Need help updating exterior of house
We are in the middle of a whole house interior remodel, but until now we haven't really given any thought to the exterior (facade). We are adding Craftsman touches to the interior, i.e. doors, trim around doors and windows. You cannot see the garage in this photo, but we have a 2 car detached garage to the left of the house.
We want to make a few minor modifications (nothing too expensive) to the exterior to give it more of a Craftsman feel, but we do not know where to begin.
Some ideas we have:
1. Remove the wood shingles - maybe replace with horizontal or vertical siding
2. Replace round columns with tapered columns - maybe on a brick or white pedestal
3. Possibly replace all brick with rock, but this seems like a lot of work as we would have to replace the front stoop as well as the walkway
4. New paint color - ideally the house would be one darker color with white trim
5. Replace front door with a Craftsman style door
We are feeling a bit overwhelmed right now and not even sure if any of this will look good. Would really appreciate it if anyone has any feedback or suggestions.
Thanks,
Camilia
We want to make a few minor modifications (nothing too expensive) to the exterior to give it more of a Craftsman feel, but we do not know where to begin.
Some ideas we have:
1. Remove the wood shingles - maybe replace with horizontal or vertical siding
2. Replace round columns with tapered columns - maybe on a brick or white pedestal
3. Possibly replace all brick with rock, but this seems like a lot of work as we would have to replace the front stoop as well as the walkway
4. New paint color - ideally the house would be one darker color with white trim
5. Replace front door with a Craftsman style door
We are feeling a bit overwhelmed right now and not even sure if any of this will look good. Would really appreciate it if anyone has any feedback or suggestions.
Thanks,
Camilia
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For the tapered columns, I would love to do a stone pier, but would the stone look funny on top of the red brick? Should we make the pier out of the same red brick or maybe a white wood material? Or maybe even the wooden shingles like the photo Jayme attached - but would this look okay on top of red brick?
I definitely like the idea of a high gloss door. For red, would you do fire engine red or more of a brownish red like we currently have? Will have to look at some photos to see if I can find examples.
Thank you to everyone for steering me in the right direction. You guys are great!
If you take the face off of it, and open it inside to the ceiling, then you can add a open truss timber to front of it extending beyond the roof line, with new posts - use more brick to bring the pilasters up underneath to be at least 30" above finish porch floor. You can incorporate the existing stoop in a larger stoop and just keep the brick as it is easy to find and add and is perfectly classic here.
As for shingles, you want to us a translucent stain to take them to a natural toned mid-tone mossy green, and all the white gables and trim around your white windows (keep them white for now) would go one shade deeper, like a forest green. The tan color on the body of the house then is fine as is with those additions. Make the new truss and posts follow craftsman elements noted above with rafter tails and exposed fastener plates / bolts, but you can do them in paint grade and paint them the same darker green as the rest of the trim. Your more brown red door is perfect with this color palette, but you may eventually want a craftsman door with the upper windows.
LibraDesign - Thank you so much for the wonderful advice. Fortunately, the portico was built in 1997 by the previous owner (not by us), so we are more than willing to make changes to it. Anyhow, great suggestions. As someone else suggested, I may have to hire a designer to put this on paper so I can visualize all the changes. We hired an architect for our interior model, but for some reason I don't think he does exterior design work.
Jayme - I have spent hours and hours on Houzz, browsing through Craftsman exterior photos and other photos until my wrist hurts ... LOL! The more I looked at photos, the more convinced I was that my house would need major structural changes on the outside to give it a more Craftsman feel. We are already spending a small fortune on the interior remodel, so I am hoping to just make a few simple changes on the outside and not spend too much. Maybe end up with a "Craftsman-Lite" exterior. Anyhow, will consult with a designer to see what they say.
Thanks for all the great ideas, everyone. I will definitely post photos of the end result when we are done.
Camilia