Stucco is naturally suited for gray. The only caveat is that a darker gray can be a bit overwhelming. Consider instead a stucco in a warm French gray. This can be quite inviting, especially when teamed up with more colorful window frames and trim, as well as a roof that's allowed to weather to a natural gray.
2. Red Door With a Warm, Dark House Color Between the warm wood siding and the deep brown color of the metal cladding, this house sports some beautiful, rich hues. The punch of red on the door — a vibrant shade with a bit of orange in it — announces the home's entry. Sometimes contemporary architecture can appear cold and uninviting, but that's not the case with this elegant home.
. Warm Red Door With Warm, Light-Colored Siding This entry beckons you to come on in and enjoy a hot beverage in front of a roaring fire after a day spent outside in the crisp autumn air. Red doors look fantastic on homes with natural wood siding, but if your siding requires paint, you can't go wrong with shades of brown, tan and taupe.
Example palette: Fire engine red is a classic door color that plays well with so many other hues, especially popular neutrals such as soft green, gray and taupe. Clockwise from top left (all from Sherwin-Williams): Fireworks SW6867, Bonsai Tint SW6436, Westchester Gray SW2849 and Intellectual Gray SW7045.
4. Neutral Orange and Traditional Architecture Those looking for a subtler shade of orange or to complement more traditional architecture may want to consider an orange similar to the one shown here. This shade is more tonal in that it has some taupe in it (white, black and brown), making it read as more of a neutral. If you took the bold orange hue in the previous example and added only white, it would turn a pastel orange. Lighter hues need the addition of black and/or brown to keep them from looking like a color better suited for a nursery.
. Orange Door With a Cool Gray Exterior This is one of my favorite exterior color palettes on one of my favorite styles of architecture. The cool blue-gray siding with the true orange door is stunning. Orange and blue are opposite each other on the color wheel, so they offer the most contrast. The orange makes the blue appear brighter and bluer and vice versa. A good tip when working with contrasting colors is to pick a more vibrant shade of one of the hues (the orange in this case) while keeping the other color (the blue-gray here) subtler and more neutral. This creates an eye-catching yet elegant palette.
6. Orange Door With a Taupe Exterior So far we've seen lots of orange and gray combinations, but orange is a warm hue and therefore works well with other warm colors. Using a warmer hue on an exterior will also make the orange appear less bold and intense, for a more toned-down entry than in the previous example.
Green. Play off your surrounding landscape or introduce a new, refreshing color by painting your front door green. Whether olive, mint or lime, there's bound to be a shade of green that can fit into your exterior palette. Guide: When to Paint Your Door Green
Blue. Although it's often seen indoors, more vibrant shades of blue rarely make an appearance on exteriors. Shake things up by pairing a bright blue with a natural or neutral exterior for an unexpected welcome to your home. Guide: When to Paint Your Door Blue
Purple. As with orange, using too much purple can veer toward gaudy very quickly. Stick to a small dose and try purple on your home's front door. Whether you like warm or cool tones, purple can — surprisingly — complement almost any exterior palette. Guide: When to Paint Your Door Purple
Black. Always classic, glossy black doors make an elegant statement. Use other exterior accents to help tie a black door into the rest of your home's design. Guide: When to Paint Your Door Black More color guides: Color palettes, paint picks and more in the Houzz Color section
AFTER: The couple cleaned up the exterior and put in low-maintenance landscaping. A new walkway with repeating concrete pavers on gravel reflects the geometric patterns on the updated exterior. Charcoal-gray HardiePanels were added to the second floor, and cream-colored stucco refreshed old beige painted brick. The new column by the front door is made of ipe — a hard, weather-resistant and sustainably grown wood. love the pavers on gravel: great drainage.
Stucco and a fresh coat of cream paint gave the exterior a new look. Architect Haas designed a covered patio area where the pair likes to hang out. The new second-floor balcony can be seen on the right. Leigh gave Chris a bench swing that hangs from an oak tree just visible in the corner of this photo. good indoor/outdoor space
COURTYARD The extension of the horizontal window from the living room to the terrace gives cohesion to the exterior (first photo), but it also provides a consistent framing of the surrounding landscape, regardless of whether one is inside or outside.
The living room is connected to the terrace through a huge sliding glass wall that faces south. This exposure means plenty of sunlight enters the living room and the terrace, where a concrete table provides for outdoor dining. Add to ideabook A lot of the design starts to fall into place once we step outside onto the terrace. Here the sky — gone since we entered the porte cochere — reenters the picture. The house can be seen as a tripartite layering of experience and meaning: The ground floor is a sheltered connection to earth that also helps raise the living spaces above it; the second floor is the enclosed domestic realm that is protected from the elements yet frames the trees and other surroundings through the ribbon windows; the roof connects one to the sky and a larger context visible beyond the trees.
COURTYARD That view beyond the trees is the reason for a north-facing window that Corbusier cut into an enclosure that provides some privacy and a sense of containment on the roof. This frame (which would not have looked at a building in 1931) directs one's gaze far in the distance. It is the culmination of the promenade architecturale that moves from the car to the ramp (or stair) that zigzags alongside the interior and exterior spaces. It is an experience well worth having, and thankfully this home's national monument designation allows that.
Once again we see grasses used as a terraced ground cover, but here they are used to soften the uncompromising Cor-Ten steel retaining walls. The height and color of the grasses are perfectly in harmony with the rust finish of the steel. Ornamental grasses can be a good plant choice, as terraces can drain freely, but the selection is important; choose those that are happy to survive in existing conditions.
Again Cor-Ten steel is the material choice for the retaining walls of this terraced garden. The glaucous coloring of the succulents contrasts well with the metal, and the plants are perfect for dry conditions. The gravel mulch aids drainage and prevents water evaporation while providing a great textural contrast against the plantings and steel.
One of the real benefits of terracing is the way it links the house to the garden as well as to the contours of the landscape. While it is vitally important that the size and height of the retaining walls are in balance with the house and garden, it is equally important that the plantings don't overpower the hardscape.
courtyard The same thoughts on integrated planting design have been used in this enclosed garden, with green as the predominant foliage color. The low retaining walls echo the Mediterranean traditional treatment for a sloping site. The horizontal beds lead the eye out, creating the illusion of the garden being wider than it is while providing usable space. The terraced plantings are minimalistic on the lower levels, with manicured lawn stepping up to a line of ornamental grasses — the whole creating the theater for the living wall at the rear of the garden.
The terraced plantings are minimalistic on the lower levels, with manicured lawn stepping up to a line of ornamental grasses — the whole creating the theater for the living wall at the rear of the garden. Add to ideabook by Samuel H. Williamson Associates by Samuel H. Williamson Associates The use of tall, loosely foliaged bamboo allows these plantings to reach from lower levels to the heights of the top retaining wall. The design is simple yet very effective.
new zealand This ideabook will take some short tours of the four houses by Marshall, giving outsiders an idea of what makes New Zealand unique. Each house's design results from responses to a few factors consistent to the country: an undulating topography, a favorable climate and being surrounded by water. So the houses are often split levels; they welcome the exteriors into the house via movable walls; and they are oriented to the sun and water views through large glass walls. These traits align the houses closely with Australia's crop of modern architecture, but also with homes in a place like California, where a benign climate and nearby ocean embrace similar design responses. Add to ideabook by Daniel Marshall Architect by Daniel Marshall Architect 1. The Korora House, Waiheke New Zealand, as most people know, is composed of two main islands. About half of the population lives in four cities: Auckland, Christchurch, Wellington and Hamilton; all but Christchurch are on the north island. Marshall is based in Auckland, and the projects presented here are in the vicinity of that city. The Korora House is on Waiheke, a small island in the Hauraki Gulf east of Auckland. The house t...
nz he house has a linear floor plan that moves from bedrooms on the east side (this photo) to the master suite on the west; in between are the living areas and a "living courtyard" sheltered by the roof. Here we can see the creative way the house merges with the site. A wall on the east end cantilevers over the slope, like an act of defiance, while the steps lead to the entrance in the middle of the plan.
nz Standing in the entry, we can see back down the exterior steps. We also see the glass gallery that connects both ends of the linear plan as well as the living courtyard and the living area. Sliding doors merge interior and exterior to help create that strong connection with the environment that Marshall notes.
nz On one side of the courtyard, a fireplace backs up against a hearth serving the lounge, pictured here. Again, the glass walls slide away to connect inside and outside. It's clear that Korora is all about the water and horizon that it overlooks
nz 2. Elmstone, Auckland This home, on the other hand, is in a suburban Auckland context, on the end of a cul-de-sac. On approach we see only the garage, on the left, and a glass wall at the entrance, behind which a concrete wall maintains some privacy.
nz On the other side of the house, the sunny north side, we see the true scale of the project: What looked like a one- or two-story house from the front is actually a three-story split level. As with Korora, the glazing on the north is generous, opening up views and inviting in the sun.
nz Another similarity to Korora can be found in the sliding glass walls that connect inside and outside — in this case the living area and patio on the ground floor.
nz Here we are looking toward the front door, a 180-degree turn from the first photo of the house. In between is the concrete wall that maintains privacy but also, like the concrete slabs and walls elsewhere in the house, "contributes to a thermal mass to absorb the heat from plentiful northern and eastern sun to regulate internal temperature of the house," writes Marshall on his website.
nz 3. Lucerne, Auckland This is a large house located on the edge of Orakei Basin, what was a volcano a very long time ago. The site gives the residents views of Auckland city and the harbor beyond. Yet what is more important is the client's need to house some classic cars, which Marshall addressed through the creation of an entry court that makes it hard to distinguish what is garage and what is house.
nz The very un-garage-like garage doors are crafted from vertical wood boards that continue around the other walls on the entry court. Or as the client put it, "Our architect designed the doors around a courtyard, cleverly disguising them so that they are seemingly part of a wall."
nz The treatment makes for a very welcoming entrance. A closer look at the entrance door reveals a lovely custom door handle that extends from the top to the bottom of the door. Add to ideabook by Daniel Marshall Architect by Daniel Marshall Architect Like the Elmstone house, Lucerne is a split level, but of a different sort: It is a three-story house that is two stories on the front and two stories on the back, like a flattened "Z." Here we are seeing the middle and upper floor. The louvered area in the middle is the top of a double-height living area.
nz From inside the living area we can see the city views beyond the basin. The back wall of the dining area is, as the client describes it, "a wonderful wax-paneled wall ... that is a unique work of art."
nz 4. Raumati, Auckland Raumati (Maori for "summer") is a replacement of a 1970s house in the Remuera area of Auckland, south and west of the Orakei Basin and the Lucerne house. Like Marshall's other houses described in this ideabook, this house contends with a slope and is massed as a split level, like Elmstone. At the top are the entry and driveway, and at the bottom is a tennis court, an existing part of the old house that had to stay.
nz The house was designed to be an addition, but it was decided that would not work, although the budget had to stay the same. Marshall responded by simplifying materials and making the plan as efficient as possible. The wood exterior is particularly pleasing, especially in the way it closely matches the terrace.
nz The plan is dumbell-like, and the interior volumes are fairly cubic — there are echoes of the Korara House. In each house the entrance falls in the middle of the plan at a glass gallery that links two sides of the house. At Raumati, the gallery looks onto the pool. Here we're looking from the living area toward the pool; the entry and gallery are out of frame on the left.
nz While this house is more introverted than the others (there are some distant views from the top floor, though), it echoes many of the same concerns that Marshall mentions: merging indoor and outdoor space, dealing with steeply sloping sites and relating to its surroundings through views, both near and distant.
secure entry: From the driveway, residents and visitors walk along a path on the south side that ascends to the front door. The wood siding — the most prominent aspect of the street frontage — continues here. Before reaching the front door, one passes through a gate made from wood fins and steel, a hint of things to come.
another view of secure entry Bamboo and another layer of wood fins add more privacy. Here we are looking from just outside the courtyard's wood fins (note the edge of the glass roof at the top) toward the entrance gate.
looking toward courtyard: Here we are again looking at the outside of the courtyard, along the path from the entrance gate to the master bedroom. There is very little in the way of yard available on the lot, but every last bit of it is carefully enhanced with plantings or pavings. The Asian influence is readily apparent in this view of the fins, bamboo and stepping stones.
Who to hire: You’ll likely need to start with a structural engineer to be sure your roof can handle the extra weight, which can be up to 40 pounds per square foot after it rains. You’ll also want to hire a reputable general contractor to prep your roof with a waterproof membrane and any insulation required by your municipality. You should also have your contractor add decorative edging to make sure your plants don’t slide off the roof. But as for the actual garden installation, Coulson believes it can be a relatively easy DIY project.
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remodeling: 10. Don't work without a design. Some projects require an architect, some an interior designer, and sometimes a talented builder will get your aesthetic and help you come up with a good plan. Whatever you do, don’t start a remodel without a detailed floor plan. A lot of elements interact in a space — put them all on paper and you’ll catch problems before they are built. You may be able to build a functional space without a plan, but if you want a functional and beautiful space, hire a designer.
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