically one thing I learned is keeping is super dead simple and sticking to limited paint choices and focusing on accents is key:

https://west-south.com/ranch-house-style-curb-appeal/

Problem is that I have the reddish bricks. Which will take some thinking.

It depends whether you want more modern, i.e. dark color, wood features, or a cozier cottage/ranch look. If the latter, then a sage green or cream would harmonize well with your brown roof and red brick.

grayiwsh sage

Honestly, until you open up the porch by removing the railings, it's hard to know which direction to go in. It could be so inviting with a bright door and some coordinating Adirondack chairs, potted plants and . . . nothing else!

Good stuff. Yea, definitely need to do some front entry way upgrades.

Here's another rendering of us playing around. I think I found only one spot for board and batten that could really work and actually makes the entry way inviting and purposeful. Let me know what you think. I think it highlights the house's dual hip roof lines as well.

These is going with an earth tone. Notice this assumes sealing and painting the bricks a charcoal-like color, which now I am thinking is a must if you want to leave the sage green and yellow cream colors behind (the house next to me is sage green and its really faded).

We cannot change the garage door at all in the picture, but in some ways we're wondering if the garage door should be white (or faux wood if replacing). I suppose same color as the house could work too.

There may be an opportunity to add a cedar installed in a chevron pattern below the window boxes as well to bring more of a wood look.

We're still a fan of having a cool horizontal modern barrier on the right side of the porch to make it usable. If we left it open, we would never use it. That little left handrail goes though.

@housegal200

My wife came up with the above image, but here's one idea using whites and offwhite for trim, and allowing the natural wood door and potentially a herringbone cedar pattern to be installed on window boxes to accent. Here's what I came up with (the wood is way too red in the rendering, but gives you an idea of a color profile that lets wood be the accent):

After horizontal rail and window box treatment:

Still has board and batten installed only on the center section, which we are still thinking may be a nice touch.

Also can remove the dog ears on the garage door and do some simplified craftsman paneling to connect the garage doors together (not to go overboard with it though, just keep it simple with a single top headerboard)

@Lantern Visual Sounds like you're describing our latest image almost exactly!

We were able to make board and batten work on the gable. Because the gables are extremely wide, we had to terminate it higher. Also, we think the gable B&B looks better without being an accent color (feels like we are shortening the house by accenting it..like it's wearing a top hat). We feel that a minimal board and batten on the gable ends w/ the same color gives it a little more visual interest without overriding the ranch-style nature though my wife can "take it or leave it":

There will be some rectangular gable vents up there to add some more visual interes than what the image shows, but we think that won't detract from what the house is, and may give it a little touch of texture. We could take it or leave it, but since those areas are getting repaired, it's basically a free cost to add B&B to the cables. B&B definently in the entry way, will be super cool!

I've been using this page a bit in the above images. Basically a warm white, a darker warm off-white for trim, and basically your accents are going to be charcoal are deep browns which you can mix in to the front door area, garage door, front door, horizontal wall and even play around some with the window boxes:

It's basically future-compatible color combo with additional DIY projects, and it really ties in the back patio as well.

If you have ANY other color combos you'd like me to try out, let us know!

We figured we'd handle the bricks last to ease our suffering. We figured it's beter to adapt the bricks to the house (via stain or paint) vs adapt the house to tbe bricks (will severely limit color options).