Need help with house

shanetobin

Hey guys, Im new to the site and just wanted to see if anyone had any ideas or suggestions on what I can do to put a little life back into this home. We just purchased it and are unhappy with the curb appeal, I just dont know which direction to go with to give it that kick it needs, any help would be greatly appreciated. Here is the picture, all ideas welcome!!!

joecaption

It may be just the picture, but are the screen door and garage door yellow?

shanetobin

Yes. Both are a pale yellow, we are hoping another color might help but can't decide where to start

joecaption

Paint garage door white to match the other trim. (acrilic latex, Sherwin Williams super paint works good on metal doors) I'd replace that storm door with a full view door.
Build and arched (not just L shaped) walk way from the from door to the drive, plant hedges along the side toward the street or at least some flor beds.
Plant some flowering trees or something like Japanese maple trees in the yard.
Wrap those post coloums with post wraps and add capitals at the top and base blocks at the bottom.

shanetobin

Wow, lots of great suggestions. We are for sure painting the doors. My wife wants to paint the screen door red and paint the garage door same color as the shutters. Would that make the house seem too dark? I really like te idea of a walkway. We are going to have to play with that idea for sure. Thanks or your input!! Any other suggestions welcome as well!!

joecaption

Not a fan of red doors but it's your house, but if that garage door gets direct sun do not paint it any dark color. It will radiate heat like crazy inside and may mess up the door.

joecaption

Most paint manufactures have places on there web sites to pick a sample house and you can change the colors of the house, shutters, roof and doors.

TarheelTerp

I'm not gonna be the one to pick them...
but if you're inclined to do some planting then NOW is the time to do it.

Ask in the landscaping section or at the local nursery for advice on it
and get *something* planted before the ground freezes in.

hth

joecaption

http://www.midamericacomponents.com/...photo-gallery/
Look around on this web site at the garage door mantels and door trim.
May help with the genaric cookie cutter look the house has now.

biggles

maybe lighten up the actual front house siding not white but off,and do the same with those garage doors.so the shutters will show more on the windows and get away from being close to the color of the roof.then whatever color the shutters are trim some of the garage door if it has panels definitly plantings away from the house..some white railing on the porch maybe even bring it out a bit..check that Curb Appeal on HGTVdon't rush on planting add something each spring and you'll fill it up real soon..and wait till you cut that lawn the first time after a winter of snow if thats your season...i would mulch that thing and never bag it

a_lost_shadow

Maybe it's the lighting, but the house seems awfully dark. I'd suggest seeing if you can lighten it up with lighter paint on the siding, or on the shutters/posts.

Folks have already mentioned shrubberies.

You might want to consider having something line the edges of the driveway. You could use more shrubberies, decorative rocks, and/or a contrasting ground cover.

Another possibility would be adding a waist high fence around the patio. This could add more color contrast and give you a place to put flowers above any shrubberies.

As for paint colors, have you tried any of the online utilities to get an idea of what the paint might look like? I know a number of the major paint brands allow you to upload a picture and then color it with their colors of paint. I've found them to be hit or miss, but you might want to give one a try.

ddawg16

As your seeing from most of the suggestions.....yard work. That is a big front yard with nothing in it.....besides plants, you need a couple of trees.

I agree about the path from the driveway to the front door....maybe consider paying your driveway....works wonders for keeping rocks off the grass.

A short picket fence along the front can help divide the yard from the street....I'm going to guess there is no curb...and you most likely live in NC or SC..maybe GA?

Paint? No, you don't want to go red....not with green siding. White, yellow and other shades of green are your only real choices. If you wife wants to door to stand out...paint it a darker green.

Nice thing about vinyl siding, doesn't need to be painted....bad thing, you can't paint it to change the color.

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Blondesense

Excellent idea if you don't park in the garage year 'round. Wait until spring and it should be obvious by the muddy track exactly where the walk should go.

iLoveFence

Hey, I would agree with ddawg16 and a_lost_shadow about maybe putting some fencing up to enclose the patio. There's a company that makes vinyl railing that will give you a picketed look. The other nice thing about these guys is they have a product that you can wrap around your columns to give them a little spruced up look that'll also go well with the vinyl picket fence look.

You can get this stuff in a few different colors, so you could add some of the white vinyl and either paint the garage door and front door white to match. That'll get the yellow-ish color out of the way. That would make it POP!


Here's a link to one of the different kinds of railing I personally enjoyed the look of, but there's a lot of different kinds to look at.
http://discountfence.com/vinyl_fence...20railing.html

And, here's a link to the "snap wrap" that you can clip over the columns. It'll also do well to protect them I'd wager. They have trim kits too, basically molding for the base or the top as well.
http://discountfence.com/vinyl_fence...snap_wrap.html

Essentially, you have a really great start, but as far as all the options you have, this is probably one of the less expensive ideas compared to residing the whole house, or repainting the whole thing as well.


Well, good luck! Post some pictures when you decide what you're going to do!

Edit: I can't be sure, but are there no gutters? You miiight wanna give that a whirl. If you do any landscaping, you don't want all the water just pouring ontop of the plants or mulch beds. I've done a large bit of mulching myself, and when you get a heavy rain with no gutters *shudders* you'll find mulch ALL over the lawn :s You could get those to match the door and shutters probably, I think that would also look a little nice.

biggles

two catalogs to get for the winter...henryfields and gurneys...tons of trees planting to get mailed to you definitly good therapy on those weekends in 2012 i ordered Lombardy Poplars back in 1990 and just lost them from the Hurricane Irene hit check out Landscaping "planting noise/wind break" 12/17 they were 90' paed $5 each for them.once the trees in the catalog take root they take off and are zoned from areas of the country for the extreme weather swings