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melanie_miller93

any ideas on how to make the house look more modern?

last month

When I bought the house 13 years ago it had just been painted green. So I have lived with it for 13 years and it is starting to fade. I thought I would take this opportunity to update it a bit. A lot of people in my neighborhood are just painting the stone white and it looks bad. How can I work with the stone? Hardi Board? What color? Style?

Comments (14)

  • last month
    last modified: last month

    I agree with your choice not to paint the siding white, or any color for that matter. Painting will mean some serious updates down the road.

    On the house and garage you could leave the green, however I think brown would work better with the siding and beautiful brown tone front door. Something like this inspiration photo:



    White Soffit, Brown Fascia and White Brick Siding which will work so well with your front door.




    The garage confuses me. Is it a more recent build? The pitch of the roof, the garage doors, the vertical siding over the doors...thinking that maybe you should continue the color for the soffit/fascia, then doors and vertical siding go with brown of the fascia.



  • PRO
    last month
    last modified: last month

    Your ranch home has details, arched openings, windows & stone with weeping mortar, that lean to a Mediterranean style. Your color scheme trim and doors should reflect that style. The green is not working. Modern is not an option for your home unless you blow it up. If you paint, I'd tone down the white and select a more natural varied paint or limewash for the exterior walls.


    The best direction for your home is to concentrate on developing a lavish landscaping plan. See images below.

    Consider a different direction for your garage doors. They should look like carriage doors.

  • PRO
    last month

    I suggest you paint the siding, soffit, and fascia creamy white. You can paint the front and garage doors a brown/black or any colour you like that coordinates with you roof which I do not see. Update all outdoor lighting, house numbers and refresh the walkway, redo the landscaping. You can stain the fence in either the same black/brown or other colour that will coordinate with another accent colour of your choice.


  • PRO
    last month

    you can't make this house modern. work with what you have.


    first thing I'd do is landscaping. get rid of this ivy. pare down all the ground shrubs on the right. can't see the rest, but a landscape designer could do vast improvements.

    the stone is fine. paint the fascia a darker color. look at Wrought Iron or Kendall Charcoal.


    ditto for the garage doors


    This is Urbane Bronze. it would also be a very nice choice w/the stone


    Lose the Craftsman style front doors and do something more mid-century or modern like these. ditto the light


    not this color, just example.




    get the walkway tiled or resurfaced. clean up the flower beds, the pots.




    the garage doors have had their day. they need to go. they're horrible. upgrade to a wood look shown here w/diff lights and 2 of the darker trim colors


    or try something like these




  • last month

    That is one sad looking approach to your front door.
    Freshen up the greenery, power wash the walk , and perhaps some better lookibg pots and plants on the steps.


  • last month

    Your stone has some pink in it so a taupe paint for the siding with brown trim would work well with it. Try Benjamin Moore Smokey Taupe. Glad you aren't going to paint your stone!

  • last month

    The bones of your home are not modern. So don't force it. You are smart to not paint the stone. Now you just need to find the right neutral tone paint so it doens't pop too much. I'd look in taupes.


    Can you hide the downspout behind the wall instead of in front of it?


    This home needs some major landscaping help.

  • last month

    Thank you for the feedback! I meant updated looking, not necessarily modern style. My house is definitely southwest ranch style. Unfortunately, I am a teacher with one pay check so I have to do things in steps. The paint is fading and the squirrels are using the wood as teeth sharpeners, so want to address the outside of the actual house first. Landscaping is definitely on the to do list. I don’t know what color my roof is, the stone is Texas limestone. Yes, definitely garage doors need to be replaced. Not sure if that is in the budget at the moment but like the wood look garage doors! I am just trying to pick a paint color/siding color that either goes with wood look garage doors or that can just be painted for now. Thanks for the great tips!

  • last month

    As suggested:


    --Scrape and pint the garage doors a dark brown to match your front door. Paint the gable same color as the stone. See lisedv


    --Devote most of your budget to a poured cement walkway in a golden tone that matches your stone or pavers in harmonizing tone.


    --Dig up all your greenery along the new walkway and add simple, low shrubs native to your area and availability of minimal irrigation. Lisedv's inspiration photos are perfect--very symmetrical low shrubs along walkway convey a modern look. Avoid random plantings everywhere.

  • PRO
    last month

    From what you’ve shared, the best “modern update” here isn’t forcing a full modern style, it’s modernizing the Mediterranean/ranch character you already have and cleaning up the visual weight. Keep the stone (it’s a strong feature), but refresh the overall palette by shifting away from the green into a warmer neutral body color with deeper contrasting trim/fascia so the stone and roof feel intentional and updated.


    The biggest improvement will come from landscaping + approach: simplify shrubs, remove overgrowth, add structured planting beds, and upgrade the path so the entry feels clean and designed. Also, replacing dated garage doors with a modern wood-look or carriage-style door plus updated exterior lighting and house numbers will instantly bring the home forward without ruining the stone. (Most people regret painting stone white because it looks flat and artificial.)

  • PRO
    last month

    The stone is so extensive on your home that I would suggest embracing it unless you want to spend a large sum of money to have it removed and replaced. Wouldn't paint it either. Painted brick can easily look good. Painted stone - not so much. The stone could use a good cleaning. That should freshen it up. As others are saying landscaping is probably the best was to update your home.

  • PRO
    last month

    Duplicate post so now you have to read 2

  • PRO
  • last month
    last modified: last month

    On a teacher's budget, going in phases is a good idea. This is a nice big house with a lot of character in the design and stonework.


    Start with trimming back the foundation plants and getting rid of whatever is growing on the stone. Painters will need at least a foot free of plants next to the area where they work.

    Paint the white light fixture black to match your other fixtures.

    Get the stone and sidewalks pressure washed and the rest of the house "soft washed" in preparation for priming and painting.

    When you are a week or two away from painting: Buy a can of the best white primer and prime a small area of trim, 2-4 feet long, that you see every day when you drive up. That will tell you if you like a new light bright color on your trim or prefer something dark and dramatic like Urbane Bronze as Beth H. showed. Get Samplize in your final half dozen paint color options.