Also the front entrance will be where we have the front bottom window. Rather than next to the garage.

Adelarks I'm assuming from your number plate that you're in the UK. Do you have any additional photos? I think you risk it looking stark if you go full white render. The current trend is towards weatherboarding (the US guys call it siding). what we in the UK would refer to as a New England look. Why aluminium windows?

I like the grey and white look - like this. I think a full render is much nicer than seeing the brick work.

Also - i dont think you can get the grey windows in any other material than aluminium, can you>?

You can probably get grey upvc but aluminium might be better. I like your inspiration picture but notice it does have weatherboarding. I think you need something like that to break up the white.

I'm off out for the day but have flagged your post with the UK girls (we have our own board) and I'm sure they'll pop over to comment.

great. Thanks.

Are you replacing roof? Just bear in mind it will make a difference to the overall look since your roof tiles aren't grey.

Nope. we don't have the budget as need to renovate indoors too. Gulp. Also the roof is in very good condition. What would you do? Would UPVC white with no bars look good? or would a Georgian style work>

I really am off but here are a couple of photos of UK 1960s 1970s transformations. I think you really need to decide whether you are going clean modern box or softer more traditional look and the window style will follow. I would avoid white UPvc if you can, particular if you are using white render. Georgian style will look odd if you're going modern.

Hello ! UK gal here !!! Thanks Shelley !
Looks a great project ! Totally agree with you about adding a matching window ! Have you seen a particular style that just makes you smile ?! Are you changing the doors too ( the Georgian looking pair that I assume is access to front door !)

Are the windows worth re-using? Could you take the large window that you going to make into an entrance and use it in the upper right? It would be stacked above the one below.
Also the window above the new entrance would look better if it wasn't sitting on the roof. I'd make it about a foot narrower

With the entrance door, are you thinking to have sidelights that mimic the windows? Small window on top w longer under... If you are trying to play up the 50s sleek, this will help.

Painting it all white will be a lot of white but be sure to give it some strong colors to go with it. Either by having window trim painted bold or by having a bold front door.

We have a 1941 bungalow that is white with black roof and a red front door. Really let's the red pop!

Hi OnePlan - I have seen lots of shots of houses form 50s 60s that have been rendered white. I like the idea of balancing this with some weatherboard. We are extending the right hand side, so it will be even with a sloping pitched roof either side. The existing front door will be bricked and the main entrance will be made where we have the facade jutting out, as that will make a huge hallway leading onto a stairs. I am looking for the answer to how to improve the exterior. The added window on right hand side is a given, and i just felt a white render would look clean and modern. Windows I am not sure about. Would white UPVC look good? Or better to have the grey?

try again

yes going to have sidelight window panels either side of a large wooden door with chrome fittings and underlights from the porch roof. Nice idea about narrowing window. Dont think the windows can be reused. Old and not very energy efficient.

right I'm out of here. will check in later

see, i love that. And they are georgian stle windows UPVC probably> I have seen that shot before. Is that off white do you think?

Which one, the one with the lovely porch. I think that's beautiful too. Lots more shots here

http://www.backtofrontexteriordesign.com/gallery_detail15.html

I'm gone, leaving you safe in the hands of oneplan and House Lizard.

yes one with the lovely porch. I think we could certainly try and make it more like that. I think the bar upvc windows look fine.

Do you have an elevation drawn up of the front with the new extension too ?!?
I love those suggestions Shelley added ! And the idea of a bright front door is fab too ! It's great to add focus like house lizard suggested !
So it's in for quite an overhaul !!

Have the windows be a diff color or add small plain trim piece around 1x3 brick mold in a gray. White windows on white without something is almost like blonde eyelashes. They are there but you can't really see them.

Yes. Agreed. It will need something to lift the windows. So hard. Otherwise we do a slightly different render, say off light grey or something. Wish I had one solution to all this. It's trickier than I thought.

Think I will be back to doing grey or bolder coloured windows to lift the white. With a bright or wooden panelled modern door and chrome fittings I think it will look good.

the side part of the more traditional house looks good to me.

You seem to be leaning towards the more modern style. In which case grey windows will look effective against the white render. Be aware that white render is a b*gger to maintain in our rainy climate and will need repainting every two years and its not cheap.

so better with grey render and white windows?

Personally I wouldn't since I think you need to be aware that you're not dealing with a big new modern box, you are dealing with a period house which has features already, some of which you are presumably retaining. Do you have plans drawn up of the front of the house? If not then I think you need to get floorplans and elevation plans drawn up and then you can play about with them. If you don't have anyone yet to help you with those then that's what oneplan does and she's very good and her fees are very reasonable.

Once you have elevations, even if you do them yourself and they are only rough and handdrawn, then you can look at finishes and work out whether they will fit.

yes we have architect and we have a few more options that have just come to us. There's character inside which we are retaining. Like retro 50's art deco stuff. But otherwise the outside really needs to be sorted. I'll put the plans up in a bit as the latest ones are nice. My main issue is knowing what windows and what colour for the render. I don't want brick.

i will do. it's looking good though i think.

If it's possible change the white to a dark blue or something. POWERWASH the whole brick and everything. Change the garage completely and if you can change the white on the house, do that color on the garage

Hi! Another UK girl reporting for duty. I like the idea of render with a touch of weatherboarding. Make sure you get self coloured render so then it won't need repointing, more expensive upfront but worth it in the long haul.

You can get grey ( and lots of other colour) windows in UPVC too but having aluminium windows will definitely give you a slimmer profile. This looks more modern and will let more light in to the rooms. I would avoid white UPVC with white render for reasons others have stated. You can also have windows which are aluclad, so aluminium outside with wood inside, which can be left natural or painted.There are some amazing transformations out there and the windows will make an enormous difference to the whole appearance of the house. Make sure you pick a door early in the style you are going for, let that lead you with windows. Try urban front for doors, kloeber and Nordan make some very nice modern windows.
Go to home shows and look at windows, touch them and see what you like, pictures online don't give you the same info as feeling the hardware and seeing edge profiles close up.
I think I sound like a geek :-(

That was meant to say repainting, iPad autocorrect being unhelpful as usual LOL.

Amazing response Victoria. Thank you. That settles it. I have just seen our latest plans and we have a much grander entrance with bigger porch and doors with side lights either side. Looks great. I'll certainly start looking for decent windows.

yep. Got you. I have heard about the renders that come with colours in the mix. Best option for sure. If you have any tips on getting best prices out of windows and sliding doors, for example at Kloeber, i'd be very keen to know. They have a lovely product line.

Negotiate hard! Go to shows, ask for show deals, they often have them on the stands. Lots of companies out there so get lots of quotes. Folding sliding doors are the budget busting items and are almost becoming overdone, having multiple French doors on narrower openings is a lot cheaper, just depends on your preference. Also easier to dress the windows, blinds in the panes of folding sliding doors are eye watering!

Can you post your new elevations? Do you know when this house was built--it looks like it has been added to over time, and the garage doors are rather antique looking. Was it built in the 1950s, or remodeled in the 1950s?

I really like the original garage door if you can keep that, and I think keeping some of the brick (say for the garage) or doing pebble dash for part of it might be nice, rather than the weatherboarding. It looks nice, but I wonder how well it holds up next to the stucco and what the joint and the flashing would be like. Seems to me that having it flush with the stucco would encourage rot.

It would be possible to go more British Arts and Crafts with this too, especially with a porch would say no to Georgian windows, but 6 over one cottage style windows might be nice, if they were quality, of true divided light or simulated divided light with thick dividers on both sides of the glass. The larger windows should be paired or tripled to maintain vertical proportions. Of course this is a totally different style than what you posted. Some of these are pretty grand, but basically they channel old building traditions but with simplified geometry, and ribbons of windows to allow in a lot of light. Some of them do go more into the picturesque.

Going more International style or Art Moderne might be a possibility as well, and often has assymetrically place windows, corner windows, simple muntins, sometimes glass block, and raw unanodized aluminum or stainless trim and windows. Contemporary as you posted, is a related style, with a bit more flexibility.

Both types were typically in white stucco. One is more cottagey, the other is very sleek and modern, and you would have to figure out how to incorporate the gable roof, which isn't typical.

Anyway, I think it would be nice to have a nod to the original building. The gable and the window/entrance already references vernacular architecture, so I think a simplified Arts and Crafts would be a good fit for what you already have, with just a bit of tweaking.

To me this looks like typical UK 1960s housing stock. I grew up in a house a bit like this. We don't do pebble dash any more, very popular in the 70s, now most people are taking it off.
Housing is quite different in the UK and things that work very well elsewhere don't always translate to the average British street. No problem at all with render and weatherboarding, if properly installed :-)

It is funny how you can look at photos of gorgeous US houses with rock cladding and pebbledash and siding and really appreciate that they look lovely but they just don't translate to the UK (although as we mentioned siding (weather boarding) is making a comeback due to the popularity of the New England look). We have far less variety in our houses and heaven forbid anyone try to paint their house a colour that isn't white or cream unless they live by the seaside. The neighbours would be organising a public stoning.

True pebbledash is uncommon in the United States, especially after the 1920s. Various forms of stucco are fairly common, especially in the Southwest and in Florida, where the climate and bugs are hard on wood buildings, and there is a Spanish colonial influence. The pictures I posted are all from 1890-1910 and in England, except for the one with the green window frames, which I think is from Canada and shows British Arts and Crafts influence.

Yes, they all look British, but at least 50 years too old for this property. Proportions will be wrong, this house will have much lower ceiling and storey heights etc. Surrounding houses will generally also be from same era so going contemporary will probably be more in keeping.

Here is a useful article.
http://www.backtofrontexteriordesign.com/media/Remodelling_postwar_home002-1960's.pdf

Another.
http://www.backtofrontexteriordesign.com/media/038-41Leading Light-Makeover-Mavericks.pdf

Thanks to everyone's help on here. You guys rock. Such a great help and I am looking fwd to posting the final project online. Just planning the open plan kitchen now. Don't suppose anyone has heard of neatsmith kitchens?

Just looked at their website - and it appears all the pics are manufacturer photos rather than pics of their work - so best visit their own showroom - and ask who designed and fitted out their showroom - as it may have been a team from Italy rather than their own fitters ! If that's the case then it wouldn't be a bad idea to ask if you can see a job or a selection of jobs that THEY actually designed and installed !
It's a big investment - so you want to make sure the team working for you are brilliant !!

Saw this and thought that it would be the perfect way to repurpose your garage doors, or maybe a gate for the garden.



I know a lot of British midcentury terrace and semidetached housing, especially in the 1930s channeled Arts and Crafts and vernacular elements, and were roundly criticized for doing so, which may be why you sometimes get an somewhat awkward mix like your home.

I did look at the work of the firm posted, some I liked, some I didn't, and I don't think a coat of white paint or stucco is always the solution. But maybe you can find a happy medium between contemporary and traditional.

Hi, Iv'e been drawn to this site a couple of times after searching for ways to make our 60s part render part brick house more contemporary. We have done bits in stages including some cladding and a new rear single storey open plan kitchen dinner with grey bifolds and cedar cladding. However, once we moved in the windows needed changing quite quickly and in our haste we chose white upvc. We haven't painted the render yet and the new front door is a contemporary cedar style with sidelights and the garage is painted grey. Do you think we should render the lower bricked wall and decorate in another colour. I would love to so the example above, but with the white upvc I don't think it would work as well with the ehite render. We are already considering rendering the lower part or one facing wall as it is getting damaged by oncoming wind and rain. I would love your insight.

Hey - great reply and really interested to see what you do. I am the owner of the house above and we have just done a total refurb inside which we are so pleased with. Now it's time to solve the exterior and i have a good idea of what will work. We went with white UPVC, and i think that's an OK decision, grey windows look amazing, but i have a feeling they will date very quickly and people will always come back to white. I really believe it can work if you have an offset colour, so a light warm grey and white windows with some wood thrown in. We too will probably go with cedar clad on one side of our front extension to hide the breeze block and we are then going for a top to bottom render to completely hide the brick work. We have a new front porch now with lovely solid oak pillars and a cedar garage door, so it will all pull in nicely. Please post your photos up of the exterior. I'll do the same

Hi, I would have a cedar strip breaking up the white render, it Will be too much, try to combination it with the porch.

This is what I have in mind for my house, having white windows and a creamy white render.