Expansive House Exterior Ideas and Designs

Stone ranch with French Country flair and a tucked under extra lower level garage. The beautiful Chilton Woodlake blend stone follows the arched entry with timbers and gables. Carriage style 2 panel arched accent garage doors with wood brackets. The siding is Hardie Plank custom color Sherwin Williams Anonymous with custom color Intellectual Gray trim. Gable roof is CertainTeed Landmark Weathered Wood with a medium bronze metal roof accent over the bay window. (Ryan Hainey)

Whole Home Remodel - Silver Lake

Winston Brown Remodeling

This home has plenty of room to enjoy the outdoors. The spacious outdoor living area boasts an outdoor kitchen and bar, large patio with fire pit, as well as an expansive deck with seating area and a stone fireplace. Structural features tie into the interior's rustic charm.

Vivienda unifamiliar ALTEA - HILLS

User

Expansive and white contemporary two floor detached house in Alicante-Costa Blanca with a flat roof.

HOUSE IN CHILMARK

MacNelly Cohen Architects P.C.

Expansive and brown beach style bungalow detached house in Boston with stone cladding, a pitched roof and a shingle roof.

Exteriors

Chiott Custom Homes, Inc.

Photo of an expansive and white traditional two floor brick detached house in Charlotte with a half-hip roof and a mixed material roof.

Glen Ellen, CA

Cassandra Crain Design, LLC

Photo of an expansive country two floor detached house in San Francisco.

Maryland Waterfront Estate

Mason Construction Company

Stunning waterfront estate located in Queenstown, Maryland. Photos by Aimee Mason Studio - aimeemason.com Materials by: Shore Lumber and The Stone Store

Traditional Hamptons in Twin Cities

David Charlez Designs

A beautiful Traditional Hamptons style home with varying roof pitches, shed dormers with metal accents, and a large front porch - Space Crafting
Photo of an expansive and gey classic two floor detached house in Minneapolis with concrete fibreboard cladding, a pitched roof and a shingle roof.

Wayzata Bay Estate

John Kraemer & Sons

Builder: John Kraemer & Sons | Architect: TEA2 Architects | Interiors: Sue Weldon | Landscaping: Keenan & Sveiven | Photography: Corey Gaffer
Design ideas for an expansive and white traditional detached house in Minneapolis with mixed cladding, a mixed material roof and three floors.

Modern English Tudor

Hendel Homes

Landmark
This is an example of an expansive and white traditional two floor render detached house in Minneapolis with a pitched roof and a shingle roof.

The Victoria by John Cannon Homes

John Cannon Homes

Muted colors lead you to The Victoria, a 5,193 SF model home where architectural elements, features and details delight you in every room. This estate-sized home is located in The Concession, an exclusive, gated community off University Parkway at 8341 Lindrick Lane. John Cannon Homes, newest model offers 3 bedrooms, 3.5 baths, great room, dining room and kitchen with separate dining area. Completing the home is a separate executive-sized suite, bonus room, her studio and his study and 3-car garage. Gene Pollux Photography

Grand Prato Estate

Design West

Columns made of egyptian rock adorn the outside of this grand estate, with nearly 24,000 sqft. of living space.
Photo of an expansive and beige mediterranean two floor render detached house in Miami with a hip roof and a tiled roof.

Gentleman's Farm

Realm

Kyle Norton
This is an example of an expansive and red rural detached house in New York with wood cladding and a metal roof.

Spanish Colonial

Character House Homes

Design ideas for an expansive and white two floor detached house in Austin with a pitched roof and a shingle roof.

Taupiary

HELMAN SECHRIST Architecture

Inspiration for a beige and expansive classic detached house in Other with a pitched roof, three floors, wood cladding and a shingle roof.

Waterside Way

Wright Design

Perched on a knoll atop a lakeside peninsula, this transitional home combines English manor-inspired details with more contemporary design elements. The exterior is constructed from Doggett Mountain stone, tumbled brick and wavy edge siding topped with a slate roof. The front porch with limestone surround leads to quietly luxurious interiors featuring plaster walls and white oak floors, and highlighted by limestone accents and hand-wrought iron lighting.

Hyslop Residence

KDTurner Design

This is an example of an expansive and red traditional two floor brick house exterior in Boston with a hip roof.

Private Waterfront Residence on Aberdeen Creek

Purple Cherry Architects

14,000 SF shingle style waterfront home
Photo of an expansive and gey classic house exterior in Baltimore with three floors, mixed cladding and a pitched roof.

Front Elevation - The Ascension - Super Ranch on Acreage

Cascade West Development

Paint by Sherwin Williams Body Color - Sycamore Tan - SW 2855 Trim Color - Urban Bronze - SW 7048 Exterior Stone by Eldorado Stone Stone Product Mountain Ledge in Silverton Garage Doors by Wayne Dalton Door Product 9700 Series Windows by Milgard Windows & Doors Window Product Style Line® Series Window Supplier Troyco - Window & Door Lighting by Destination Lighting Fixtures by Elk Lighting Landscaping by GRO Outdoor Living Customized & Built by Cascade West Development Photography by ExposioHDR Portland Original Plans by Alan Mascord Design Associates

West Little Rock Residence

Herron Horton Architects, Inc.

Nancy Nolan Photography
This is an example of a beige and expansive traditional two floor brick and rear detached house in Little Rock with a pitched roof, a shingle roof and a grey roof.

Expansive House Exterior Ideas and Designs

With so much attention devoted to interior design, the exterior of a home can often get overlooked, but as the first thing that welcomes both us and our guests, it is worth devoting some time tending to the outside of your house. Furthermore, focusing on the kerb appeal of your home can add significant value if and when it comes time to sell up. Georgian, Edwardian and Victorian homes, with their bay windows and elegant plasterwork, often benefit from built in architecture advantages, but even if your house design is unassuming from the outside, small decorative and structural improvements to the exterior of your home can equal huge impact. Key areas of building design to focus on are the front door, the driveway or approach to your home, the porch area, the windows, the facade and the roof. And just a note of caution... before any significant exterior architecture gets under way, check first whether you need planning permission for your exterior house designs– this applies particularly to listed houses or buildings in a conservation area, but it’s better to be safe than sorry. Take a look through the house designs, exterior architecture and images of front doors and driveways on Houzz to inspire your facade or building design, or read on for a few more pointers when it comes to redesigning your exterior.

How do I give my home an exterior facelift?

You may feel like your home’s exterior architecture is unalterable but there are a wide range of options available to improve its external building design, no matter what raw materials you begin with. Begin with the front door and the pathway or driveway that lead up to your home as these are easy to improve without huge budgets. A driveway or pathway must be kept neat and tidy and you can consider replacing tarmac with attractive tiles or gravel. Repainting or replacing the fence, wall or gate that fronts your home can also offer an overnight transformation without breaking the bank. An area to not cut corners however is the front door, where spending a little extra can make a huge difference in quality, and painting it in a colour you love will pay you back every time it welcomes you home! Updating your windows can be a significant building design project but it is one that has benefits both inside and out, as well as potentially saving you money on energy later. If you are lucky enough to have period windows such as bay windows with sash or leaded windows, then maintaining them should be a top priority, but if they are beyond repair then there are plenty of window professionals that will offer modern, double or triple glazed equivalents that could still work in your bay window. Working with uPVC? Not a problem – the best improvement you can make is to ensure your windows are the right size and shape for your home's overall proportions.

How do I update my home’s facade?

When it comes to updating the facade of your home, painting is the quickest and most affordable way to achieve a makeover, and if you opt for a colour other than white it can really make a statement (although sticking within the palette of your road and local area is advisable). A makeover that requires a bit more patience but can add romance and character to the most mundane of homes is to adorn the walls with climbing plants – delicate trailing wisteria is ever a British favourite, whilst roses and jasmine offer fragrance as well as beauty. If you’re looking to make more significant changes to the exterior of your home, whether that is adding timber cladding, hanging tiles, installing a bay window or rendering, then you should first check whether your house designs require planning permission. A New England style wood boarded home is beautiful and bright, but remember that it will need frequent repainting if it is going to stay looking its best, whilst stucco render or Tyrolean render can tidy up a home's exterior but think carefully before covering over original brickwork.

What should I consider if building a home from scratch?

If you’re working with an architect on a brand new build, the options are endless when it comes to deciding on the exterior architecture. But first things first, you will need to check planning permissions, building regulations and local restrictions, such as being in a conservation area, to make sure your plans for your exterior house designs will meet stipulations. If you are building in a street with predominantly Victorian facades, with bay windows and side returns, you might need to ensure your house designs fit in with the rest of the homes on the street, but if you’re building in a more remote area you’ll probably have more freedom for your building design. There are many architectural decisions to make, do you want a flat, gabled, hipped, mansard or perhaps even a curved roof? Do you want bay windows? Crittall windows? Perhaps external shutters? Do you want glass walls? Do you want wood cladding? Do you want a very symmetrical building design or something more contemporary? The decision is all yours but remember to consider the benefits of various materials over others and the effects that some architecture styles will have on everyday life, for example glass walls will look attractive but will give you less privacy. Your architect or builder will be able to guide you through the best exterior architecture choices for your house designs.

United Kingdom

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