Front of house improvement!
Layla Shkoukani
9 years ago
Hi guys, we are looking at doing a few home improvements over the coming months, one being to smarten up the front of our house/front garden. Any suggestions big or small welcome! TIA
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Comments (13)
Layla Shkoukani
9 years agoRelated Discussions
How would you improve the front of this house?
Comments (3)I’m just coming to the end of renovating a 1960s bungalow and I’ve gone for render and cedar cladding. It’s generated a lot of attention from people passing but and personally is a style that I think works so well with 1960s/1970s properties....See MoreCan anything be done to improve the front of my house?
Comments (10)Oh thank you so much everyone for your ideas! I'm looking at it so differently now. I believe the house is an interwar ex local authority semi, but I googled some pictures as suggested and it does look older? Thank you ring, sarh123 Jonathan and Beano for your advice about the windows. Looking at it now, I think they are the reason I don't like the look of the house, particularly the downstairs window. Unfortunately sarh123, your lovely pictures have sold me on the multipane look which I probably can't afford right now! I will get a quote though just in case. Love the ideas for colours for the garage etc. Forzaitalia, do you have a particular paint colour in mind that would give the green/grey look like in the picture? The blue/black looks really good too though. Would it still look ok with the windows left white colourhappy? I'm looking forward to cutting back those trees too! The pictures of the planters are gorgeous and will definitely take on board what you have all said. I don't think I can remove the tree by the garage as it is not on my land though. The front door is old and not very secure so I don't know what to do with it yet. I agree, emanuelle that the window to the side doesn't look very good and the stone cladding on the bottom will probably look terrible when i have cut the trees back. I will have to see how the budget goes for that though as there is a lot to do inside - it is a bit of a mess in there... but at least it is mine:) It's amazing what a few pairs of fresh eyes can do so thank you very much!!!...See MoreIdeas to improve front exterior of house?
Comments (8)There’s nothing wrong with the extension but it does mean that there is a red brick overload and it makes the front door look misplaced. The solution is to soften the red brick- there are lots of ways from covering it (or part covering it) with render, or weather boards or tile or metal. Or to landscape the garden with trees and bushes to help soften the look. You might also consider better signposting the front door- this means a wide, deliberate path to the door, perhaps cladding the outside of the aperture to give your door more prominence or adding a porch. You could also have tall plants either side of the door like sentries or porch lights and a house name or number. So - not a bad looking house and it could be improved with some imagination...See MoreLow budget: Improve front of house, larger porch, covered driveway?
Comments (2)Hi Benjamin, Making the porch smaller, not bigger, would be a huge improvement. If the lounge is dark now, it will only get darker if you build a porch in front of it. I would cover the alleyway and use that for storage, leaving the front free of clutter. The only way to not to impact the light levels in the lounge would be to extend the lounge by removing the whole wall, but that needs planning and building regs as it would require a beam. Definitely not a budget project. To make the house more attractive I would keep the porch proportional to the house. As for the design, the house is pretty much a blank canvas and your window dimensions are great. It really depends on your tastes. You could go ultra modern by rendering or wood cladding the whole front and contrasting with the porch. Change to window frame colour to grey... or go really traditional with matching render, solid wood door and traditional glazing......See More
PROMartin Hall Design
9 years agoLayla Shkoukani
9 years ago- PRO
Martin Hall Design
9 years ago 
Marie-Louise Avery Linklater
9 years agolast modified: 9 years agoDefinitely change the colour of the door - the red really doesn't work with the brick. Soft grey or grey-green - or white? and then keep the planting to silvery greens? A path going straight from the sidewalk to the front door would give the opportunity for a more symmetrical arrangement and I would put a white picket fence across the front - or iron rails with a hedge inside. And gravel instead of lawn works well - and serves as an alarm as its impossible to walk across it silently. If it were my house I would cover some of the brickwork with white weather boarding - at least across the upper story. The windows aren't great but the weather boarding would make them less prominent.
http://www.mydesignchic.com/2011/07/white-picket-fences/
PROSAMUEL KENDALL ASSOCIATES LIMITED
9 years agolast modified: 9 years agoLayla Shkoukani
9 years agoThank so much for all the suggestions. It's interesting to see what people have picked out. Some food for thought. I perhaps should have said we are on a row of houses all the same so anything too major may stand out too much. Will def be going with the gravel, foliage and painting front door as first steps. Perhaps window boxes may help the look of the windows at the min. Any thoughts on these door colours? Thanks for the paint suggestion Martin will check that out.
sineadlawler
9 years agosineadlawler
9 years agoLayla Shkoukani
9 years agokmullin85
9 years ago
Martin Hall Design