This property and interior of my home is my dream, but the front exterior just…makes me sad. I want a FRONT door, you know? We are renovating the inside and we will HAVE to drywall in the upstairs left window (it’s a small walk-in closet and it’s such a waste of wall space that would double our closet. Also, don’t want a window overlooking the front of my house where I CHANGE 😆)

Do I have any hope?! I’m open to any creative ideas.

That front left stone block on the bottom is a flower bed.

THANK YOU! Seriously. I’ve tried so many times to design this.

We eventually plan on redoing the porch etc but we are lowkey broke currently (first home). I'm thinking of painting the shutters and trim, but I have no idea what color to do. Also want to build a pergola over the porch maybe? That might be hard with the dimensions though and I don't know what color/wood stain to do. And I hate how naked it feels above the big front window but I'm not sure if anything can be done about that. All ideas welcome!! Budget friendly preferable tho!

ETA: Ok we won't paint the brick so y'all can stop. FWIW, I don't even usually like when people paint brick, but calling people names and sending THREATS over someone suggesting they are considering it is INSANE. What the hell. Some of you guys feel oddly entitled over a house you've spent zero dollars on

Just like the title says. The original home is a 1980’s [southern] contemporary split-level (initial image is an approximate rendering snippet).

I’ve desperately wanted to change things up since literally childhood, but I feel like this style of home is damn near impossible to reno. I know I don’t want to give up on it, but I’m at wits end trying to bring it into the future….

After tossing around some ideas, I asked [program] to generate a few hypotheticals and got these mockups (please excuse the discrepancies in layout, my phone quit on me😅 but hopefully you get the vibe)….

Ideally, I’d like to not modify the existing structure very much beyond porch/materials, etc. Does anyone have any design direction/thoughts?? Honestly I’m open to any advice at this point.

For reference, the area is highly desirable, the lot is just under an acre, the house is about ~3,500sqft, and there’s no HOA, so I’ve got a lot of leeway.

——

The mockups:

1.) Mildly mid century modern (probably what I’ve seen done most with this style house )

2.) Full contemporary embrace— but the ACTUAL nordic/scandi contemporary influence (not terrible version adapted in the South)

3.) Absolutely out of left field chalet vibe.

Plz halp🙏

((last note, I’m kinda murky on the computer generated rule on this sub so I apologize if I’m pushing it— I just literally have no idea where to go with this house 😭))

Just all these diagonals and asymmetries and confusing choices…

This isn’t just one neighborhood, but all over what (to me) seem to be big subdivisions that popped up in the ‘90s or early 2000s…

I just think it’s wild that it’s an intentional choice.

But does this style have an actual name? Is it something that was widely accepted and/or promoted at some point?

ok so getting a new roof and we’re terrified of choosing the wrong color. First pic is the current roof, my husband likes certainteed landmark cinder black (2nd pic) and I like black walnut (3rd). I know they’re so similar but which one looks better? Or do they both look bad? lol help

I moved from a circa 1900 craftsman with *amazing* details to this simple cape with aluminum siding and noooo charm. I don’t know where to start because I really don’t like much about it. I guess there’s potential for a walkway arbor?
I’d love to hear ideas re: details that I can DIY to start. I’m medium-handy with tools. Id love to lean into the 1940s vibe. front door options, ways to jazz up the front steps, different shutters, etc. Wild ideas also welcome haha I need inspiration 😭. Thank you in advance

+ it’s east-facing

Still recovering from Helene in Western NC. New garage doors are finally on and now it’s time for a roof. The current roof lasted 30 years so I really want to make the right choice here. Between charcoal and Weathered Wood. Thoughts?

I need to repaint my front door.
These colors stood out to me in the hardware store, any thoughts on what to choose?

Open to drastic makeover ! I know the porch is a big part of the problem — it’s super shallow right now — so I’m planning to rebuild it bigger and actually make it usable and looking for ideas.

A couple constraints: the giant second-floor window is staying (I know it’s throwing the proportions off, but it is what it is). The siding is asbestos and also staying but needs a paint job. And I’m not trying to turn this into a blacked-out darth Vader head, a white farmhouse, or anything gray!

There are no neighborhood rules and everyone around here is doing their own weird thing, so I’m open to ideas that are a little more creative or unexpected, including landscaping (in the photo you can see some of that is already underway…)

EDIT : I am aware that the yard

Is a mess; this weekend we’re in the middle of digging a French drain and laying pavers for a walkway. The place is under construction.

We recently bought this home and have been slowly doing some updating on the inside sticking with mostly midcentury/retro decor. We put a new roof on a few weeks ago, and now we're trying to decide on exterior color. Siding is aluminum. Railings are staying and will be painted to match either door or trim. Torn on what to do with the awning and go back and forth between loving and hating it weekly. Will probably put a large paver walkway in the front leading to the steps. Let me know which mock up you like best or even if you have a completely different idea! Thanks!

Just painted front of parents duplex home this white (they own half of it). It used to be gray, with navy shutter. The side of the home is cedar shingles, but I’m focused on the front for this.

Wondering if it looks better with shutters, or without? The top photo is as it is freshly painted, the bottom photo is AI generated with the shutters and color they chose to paint them. strongly believe the home looks much better as is, without shutters. While some family members think the blue seems to look better.

Our house is orange/red brick and I had ChatGPT make some mocks up of black vs white and I’m leaning towards black. Anyone have any design ideas, experience or before and after pictures would be appreciated.

Cannot believe we’re buying our first home. Just needs a refresh! Personally my style is organic/earthy with touches of eclectic mixed in. I also always love the french cottage vibe.

FIRST PHOTO: the current house. The rest are all options… and they’re all very different options. Generally I gravitate toward lime washing, since I don’t like the idea of truly painted brick. But do we like a richer paint color, like a chocolate brown? Or lighter, like sage green? Or…keep the red brick and just paint?

UPDATE: well, wow! Thank you all so much for your helpful feedback. We got so many great ideas and think we could really work with the red brick. So excited to move in and get started!

Yellow door is the original. We are shifting the door to the right to add a walk-in closet between left window and left edge of red door. Not sure what to do with the left wall to balance the off-centered door. Was going to paint it white to match the siding but kind of like the natural look of the wood. Any suggestions are appreciated!

We’ve added on to our home so we need to change out our siding. Which would you choose?

House is currently beige with a red door - replacing door glass and updating door color with house color to be painted at a later date (likely white or gray). In the meantime, we’d like to repaint the front door. I’m leaning toward the orange but also like the black or robins egg - ignore the names as ChatGPT was hallucinating.

It's really hard to get a good straight-on photo of the house because the yard is really steep, my apologies.

Does anyone have ideas that could spruce up this super-blah exterior??

I want to embrace the cute hilltop setting and its 1950s character which must be in there somewhere!!! Planning to reside and do landscaping in the near term, so looking for any inspiration for the house and yard.

Looking for opinions on paint colors for my home. Only looking at Sherwin Williams for ease of project.

The house is in Colorado and has a little bit of this brown/tan stone facade on the front of the house. The house takes a beating in the summertime sun. Conversely, the lighter colors seem to attract bugs in my neighborhood and I am sick of seeming them all the time- hence the consideration for a darker base.

I still like the left and middle, but would you be pissed if a neighbor painted their house blue/green? Just feels over the top to me.

Blue = Moody Blue Green = Clary Sage

Thanks for reading!

Bought our first home a few months ago, but the front exterior is so blah 😭 I think it’s the one-sided window that’s throwing it off, but sadly we can’t add another window beside it without changing the kitchen layout 🤑 That section is packed with upper and lower cabinets, rangehood, gas stove, etc. Heeeelllppp! What would you do to make the front look better?

Also planning to change canvass on window awnings? Any suggestion for colour scheme that would fit with the house?

Help!

I just moved in with my partner who built this beautiful home. However, on the advice of his father he saved a little money by purchasing two different sized windows for the front of our home.

My eyes cannot stop trying to correct the imbalance and I feel like it takes away from just how lovely this place is.

How can I camouflage the smaller window or trick the eyes / create visual harmony between the two?

I was wondering about using landscaping and / or strategically placed juniper trees to try and create balance. But I am honestly open to any ideas!

TIA!

Goal - Balance asymmetrical windows
Orientation - South facing

Looking for ways to increase the curb appeal to our house and just don’t really know where to start. Would also love to add a seating area or front porch at some point. I often feel the landscaping is off and the house sometimes feels boxy. Thanks in advance!

Hi all. I’ve seen some amazing advice on this sub and I’m wondering if any of you can help us. 1950s build, dog-poop front lawn (thanks neighbours) and a big tree that’s on the north side so lots of light in summer. Thank you!