House facade help

Posted on Thu, 1 Jul 2010 by KiM

HAPPY CANADA DAY to all of our Canadian readers! Hope you all have a fun day off work, partying it up and enjoying the festivities. I’m hoping to get out in my front yard at some point and attempt to snap a photo of the Snowbirds as they fly around the capital. (Last year I just missed them).

Today I’ve got a few things to blog about – the first is a request for some paint ideas. Later I have a book review, a new store to share, and a request for guest bloggers.

So to start, here is a request from Nataliya:
A few weeks ago you did a wonderful post of someone’s house exterior with reader comments on how to improve it. I was wondering if I could get so lucky as to have my house get the same royal treatment 🙂 It’s a Minto home on a Minto street and I’m looking to make it extra special and fun. I would love to paint the trim, front door, garage door and storm shutters, but not sure what colours to choose. Currently I love white, black and red. However, a red double garage rood scares me a bit! 🙂 Any comments would be very very appreciated.

Minto is a very popular builder of suburbs here in Ottawa and this home is very typical of what you’ll find here. (I grew up in a very similar home). So Nataliya needs help making her home stand out from the rest because as is typical of the burbs here where all homes are built by the same company, every house looks the same – which is one of the main reasons why I am staying out of the burbs. So if you guys have any suggestions for Nataliya, fire away.

cara says:

What a beautiful home! Ooh, I do like that red + grey idea suggested at top — definitely a red front door! Before I’d read that, I was thinking that the area above your garage door could be painted a lovely red, also, and your garage door could be black or white (or grey!). The upstairs nook-area jutting out would look lovely in white, with black trim + shutters — it might be a bit much, but that area just under the roof (that underside part) could possibly go red, as could the casement around the windows — but that might be a bit much, yes? Good luck!

Nat says:

Hi Andi, yes, I’ve read about staining brick!! Hubby is actually doing research on that as I type. And gray just happens to be my fav colour 🙂

tasha says:

COLOR!

Try some curb appeal – use paver blocks along the driveway. It’ll clean up the edges and look fab. Border the flower beds.. put in new mulch. Not sure what seasonal flowers are in your area, but they’re a quick way to add some color.

Add some funky house numbers vertically on the brick. Swap out the mail box for something bold like red.

Not sure what your garage door/front door are made out of. Front doors are not too expensive. You could remove the pattern on the garage door so it doesn’t match your neighbors.

As for paint color – don’t paint the brick! You can buy samples of paint to see which ones you like best. Don’t go for something overly bright (I’m sure it’ll stick out in a look-at-that-crazy-house) in the snow.

good luck

Stephanie says:

You can change out those windows on the garage door for simple, more modern rectangles (those fan style windows might just pop out) – and change out your front door for a opaque glass full light door. You can paint the entire house – trim, shutters, garage door, brick – everything – a charcoal gray, with a red front door. Then change out all lighting for something like this: http://www.circalighting.com/details.aspx?pid=1566&cid=5 (you can find cheaper versions). Finally, re-landscape – make it look a little messier – put some big pots in celadon greens or reds at front door and around the walkway.

Ciska says:

I’d have a builder skim the brick with cement then paint the walls and cladding the same color and the window frames, shutters and garage doors in a complimentary color to the walls. Keep in mind the color of your roof when choosing the colors for the walls etc.

Cute house!

Nat says:

again, thanks for comments! we have 5 more weeks before we take possession, and we’re so excited to make changes! 🙂 interlock would be the 1st thing to go in. Also, LOVE the all gray idea with red door (not sure however how that will work with the brown roof), i guess that would heavily depend on the gray we choose. in any case, thank you again so much for all the ideas!!

LB says:

I loathe faux-shutters, so I would remove those entirely (since none of the other windows have them they are especially faux)!

Noel says:

This may not be the most helpful answer, but my advice is to appreciate what you have! I’ve never understood why we’ve convinced ourselves that anything popular can’t also be good. The outside of her home is absolutely lovely. It makes me want to pull into the garage with a carload of Christmas presents, or spend a Sunday afternoon planting herbs.

Good luck making your home whatever you want it to be.

Raumkunst says:

Please paint everything the same color, either smoke grey as suggested, or something slightly green-grey, but dark. There are too many different materials going on on one facade. Definitely get rid of the arches on both front door and garage door. A glass front door and new door hardware would be a big improvement. Remove the fake shutters upstairs. You can bring in color with garden plantings—fuchsias and pinks. The object should be to unify all the different and disparate elements on the facade, NOT call them out with contrasting bright colors! I would also resurface the driveway when you can afford it, using cobblestone edging or something else to tidy up the border with the grass. And, I would put in a lot more planting so that the house seems more screened.

Empresa de Pintura, Qualy Art says:

Ola conhecemos o site fazendo algumas buscas pela internet e encontramos esse excelente site que nos ajudou muito, as dicas ficaram muito bem elaboradas nos dando novas ideias e projetos Obrigado.

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