Green Detached House Ideas and Designs

Lifestyle Garden

We Love Plants - Garden Design by Nic Howard

Photo of a white classic two floor detached house in Surrey with a pitched roof, a shingle roof and a red roof.

Country Home, Gloucestershire

Justin Van Breda London

Photo of a beige rural detached house in Gloucestershire with three floors, stone cladding, a pitched roof, a shingle roof and a brown roof.

Dandelion

Unique Homestays

Photo of a large and beige traditional brick detached house in Gloucestershire with three floors and a pitched roof.

River House - Riverside New Build in Oxfordshire

HollandGreen Architecture, Interiors & Landscapes

Modern new build overlooking the River Thames with oversized sliding glass facade for seamless indoor-outdoor living.
Photo of a large and white modern bungalow render detached house in Oxfordshire with a flat roof.

The Goat Shed - Devon

TFQ Architects

The Goat Shed - Devon. The house was finished with a grey composite cladding with authentic local stone to ensure the building nestled into the environment well, with a country/rustic appearance with close references to its original site use of an agricultural building.

Bob-O-Link | 2018

Coats Homes

This is an example of a white and large contemporary two floor detached house in Dallas with stone cladding, a pitched roof and a metal roof.

Forever Ranch

Kipnis Architecture + Planning

This is the renovated design which highlights the vaulted ceiling that projects through to the exterior.
Photo of a small and gey retro bungalow detached house in Chicago with concrete fibreboard cladding, a hip roof, a shingle roof, a grey roof and shiplap cladding.

Custom Craftsman Home in Vienna, VA

Oak Hill Building & Remodeling

Robert Miller Photography
Photo of a large and blue classic detached house in DC Metro with three floors, concrete fibreboard cladding, a shingle roof, a pitched roof and a grey roof.

Del Ray Sears Bungalow

WINN Design+Build

Stacy Zarin-Goldberg
This is an example of a medium sized and yellow classic two floor detached house in DC Metro with concrete fibreboard cladding, a pitched roof and a shingle roof.

Mediterranean Modern Exterior

PentaVia Custom Homes

This is the exterior of our 2018 Dream Home located in Westlake, Texas in the DFW Metro. We did a contemporary mediterranean style for the exterior using black steel and glass windows along with skinny, black sconces. Gutters: Dark Bronze.

Front of House

Coastal Signature Homes

Tom Jenkins Photography
Photo of a large and blue nautical two floor detached house in Charleston with wood cladding and a shingle roof.

Exterior Makeover in Atlanta

Boyce Design + Build

The exterior face lift included Hardie board siding and MiraTEC trim, decorative metal railing on the porch, landscaping and a custom mailbox. The concrete paver driveway completes this beautiful project.

Colorful St. Paul Cottage

Copper Creek

Builder: Copper Creek, LLC Architect: David Charlez Designs Interior Design: Bria Hammel Interiors Photo Credit: Spacecrafting
This is an example of a medium sized and blue classic detached house in Minneapolis with wood cladding and a shingle roof.

Lake Minnetonka Equestrian Influence

ADŌR Homes

Inspiration for a brown rural two floor detached house in Minneapolis with mixed cladding, a pitched roof and a shingle roof.

Oakton Estate

SURROUNDS Landscape Architecture + Construction

Photography: Morgan Howarth. Landscape Architect: Howard Cohen, Surrounds Inc.
Design ideas for a large and gey classic two floor detached house in DC Metro with wood cladding, a pitched roof and a shingle roof.

House on Sunset Ridge

Resolution: 4 Architecture

Photographer: © Resolution: 4 Architecture
Photo of a multi-coloured scandi two floor detached house in New York with mixed cladding and a flat roof.

Melody Ln, Naperville, IL

M House Development

This is an example of a white farmhouse two floor detached house in Chicago with wood cladding, a pitched roof, a mixed material roof and a black roof.

Cooper Woods 2 Story

Havlicek Builders Inc.

This is an example of a large and blue classic two floor detached house in Chicago with a pitched roof, a shingle roof and wood cladding.

Remodeling & Design Project

By Design Consulting, LLC

Rural bungalow detached house in Charleston with concrete fibreboard cladding and a shingle roof.

Ridge Crest Painted Brick

Shaddock Custom Builders and Developers

Design ideas for a white mediterranean two floor brick detached house in Dallas with a pitched roof, a metal roof and a grey roof.

Green Detached House 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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