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what can I do to update the arches that have no windows.

last month

I would like to do something different with the arches that do not have windows in them. We have talked about adding shutters and then filling in those arches and the top arch over the actual windows with stone or wood. I don’t wanna just paint them a different color because all of the trim on the house is why the front door is White. Any suggestions on what we could do to go with the style of the home without changing the roof color or anything like that?

Comments (41)

  • last month

    When the house was built, did the windows fit the at shape? And was there a window in the empty arch? Albeit pricey, returning to that style window or filling in top rounded arch seem like best options.

  • last month
    last modified: last month

    Repaint your window, soffit, and arch trim a taupe taken from the bricks. This will make the arches recede. Repaint your front door dark green, orange, dark red, or tuquoise to pull the eye to your entrance:


    Reconfigure your landscaping so that you can plant a tall evergreen in front of each arch.

  • last month

    I would put windows in.

  • last month

    if you want to hide it paint it dark build a trellis to cover it and grow a climbing plant. I like the suggestion of painting your trim taupe. I find the white a little stark

  • last month

    If putting windows in makes no sense for your interior, I'd paint them a shade or two darker than the brick. It will keep them as a feature, but minimize the extent they stand out. If you hate them paint them the same color as the brick and plant a tree in front of them. Not up against the foundation, but far enough away that the mature size of the tree isn't too close to the house.


    I think your trim is too bright a white for your brick. I'd use a warm, peachy white. You can paint your door a different color. It would look good in a warm brown, or a tomato red. There are probably green that would work, too.

  • last month

    agree with @heather641 and @Sigrid ^ paint all the trim the darkest tone in your brick.

    Mostly to minimize the stark white. I'd choose a nice color for the front door.


  • last month

    Relandscape the front of your home to include two very large shurbs. Paint the white parts the color of your brick so you don't see white popping through the vegetation.

  • last month
    last modified: last month

    I would paint them a color from your brick & taller landscape to help camouflage the middle two. New windows would be very expensive & wouldn’t do much for the house anyway. Agree, new front door color! I would tweak your landscaping, remove the taller shrub? near the steps & add two larger potted plants or? flanking the front entry along with larger light fixtures to bring the focus there.

  • last month

    I agree - put windows in. It looks unfinished without windows in the middle.

  • PRO
    last month
    last modified: last month

    Put windows in the blank spots, paint the trim, and address the landscaping.

    Delay all above until resources avail.

    Or

    At the very least.........this is much better, and a very deep mossy green could look good along with a couple trees in front of the fakes



    White trim is doing the house, NO favor

  • PRO
    last month
    last modified: last month

    NOT MCM so not going to be either . The arches nee d windows that was what was there before someone messed it up. IMO plant trees in fornt of them paint them dark and move on if actually not planning to do windows which IMO would be the right answer Anything else will require huge demolition of the brick walls and a complete redo of the window style BTW if doing the windows they aslo need to be arched or you will still have the goofy arches to deal with

  • last month

    "Goofy arches?" What's with all the hating on arches. They are an interesting and distinctive feature of that house, which is not otherwise very distinctive.

  • PRO
    last month

    Will suggest that you paint the arches and match the color of the brick as closely as possible.

  • PRO
    last month
    last modified: last month

    There are styles of houses where arches complement the architecture. Spanish or Mediterranean & Tudor use arched details.




    That is not the case with a low pitched MCM style home. You don't added Tudor Timber details to a MCM ranch house, you don't add Gingerbread Victorian details to a ranch house and you don't add arches because it fights the clean lines MCM tried to exhibit.




  • last month

    It's the exact same thought process that made people in the 1930's pull all the 'dated' gingerbread off the Victorians. In ten years it will be an 'interesting and distinctive' feature of the house. However, at this point in time, the details that made upscale 50's and 60's ranches are not appreciated.

    In the meantime, a color that blends with the brick would look better. Covering them up with shrubbery would be an unusual choice, given the current rage against landscaping that obscures the house. Putting some sort of flat outdoor art in them is a possibility that might be interesting.

    I expect one, or both, of those arches have walls behind them. So even if windows were a rational response, they aren't practical.

  • last month
    last modified: last month

    I like the Urbane Bronze replacing the white.

    I would add a wide front walk, remove the one bush and add black iron railings on each side of the steps. Add some flowers. Draw the eye.

    Rough sketch:



  • last month

    Theresa I found out that what you are was the original design

  • last month

    Housegal good thought love the green

  • last month

    Sigrid all good choices

  • last month

    Beverly love the darker color

  • last month

    Trace Floyd those are great suggestions.

  • last month

    would you consider filling in the blank are he’s with a stone that blends well with the brick and also accenting stone above the windows wistone above t

  • last month

    No stone! You don’t want to draw attention to those empty arches. Total waste of money. Go with a darker paint color, as most people have already said.

  • last month
    last modified: last month

    No applied material of any kind applied on to the arches...a feature you want to downplay.

    You could re-create the four arched windows above the current ones. Most likely a single sheet of glass with no mullions.

  • last month
    last modified: last month

    As mentioned, paint as close as you can to brick and be sure to test a few. If it were me, at some point, I’d also paint the down spout and eaves darker so they are no longer prominent. The front door would benefit with a warmer color and all combined, it will create a warmer more inviting home.


    Adjusting the landscaping on both sides will drawn the eye away from the arches (plant something high in the middle).




  • PRO
    last month

    Why do you want to keep obviously Colonial doors on the MCM house? It's distracting.


  • last month

    It's not an MCM house, no matter how much Houzzers seem to believe anything built in the 50's and 60's must be.

  • last month

    Maybe a bit crazy and feel free to reject. How about putting real windows in the 2 blank areas and painting the wall behind black to mimic real windows. Unless get up close wont realize fake. Then paint all the trim urban bronze including top arches, Turn focus to front door as described above. I would like to see the door with a punch of color to draw attention there. If still want more change and budget allows a new front door. Just painting the trim gives you a whole new house. A face lift at reasonable cost.

  • last month
    last modified: last month

    Adding to Beverly's suggestion of Urbane Bronze, your landscaping could be improved. Your shrubbery is too narrow and short in proportion to the size of your house.

    Your current shrubs have bare legs, and would look better if they could have some additional evergreens in front to make the bed deeper, and to hide the bare stems. Some taller shrubs would be good too, to cover some of the expanse of brick and break up the look of "arch + arch + arch." Taller shrubs on either side of the house would look good. Your actual shrubs would be more interesting and varied than the simple ones I have shown.

    Houses look welcoming when the front door is emphasized, so I agree with tracefloyd's suggestions of dark railings to draw the eye to the front area. Remove the shrub in front of the porch on the right side that is too tall, and replace it with shorter ones, the same on each side.

    Blue or purple flowers would look great with the orange brick. Bronze mums in fall. Avoid pinks and reds.

    Are you planning to add any kind of walkway at the front?

    If a new front door is not in the budget, remove the grids because the country style is not in keeping with your house.


  • last month

    Such good advice already, just another vote for darker trim + walkway to front door + improved landscaping

  • last month
    last modified: last month

    A small tree with a weeping branch shape would echo the arches in a pleasing way, while at the same time distracting from the triple arches. It's beyond my photoshop abilities to show it. This is one example. The fall colour is more orange than pink-red, which would look great with your brick.

    https://mrmaple.com/products/acer-palmatum-dissectum-waterfall-japanese-maple?srsltid=AfmBOoo89C4VyB1EHXB7l4_KYNeLMM12EgODEHCNO_32Ugczgf-qWfjx

  • 27 days ago

    Paint the trim darker and add awnings over windows, add colorful tile & a water feature in one arch with updated landscaping. The other arch can have some metal lattice work and some beautiful flowering vines.

  • 27 days ago

    White is the lightest color and the eye is drawn to the lightest color. Definitely paint. And - the door should be a different color than the trim. Pick TWO colors that blend and are darker than the brick, and buy paint and get to it.


    Those silly windows would have kept me from buying the house - ugh!


    I would put a window in the middle one if at all possible as it looks silly like that.


    And - see if you can find out who the architect is and write a letter to him or her and suggest the find a different job where they have some actual skill.


    And remove the 1980's style bushes and do some nice landscaping and flower beds - lots of potential, but something needs to be done for sure!

  • 27 days ago

    Rude

  • 27 days ago

    This is a great example of the 1970’s pseudo Spanish ranch..I lived in one for a few years. The advice on darker trim and arch color is spot on.

    It is the most economical approach and upgrades the whole home. The white trim is the biggest sore thumb and you can use the money saved to upgrade the landscape.

  • 26 days ago

    With the rain gutters and trim white, especially if the trim is aluminum, or vinyl I would paint the arch above the windows the same color as the brick to camo it, them put a trellis in front leaving openings for the windows in the shape you want them to be. For the trellis, you don't really want it right up against the house, you want there to be breathing room so plan on like 6 inches. Some vines are faster growing than others and surpisingly some vines if you think buying the bigger put is better, from personal experience I can say the second year the smaller pot will end up filling in more than the larger pot, so an option would be to use different vines with some annual fines that will fill in more of the trellis until the other vining or climbers catch up. Major Wheeler Honey suckle is a favorite or mine, second year it really takes off and it does not lose all its leaves, something that may be important if you live where there is 4seasons, in warmer climates you don't need to worry about evergreen keeping the trim covered.


    Someone else said the house was midcentury, I am not seeing that, but I do agree IF you wanted to paint and the soffet and windows are wood and you were replacing the gutters, then yes painting a dark color for the windows and trim would look nice.

  • 26 days ago
    last modified: 26 days ago

    I think gurukaram is right, reminds me of a house in a nearby town, built in the seventies. Brick and arches, Spanish style and sticks out like a sore thumb in a town in the Canadian Rockies. I agree with painting the white trim and arches darker, and the front door, Also agree with trying to get rid of the grid on the front door window. Might be worth it to hire a painter, that is a lot of work! I doubt there were ever windows in the two middle arches.

  • 26 days ago

    Houses like this are all over my early 70s neighborhood. Many have darker paint or infilled with stone or cast stone veneer.

  • 26 days ago

    The center arches are solid walls so window is not possible. I have seen chevon patterns of wood siding or decorative metal work there.

  • 19 days ago

    Partim we do want a walkway eventually, love all the suggestions!