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I always enjoy seeing people spruce up their homes. Show me that there is some pride in their ownership and that is a GOOD thing.
everyone has a right to do whatever they like to their homes as far as im concerned. i like to see them updated or restored or whatever to improve them. i find it annoying for someone to come in and try to demean people for it while they have their 60's house that probably looks like crap and was probably the trendy follower thing to do in the 60's anyway. tastes change over time and if people want to keep up with it then i see no reason to pretend that they are doing something wrong.
my brother lives in a town where builders will buy an old broken down house and tear it down and built a fancy new house. it seems the general goal is to make something more modern but still fit a certain look for the town. i havent seen any white with black trim houses there. as far as i know, that look qualifies as different anywhere ive been.
Last edited by CaptainNJ; 10-31-2020 at 09:25 AM..
Your house looks like 2 distinctly different houses glued together.
My advice.
Hire an architect on an hourly basis to give you some ideas for improving the overall look.
The cost should only be $400.
Do a lot of planning before making changes.
I think less concrete would be a huge improvement.
This is the best advice. The other piece of good advice is not to paint your brick.
I don’t like the black/white color scheme for your house. In ten years it will look dated, and you will have to confront the fact that you have painted your brick and it is hard to undo that. Your house is in a specific desert or warm climate environment? It needs to look like it belongs there, if I am correct about that.
Don’t do anything without a plan. Get professional advice. Keep your house’s basic character. That’s my advice.
Yes, I like natural brick, if you live in an English country estate, leave it alone. In a suburban house, many neighbors have remodeled and improved their exterior. There is reason to let your house just sit there and look dated.
To be honest, if I was looking at this house as a buyer, the choppy front is not attractive and I’d be wondering how much it would cost to improve the exterior. Just because a builder decided to use two different finishes, shouldn’t make it untouchable. Maybe the builder had bad taste.
Yes, I like natural brick, if you live in an English country estate, leave it alone. In a suburban house, many neighbors have remodeled and improved their exterior. There is reason to let your house just sit there and look dated.
To be honest, if I was looking at this house as a buyer, the choppy front is not attractive and I’d be wondering how much it would cost to improve the exterior. Just because a builder decided to use two different finishes, shouldn’t make it untouchable. Maybe the builder had bad taste.
That is why posters have suggested painting the stucco to blend more with the brick and muting the trim color.
That is why posters have suggested painting the stucco to blend more with the brick and muting the trim color.
This is an average suburban house, improving it should be fun and all ideas should be considered. If they want to paint any part of the house, it’s up to them, but painting this brick is not destroying a national treasure, it’s a section of inexpensive brick that simply looks dated..
This is an average suburban house, improving it should be fun and all ideas should be considered. If they want to paint any part of the house, it’s up to them, but painting this brick is not destroying a national treasure, it’s a section of inexpensive brick that simply looks dated..
Painted brick usually turns me off because, well, you have to KEEP painting it. Really the only time I'm in favor of it is if the original brickwork is just downright ugly. And dated does not equal ugly.
I think the brick looks handsome and it appears to be very good condition as is. Actually in SoCa unpainted brick facades are fairly uncommon, you’ll see plenty of painted brick on the West Side LA Regency style homes from the ‘30s and ‘40s. I agree with others not to paint it.
What makes this home unusual and pretty cool to my eyes are the battered walls at the garage and far brick end at the other side which visually connect the disparate wall cladding and provide at least a somewhat cohesive design theme to work with. I would play that up by trimming the landscaping and grabbing a earthy tone from the brick to paint the stucco to tie the different building forms together.
The white painted beams and parapet cap on the stucco look harsh to my eyes, I would grab a softer beige such as the hipped roof soffit or other earthy tone to tie all those horizontals together. Ditch the curliecue wrought iron entry gate (belongs on a Regency or New Orleans balcony) for a custom, tall stained or painted wooden gate incorporated into a vertical angled slot fence design (think of a sideways opened jalousie window) which would look very cool and appropriate for the architecture and also bring some fun vertical elements to the otherwise low-slung ranch design. And to finish it off attempt by either color or materials to bring the new entry fence/gate design over to the now vinyl service gate and fence at the back of the driveway turnaround.
Edit:
It is these style vertical wooden elements at this house to which I am referring as an inspiration to your entry courtyard fence and gate. I would also rethink the landscaping (and lighting fixtures) to get away from the English rose garden and hedge look to a more spare and architectural MCM style as is illustrated here to play up your strong simple building forms.
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Last edited by T. Damon; 10-31-2020 at 02:56 PM..
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