Exterior Help?! 1940s Cape Cod

8 år siden

I am looking to rework the exterior of our home and I need some opinions!

1. I want to cover the exposed foundation. The side and back exposed foundation were already painted white when we bought the home (I'm assuming to match our white siding and trim). Should I paint the front exposed foundation white too? I'm concerned about the garage blending in too much if I did that. If I painted the foundation white, should I paint the garage another color? I was also considering using some faux stone panels to cover it, but I'm not sure how that would look with the orange-y brick color of the house.

2. I am considering adding shutters to our windows. Yes or no? If yes, what color would look good?

Thanks! Clueless new homeowner here!

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tatts

8 år siden

Bette's right. The foundation should never be white. Why would you want to draw attention to such an ugly, boring, workaday part of your house?

Make it blend in, hide it behind a trellis or a pergola, anything but a light color. Then add some plants--vining on a pergola, maybe a tall skinny evergreen where the stone wall hits the porch foundation (you don't have to use the full depth of the driveway for parking, bring some plants forward.))

Shutters have to be 1/2 the width of the window, and there's no place on your house that you could hang shutters that wide without hitting something else. And making them skinny enough to fit is worse (it makes them 'shudders').

The biggest problem I see is the triangle above the porch. They just ran clapboards all the way from top to bottom. It's too much. And too white. That space needs a wide board across the bottom, framing in the space (and looking like a beam). Then paint the claps above a different color. Not too much contrast, but tone down that blaze of white.

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(17) kommentarer

Carol Singletary
8 år siden
Generally people WANT their garage to blend in. The current recommendation is to paint garage doors a color fairly close to the wall color. So, white foundation would work. Do you LIKE the white color the other foundation walls are painted? Do you want something different?

As far as shutters go, I would not add them. To look right they need to be big enough to actually cover the windows (if they worked and closed). You do not have enough room on both sides of all the windows to do this. And one thing that looks truly horrible is a shutter on just one side of a window.
Stacey thanked Carol Singletary
brickln
8 år siden
If anything, I'd paint the garage and wall the color of your grout- it would be too much white and difficult to keep clean. Consider a trellis over the garage and across to the porch to add interest. Redirect the downspouts and paint them to blend in with the brick. Not sure about shutters- I think they look best on houses that have a lot of symmetry.
Stacey thanked brickln
Bette P
8 år siden
Hopefully the experts will chime in for you. Don't paint the bottom portion white. You need something with the same depth of color or darker for the bottom of your home.

I don't think shutters would be a good thing on this side because of the downspouts and lack of symmetry.

Maybe a bit of a pergola over the garage would add some interest, see photo 1 below. Notice the deep color on the lower portion of the home.

I like the front door color on photo 3.
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Stacey thanked Bette P
Stacey
Forfatter
8 år siden
Sidst ændret: {last_modified_time}8 år siden
Carol, I am not sure about the white on the other sides of the house... It definitely looks better than concrete in general, but it is very white. I see what Bette and others are saying about white drawing too much attention to it. I also like the idea of the trellis or tall plants. Maybe a darker orange-y color to go with the brick would be good (thinking of the photos above with a lighter top and darker bottom.)

If our house wasn't built into a hill this wouldn't be a problem! Oh well.

I appreciate the ideas and thoughts. New at this, as I said, and rather clueless.
Susan Davis
8 år siden
I like the grey grout color for the foundation. I also see a small round table with a fun umbrella and some chairs with potted plants along the porch wall.

You do not need shutters but wood brick moulding framed out around the windows would be really interesting. Then do the trim and the eaves a creamy white subtle grey or warm brown instead of stark white.

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If possible I would also paint the porch gable one of the brick tones to blend it in and make the house look more cohesive
Stacey thanked Susan Davis
partim
8 år siden
I'd paint the foundation portion a grey-brown color that is similar to the colors in your beautiful stone wall. Squint at your stone wall colors from a distance and choose a color that is sort of an average of the browns and grays of the wall. Also paint the white steps going up to your porch the same color.

Paint the white siding on the peak of the porch the same color, or a slightly lighter version of it.

Paint the downspouts the same color where they cross the gray-brown, and paint them the brick color where they cross the brick.

All this will let the prettiest parts of your house shine - the rock wall and the brick.

A few changes would improve your landscaping. Remove the big rocks sitting in the flower bed. You need greenery, not more rock. And you rock wall is way nicer anyway. The creeping plant trailing over your rock wall near the steps is very nice. Can you move some of it around to where the rocks are now? Try some ivy that will trail over the rock wall on the driveway side. It will soften the look.

What is that small piece of rock wall beside the garage?
Stacey thanked partim
Stacey
Forfatter
8 år siden
@partim, it is just a rock planter thing. I was confused about it when we first moved in. There are flowers planted in it. I've been told that adding a trellis to it may look good. I like what you have said about pulling a paint color from our rock wall and painting multiple parts of the house that color, not just the foundation.
emmarene9
8 år siden
It bothers me that the driveway was poured up to the foundation of the house. I would hire someone to cut the concrete at about five feet from the foundation. If you are handy you can break up the concrete yourself with a sledge hammer. I've done it myself although I was younger when I did it. If you do not have a truck hire someone to haul it away for you. Clear the gravel away and plant shrubs that will cover some of the wall. I painted the house SW Best Bronze. The downspouts should be painted to match the brick. It is hard to see but the gutters are painted Best Bronze also.

I would remove the tall grass like plant I have marked with an X. I think you need a shorter plant for that area.

I forgot to say I would remove the stone planter on the wall. It looks amateurish.
Stacey thanked emmarene9
Stacey
Forfatter
8 år siden
I appreciate the altering of my photo and your suggestions, emmarene! The only thing I'm worried about with taking away that half of the driveway is the lack of parking we would then have (our street does not allow on-street parking). But I like what you've done there!
tatts
8 år siden
Sidst ændret: {last_modified_time}8 år siden
I would NOT cut any of the concrete away from the foundation. I'd use large planters.

That concrete driveway directs all the rain away from your foundation, keeping the soil underneath dry (or at least drier). If you pull up any concrete, you will then have a new source of water under your house to contend with and possible heaving from freeze/thaw cycles of the wet ground (I don't know where you live, but it looks like a typical northeast US suburb).
Stacey thanked tatts
Stacey
Forfatter
8 år siden
Sidst ændret: {last_modified_time}8 år siden
@tatts, thanks for that! We live near Cincinnati, OH.
mramsey
8 år siden
I'm in agreement with toning down the foundation to a darker colour similar to the rock wall. For guidance, try the "colour snap" feature on the Sherwin Williams site. It is easy to use and really helps for those of us with an untrained eye to see colour trends.
Stacey thanked mramsey
partim
8 år siden
I'd suggest that you not draw attention to the area to the right of the garage. So I wouldn't add large planters or trellises.

From a design standpoint, you want the eye to skip quickly over that area, i.e. "nothing to see here, folks!" and move quickly to the rock wall, plantings, porch area. If you can't hide it (and you can't really), then draw the eye away from it to something else. So garage door and wall should be the same dark neutral color, with the focus above and to the right. I'd remove the small rock planter if you can do so easily. If not, the similar-painted wall will camouflage it.
Stacey thanked partim
PRO
Diane Whalen Architect
8 år siden
Lots of great suggestions already. I would also look at ways to improve the front porch roof if possible....it feels to heavy and doesn't tie in with the rest of the house. Look for ways to scale down and create interest on the front triangular face...remove the siding and create a pattern with accent trim/flat face, and use colours that complement the rest of the house and the stonework. Depending on the framing, it could also be opened up.
Stacey thanked Diane Whalen Architect
Stacey
Forfatter
8 år siden
Update: had the house painted! It turned out well and looks so much warmer and so much better. We are happy with it .

Before and after:

Now just waiting for all our summer greenery to come back!
tatts
8 år siden
Way to go! Lots better.