Needs curb appeal- Blank slate to modern farmhouse-Help!

9 years ago

last modified: 9 years ago

Hi- My house and barn need some curb appeal! It's really a blank slate. Looking for new outdoor lighting and other "spruce" up suggestions. Current garage lights are ugly and way to small in my opinion. Budget is tight- can't do anything requiring construction. Color needs to stay the same.

-Shutters or not? It just looks soooo plain. If yes, which windows?

- Would like to add two lights on barn wall outside the doors. Should they match the garage lights or is that to matchy-matchy?

Other ideas? :) Thanks!

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Comments (3)

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Urbafloria
9 years ago
I really like the paint color that you chose, what I think this farmhouse needs for curb appeal is landscaping. To stay on a budget I recommend to at least get a few trees in the ground, since they create a good environment for later understory plantings. Some cities have free tree give away programs. You can plant vines to train against the barn wall, try something that has similar water needs to rainfall in your area to keep it water smart.

Remember to use deciduous trees on the south side of your home to maximize winter sunlight for passive warming. Planting evergreen trees on the north side or the direction the prevailing winter wind blows will also help lower your heating bills.

Hope this helps!
trinityequine thanked Urbafloria
S Reams
9 years ago
Rather than shutters, thicker trim would make a HUGE difference!
trinityequine thanked S Reams
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Tanks all so much for these amazing ideas!! I think once I have implemented these the overall look will work - I just need to picture the final result as I do each bit separately. @south Wales - I had considered grass but the front of the house is covered by a huge oak tree canopy in the summer, the tree would probably dry everything out. It blocks most of the direct sunlight out completely. Do you think grass is still achievable? @suesykes - yours looks amazing, is that a rhododendron I can spot? @michaeldbutler - I used an iPad app called color effects @sorayasohal - thanks for your great ideas, I am very keen to use a couple of potted plants in front of the pillars. I just need to make sure they don't get stolen! @arthur road - many thanks for this excellent list, I hadn't really considered using a variety of different plants as the bed is small, but it's a great idea! @ensign - I wanted to use a taller tree each side of the pillars but the drive is on a slope and it might look a bit lopsided. I wonder if there is a way I could correct this by digging out and leveling under each pot or would this look weird? @amanda hunter - it's a great tip looking at local house styles! Mine is quite modern (1996) and is situation in a lovely village with quite a lot of older style houses with authentic wood doors etc. sadly this is a composite door and I added this as the wood door which was on the house was in a terrible state, so my options are limited to having it sprayed a suitable color. So far I think I will: 1) add flagstone path 2) lower globe buxus type pots in front of each pillar 3) paint door (still wanted red) 4) use some of the plants recommended here and go to my local garden centre. The porch also has built in flower beds flanking the steps so once flowers are in there it will look good. The darkness of the north facing house sheltered by a large oak tree is an issue for me, the house looks great but looks dark and gloomy, hence I don't want to have a door that looks too dark and dull, unless it was black. The company who will be spraying the door can do all farrow and ball colors, so I am going to check out some more heritage colors as per Laura and other suggestions. I'm going to get some blue and red samples this week!!
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Hi, I'm of the same ilk as The Bulb co above, not a natural born gardener but clean and tidy with a few feature plants is great. A couple of plants that perform well for me, (mainly because i don't have to do anything are), 'red robin' and the Pieris Japonica which is the red one you have in the front garden by the looks of things. Both are evergreen and take very little care, well in my garden anyway. An occasional cut of the red robin keeps new growth coming through red. About once a year. There a link to more info from RHS whivh may help. https://www.rhs.org.uk/advice/profile?PID=145 That's the end of my gardening knowledge but I would offer a suggestion of a nice modern outside light something like this adds a bit of a modern look. If you can move the light a little further to the right as you look at the house it's let you show off the architectural detail of your doorway a little better. Finally your home is pretty, it's looks well built and honest and that has a charm that many modern homes lack. We have a great magazine which in this months edition talks a little about post modern homes. It's worth signing up to our newsletter and you get the digital mag FREE along with lots of other VIP benefits on of which is discount for any new VIP subscribers really worth doing as it's giving a special 20% Off at the moment. Maybe good time to join up? Best Regards The Lighting Company
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I agree, converting the garage would improve the kerb appeal as you'd get a nice double frontage instead of a garage door staring at you. If you need to keep the garage then you could at least paint the door so it does contrast=stand out so much. Better planting to frame the front door + a new front door would be a massive improvement too. I wouldn't worry about grey windows, though - it is a bit of a fad and will soon fall out of favour just as brown Windows have. Also, I can't see that they would go with the brickwork.
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Hi Malley. Thank you for asking my advice! For what it's worth here goes; I agree with you that no extension of the front window is needed, the oak framed porch with A frame exposed, extending further out as per celery girls input with wisteria and box plants looks great. Regarding colour, I'm afraid I disagree about the brown windows, to me they scream 80's developer taste and are very dating and clash with the red. If you are going to go to the expense of replacing the windows to enlarge the apertures I would consider grey or grey/green grey/blue, these will all tone nicely with the red brick, white would be too harsh. Love the idea of the juliette window BTW. Do a search in Houzz for red bricks and grey windows, you will get a lot of images to think about. I'm not sure I agree that adding solar panels to the roof will be an improvement, yes they will break up those tiles, but they are not a thing of beauty are they, could they be on the rear instead? If budget did allow, after you have done your extension, windows etc I would look into the cost of replacing those roof tiles with slate as again I think they are dating, but agree with Daisy that it would probably be expensive and would not increase value on the house. Best of luck!
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trinityequine
Original Author
9 years ago
Thank you! Very helpful! We planted a 4 ornamental trees last year toward the edges of the property. Are there any good small trees to plant close to the house that don't have nasty root issues or grow huge? Also, on the thicker wood trim... is that something we can purchase 'ready made' and just install? If so, if you know of any particularly good websites for that stuff please share! ;)

Needs curb appeal- Blank slate to modern farmhouse-Help!

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Urbafloria

S Reams

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Needs curb appeal- Blank slate to modern farmhouse-Help!

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Urbafloria

S Reams

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