House Exterior Ideas and Designs

Product name: Prefabricated house Model no.: 6m dome Place of Origin: South Korea Main features: 1) Easy to assemble: It takes under 4 hours by 2~3 people 2) Portable: Light weight (Packed easily and shipped wherever) 3) Weather tested: Proven in tropics, in arctic climates and have withstood hurricane force winds. 3) Durable, Rustproof, Rainproof 4) Energy Efficiency: Save up to 60% in heating or cooling costs 5) Low cost Usage: 1) Disaster shelter 2) Tourist rentals 3) Military applications 4) Remote field camps 5) Spa or equipment covers 6) Storage sheds 7) Camp Specification: 1) Height : 3.7m 2) Area and Weight : 29.2m² , 544.3kg 3) Material: Fiberglass

Dorset Country Cottage

Stephanie Dunning Interior Design

This is an example of a beige farmhouse two floor house exterior in Wiltshire.

Country Club Contemporary

Salcito Custom Homes

Beige contemporary bungalow house exterior in Phoenix.

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Redding

Castro Design Studio

Photo by Rodolfo Castro
This is an example of a modern house exterior in Atlanta with stone cladding.

Hilltop Farmstead

GRIT Co.

Snap Chic Photography
Inspiration for an expansive and white country two floor detached house in Austin with wood cladding, a pitched roof and a mixed material roof.

Mount Merino Modern

Wagner Hodgson

Photographer: Michael Del Rossi
Black modern bungalow detached house in Boston with a flat roof.

Tilt-Shift House

ANX / Aaron Neubert Architects

Brian Thomas Jones, Alex Zarour
Design ideas for a medium sized and black contemporary detached house in Los Angeles with three floors, concrete fibreboard cladding, a flat roof and a green roof.

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.

Bronx Box - exterior

Resolution: 4 Architecture

This urban infill prefab is located at the foot of the Throgs Neck Bridge on Eastchester Bay in the Bronx. The Bronx Box is a modified version of the double-decker, 2-story bar typology with an additional storage ‘saddle bag’, containing built in cabinets along the length of the house. Given the narrow lot, the design aims to celebrate the constraints of its zoning envelope; the site’s set backs, height limitations, and flood plain requirements yield a compact footprint while still featuring off-street parking, a small patch of green, and an expansive roof deck with stunning views of the bay beyond. The first floor is compact and contains a wall of storage running the length of the floor. An open living, dining and kitchen area is organized in a linear manner and opens out onto an elevated deck. Exterior stairs are the full width of the house and lead down to the pier that juts out into the bay. The second floor mimics the linear organization of the first and a wall of storage as well, but two bedrooms and two bathrooms occupy the rest of the space. The master bedroom features its own fireplace and balcony while a structural glass skylight allows for natural light into the internal bathroom. A metal clad roof bulkhead was carefully sculpted within the zoning restrictions and provides access to an expansive roof deck providing 360º views of the bay and surrounding neighborhood. The house is clad in cement board with cedar accents and Ipe wood decks to keep maintenance issues at a minimum. Given that the home’s modern aesthetic builds from the existing colors, textures, and diverse qualities within the surrounding urban fabric, it has been accepted as another unique personality within the neighborhood. Architects: Joseph Tanney, Robert Luntz Project Architect: John Kim Manufacturer: Simplex Industries Project Coordinator: Jason Drouse Engineer: Lynne Walshaw P.E., Greg Sloditskie Contractor: Northbrook Contracting Corp. Photographer: © RES4, © Laurie Lambrecht

TRG Architects

TRG Architecture + Interior Design

Photos by Bernard Andre
This is an example of a medium sized and brown contemporary two floor detached house in San Francisco with mixed cladding and a lean-to roof.

United Kingdom

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