Pics?

Aha!! So your picky, obnoxious buyer finally closed! Now let's talk about the new house. Put some photos up so we can see what you're talking about. Black on red, black on white...???? Happy to know all's well.

Some how I posted this and then totally forgot I did it LOL Here is a picture of the front of the house.

tomatofreak - YES! Our picky, obnoxious buyer finally closed! Super nice at closing, too! Crazy!!

Any fun, imaginative ideas are welcome!!

Thanks in advance!!

Another angle

There is not room to put shutters on the windows to the left and the right of the door, nor the dormers. I don't believe the 3 long windows (LR?) are appropriate for shutters either. Shutters need to look like they could work. That means they need to be of the proper size to cover the windows when closed, even if you never close them.

I think your best bet for freshening the look of the house is landscaping. I'll leave those suggestions to others who are more savvy about that than I.

It is a very nice looking house and a bit of landscaping is going to really perk it up.

Your house is beautiful. All it needs is landscaping. I'd get a professional designer for that. You could use some garden lighting along the path. I think it might be quite dark when guests arrive.

Carriage lighting would be fine but your house could also take some simple modern styles as well.

The entrance looks to me as if it is in an alcove. Why do you want to make it even darker with a black door?

I've just read that whole thread about your buyer. What a lot you've been through with that &^%$#@. (Not to mention *&$#%^&.)

I agree, your house is gorgeous. And all it needs is a lovely garden. That of course will vary from person to person but if it was me, I'd want LOTS of trees, shrubs and secret areas.

Carriage lights sound charming.

Here is the house we sold. You can't really tell much from it, but we had a bunch of really nice shrubs and trees. Japanese Maples, Yews, and the biggest Bald Cypress I have ever seen. We had a little over an acre and it was filled with trees. This picture shows the front but not the bulk of the trees which were in the back. We can't wait until spring. We will be saturating this property with plantings, too.

I would love to know what you mean about "modern styles" emma. No idea how that could look on this house but it sounds very unique.

Yes, tete, we went through A LOT with our buyer. At the closing the lady doing their financing said she had to take a break because he stressed her out so much. Glad to know it wasn't just us! LOL

bbstx - there is another set of windows past the ones on the garage that are for the bedrooms and those are the same size as the one on the garage. I was thinking of those sets of windows for shutters, but it is all so asymmetrical I'm not sure how it would look. We'll see.

The previous owner (the lady who had it built) cemented in the little area by the front door because it is on the South side and here in Oklahoma that is a difficult patch to work with if it is without any shade. She should have just planted a nice tree to give it afternoon shade but obviously she didn't believe in trees. We are considering paying to have that concrete either partially or entirely removed, but if we can get some shade in that area a nice courtyard could be cute, too. I like the idea of the carriage style elements. That would be adorable around a courtyard! Thoughts?

I'm wondering if we could actually pull off this look...stone facade, column, cupola and all. Hmmmm.

Here is a link that might be useful: Traditional Style House Plan

Nice house in the link. My concern would be if the roof of your new house has a steep enough pitch to pull off that look.

I hate to sound like a broken record, but I think you'll get the most bang for your buck with landscaping and exterior lighting (and taking out the "patio").

Your new house is very nice. I'd either play up the concrete patio with a pergola or (preferred), tear it out. I assume the home also has a patio or deck in the back, so really not sure what use the front patio is to you. Some low-growing shrubs, a border planting along the walkway and a few colorful perennials would be much better IMO. I'd definitely take out the existing lonely shrub and replace everything along the left side.

You could start with a wider (at least 3-4 feet wide) layered shrub bed on the right. Then sweep it out around the right corner and add something with a little height at the corner to soften.

My personal pet peeve with landscaping is using shrubs and trees too close to the foundation that will eventually grow up and cover the windows and hide the front entrance. Same with trees planted in a yard. I believe in trees but use them to frame the house and provide shade and a backdrop.

I think the house is pretty! Will anyone really walk around to the front door from the driveway? Is there a side entrance by the garage? I think pulling out the paved area would be a mistake.....the area is too tight to plant anything that would not block the windows. I would put a pergola over it, tall enough to line up with the main roofline, and overlapping the garage roof a bit, and put big pots( with automatic waterers, unless you love tending pots) of plants, even some vines up the posts.

If visitors are going to park on the street, you need a walkway to the door from there, and the walkway from the driveway needs to be widened, too.

Random thoughts sorry!

a)Paint the front door white to match the sidelights -- and the whole area will appear to be much larger and far more visually cohesive ....

b)Plant larger trees in the yard -- after investigating which kind would work well in your area. Adding the trees will help to jumpstart future gardening .....

c)Add a large garden in front of the right-hand window -- perhaps with a large fountain that could be seen from that window ..... bring the new garden down to hug the walkway ....

d)Add downlights to the side of the garage that overlooks that front patio .....

e)On the far left-hand side (on the narrow walkway to the garage area) -- add trellis and vines to help fill in that wall area ....

f)For crisp black accent ideas -- add black outdoor furniture .... and large pots on each side of the front doorway ..... In the future -- add a cover to the seating area ....

g)If possible -- consider re-painting the downspouts to minimize them .....

Paint the white trim a few shades darker than the roof color will make the roof look thicker. A window box on the garage would look nice. Maybe a nice arbor and gate over the new sidewalk leading to your front door. Plantings on
Both sides of the walk. Balance it with redbud and other flowering trees
And a few of your favorite shrubs on the right side of your home.

Paint the downspouts (below the level of the eaves) to match the house brick; they will disappear.

I'm not a fan of that cement, but you do need an area in front of the door large enough for several people to stand and converse, if only briefly.

If the walkway isn't a minimum of 4' wide, you want to widen it. (The classic example is that it needs to be wide enough for your visiting relative, arriving late on New Year's Eve, to walk comfortably beside his elderly mother, carefully supporting her as she isn't too secure on her feet. I don't know where you live, but add snow and ice to that scenario if appropriate.)

An argument for re-doing the front hardscape entirely is that the bed on the front side of the house -- between garage and walkway -- needs to be wide enough for actual landscaping (but still allowing an empty 2' or so between shrubs and garage so you have room to trim the backs of the shrubs, weed, mulch, maintain the windows, etc.).

I don't know about painting the front door to match the white trim, but you definitely don't want to paint it black! How about a contrasting color: mid-blue, aqua, etc.?

How about a courtyard w/ a brick/iron fence? It would add some architectural interest. I think I might paint the trim and downspouts black as well. I would have done it in rendering but ran out of time:

All I meant was that owning a red brick house does not obligate one to only put up carriage lights. Something like the one below would work if you want less ornate. Keep in mind I am not a decorator.

Magdalena: That rendering takes the house and makes it look like an estate. You are truly talented. LOVE IT! Now I want it and my husband is like YEAH, SURE, I'LL GET RIGHT ON THAT. As far as the siding, it is vinyl siding and in great shape and i doubt we would paint it anytime soon.

Missingtheobvious: Never heard of painting downspouts the color of the brick - AWESOME IDEA! no black door, huh? Ok, I think that is a common belief so far so I will not be doing that.

Josephene: A window box sounds adorable and one would be presh underneath the garage window. Great idea!

Teacats: White front door? Never would have thought of that. Definitely going to give that some thought. It does seem like it will make the overall area seem more grand and cohesive. Love the downlights on the garage side wall. My husband is ready to do that tomorrow.

Springroz: Thanks on the compliment! Yes - everyone will enter through the front door. I have no side door. I would love a pergola just don't want it to look casual or backyardish. As far as visitors parking, they will park in the driveway even though I like a walkway through the center of the yard. We had one at our last house and it was great for deliveries!

Outsideplaying: Thanks for the compliment! I'd prefer tearing out the concrete, but I'm thinking it's easier to just keep it or possibly just create a small area to plant a tree like they do down city sidewalks. I had one of those in my first home's back patio. Worked pretty well. You explained the garden on the right perfectly. Going to keep that in mind for this spring.

Bbstx: Yes - landscaping is defintely key!

Here is a link that might be useful: Courtyard idea

Emmarene: That looks like a modern take on a carriage light. Cute!

I think a black door is a great idea.

Would something like this work if the top sat above the window to the left of the front door and sat above the other wall toward the garage and actually came out from the roof? I'm not sure I'm explaining that well.

Here is a link that might be useful: pergola idea

Lazydaisynot: Black door, huh? Maybe if magdalena does another amazing rendering with black trim and a black door we can see. Maybe just painting the trim and gutters in black would be worth it. No way can I do all the eaves and under the porches in the back. There is a lot of white vinyl siding there.

If I were you I'd consider painting only the door black; but then, I'm partial to the brick/black door/white trim combination!

LDN: I partial to that combo as well.

I went online trying to find a nice example of a white front door and just found more black front doors that I like LOL. Anyhoo, we went to Home Depot and my husband loved this door (see link below). I have no idea if that style would work with our house or the sidelights that already exist.

Here is a link that might be useful: Door Style

A beautiful flower garden with trees beyond for your 3 windows to give some privacy from the street. You can do almost anything with this. I would get some beautiful trees.

Take a good look at the color of the mortar between your bricks. That is the color your trim and siding should be. When you are driving around and see a particularly pleasing brick home, check to,see if the mortar color and trim are the same. This is the single biggest mistake people make with brick homes, to paint the trim and any siding white when the mortar is another color family. Downspouts as trim also in mortar color, not painted to match the brick.

If you want shutters, ones with curved tops could go on the arch top,windows at the left of the house. Would not do window boxes unless you are planning to go full scale cottage-y.

Traditional carriage lights, not modern.

LOVES Magdalena's mock up!

Thanks KSWL: My fireplace is the same brick and mortar as the outside and I matched my wall color inside exactly to the mortar color and it does look good, if I do say so myself. That would totally transform this house!! The white is just so...WHITE! I never paint anything white, EVER. The rest of your comments were spot on as well. Thanks so much!!

KITTY: I could probably just do the area in front of the three windows and add some trees and that alone would transform the look enough that the neighbors would love me. I can't believe someone could live here almost 20 years and not do anything at all in the front. She's done quite a bit in the backyard. I am fortunate that she installed a massive sprinkler system (16 zones!) so that's a plus. Gotta look at the bright side of life, right? LOL

Nice house! I also like Magdelena's mock up quite a bit. Having the courtyard enclosed makes much more sense aesthetically as does moving the walkway further from the house to make a bed along the end of the garage that is of reasonable depth for planting. It has the advantage of removing the curved walkway (which IMO doesn't suit the house style) and moving the visible entryway further out. The current arrangement is such that any planting to provide shade will also make the entry less clear, and Magdalena's courtyard solves all those issues in an elegant fashion that suits the style of your house. The black wrought iron fence would tie in well with a black front door, though I think a white door or some other color that complements the brick color would be work equally well and would better than the current matching door.

With the three different roof heights as well as the height of the large window being taller than the garage roof, I see no aesthetically pleasing way to add a pergola to this area. Trees outside the courtyard will eventually give you shade, and if you place pots with trellised vines or large shrubs this patio would be a nice place to spend cool spring and fall days even if it wouldn't useable in the summer without shade.

Rather than trying to paint your downspouts, I'd be more likely to use plantings to either distract from them or mostly hide them.

nhbabs: I think you are so right about the curved sidewalk not really suiting the style of the house. The little border in front of the garage is about a foot wide, literally. Too small to do anything with. I thought about taking concrete to the wall and just being done with it and using plantings on the other side of the sidewalk to create a border. I hate tearing things out, I'd rather add on.

Thank you ALL so much for the wonderful advice! It is helping tremendously!

This is overkill, but the link provided is a YouTube video of the house when it was for sale before we bought it. Much better views of what we are actually dealing with in case you care to watch it. :)

Here is a link that might be useful: House Link

Window boxes are traditional would look great on your home.
Yardvaark has a great idea for plants under the window on the right
Side of your home. It's on the landscaping forum. Small flowering
Shrubs and it looks great.
Great ideas are to be found on house plan websites such as Don Gardner

Is the Landscaping Forum found under the Gardening Forum?

link to landscape design forum below.

Here is a link that might be useful: landscape design forum

Thanks
Landscape design forum
Titled. Please help with large front landscaping
Yardvarks design
I like his ideas

Watched the video. Your home looks very nicely laid out. I can hardly wait to see what you do to make it your own!

bbstx - Lots and lots of working on the inside and feel like we have barely made a dent but we are on a mission to get the inside done enough that we can live with it by spring so that we can concentrate 100% on the outside by then.

I love the Landscape Design Forum!! I'm reading a ton of great information over there. Thanks for the great tip! Didn't even know it was there.

Very pretty house. Which direction does the front of the house face? That can really help decide what to do with that patio. If it faces North or East, you can put out some pots and seating there, along with adding trees, crepe myrtle etc out and around the front and right side corner.
But if that patio is South, West or even Northwest, you are going to find yourselves with an outdoor oven for most of three seasons. If that is the case I'd dig it out and put in plants than can take the heat, and/or add a pergola.
Also if the front door gets much direct sunlight you will need to stick with lighter colors. Dark ones will peel, even stain can't take direct sunlight without failing quickly.

It has a southern exposure. Luckily the garage sits on the west side of the house so the patio gets shade once the sun is starting to go down, but that chunk of concrete heats up throughout the day and it doesn't cool down regardless of the sun's location, but it could be worse, i suppose. Regardless, I feel like we are going to try and work with what we have at least for a summer and see what we can do with it. It will be interesting.

Hi - what a nice house! I don't know how imaginative, but I can picture columnar trees like arborvitae flanking those tall windows on the right & the 1 @ the front, plus potted plants/trees & a pretty bench arranged on the small front patio - maybe even a birdbath & statuary...definitely could use some bedding/landscaping - shade trees, something that blooms, maybe?

Thanks Carolb! I have a pretty cute fountain that I've had forever that is sitting on the patio at the moment (those pictures are all from when it was for sale or earlier) that I definitely want to use, and I liked the idea of using it front of the 3 windows on the right so I can see it out the main living room's window. I also have several benches that need to be used (one black wrought iron and one wooden) so probably one of those will be out there as well. My husband is probably going to go overboard on the trees and unfortunately there is nothing I can do about it because he does it while I'm away at work - SERIOUSLY! Some times I won't even notice he's planted ANOTHER tree for a month. He's big on trees and the hardscape and I'm big on the shrubs and flowers. Together we make a good team. Hopefully it will work out.

Very nice house.
I would not tear out that concrete with out living with it a little while. What I would do is get big beautiful colored planters, tall and medium and create a planted landscape right there it will provide color, interest and other textures. I am partial to the beautiful blues in the tall ceramic planters. I have similar done in my atrium.
You can also add a small water feature there.
You will never have to worry about fighting weeds and mulch etc right at your front door. I would consider a fabulous specimen tree in a planter for center stage. A Banana Magnolia with it's beautiful little flowers and incredible perfume, a variegated Myers Lemon with its unique striped fruit and citrus smell and the flowers smell wonderful, or a gardenia with gorgeous flowers and intoxicating scent.
I have a beautiful gardenia right at the courtyard entrance to my front door and I can watch people walk up and just stop there with their eyes closed sniffing up all that magnificent scent. It's very pleasant.
You have a great opportunity there to add the excitement and interest you are looking for. Look beyond the blank concrete!
Something like this

Here is a link that might be useful: Container garden

This post was edited by ravencajun on Sun, Jan 25, 15 at 0:37

Thanks Ravencajun! Your link was amazing! Loved the colors. Very inspiring! I am terrified of planting in pots. Never have had success with it but if I take the advice of "springroz" and install autowatering systems I'm sure I'll have more success this time. Definitely giving that a shot before I tear anything out! Thank you!!

Yes with the new drip irrigation systems you can easily add a drip to each container. I have mine set on timers works great even in the hot Texas sun. Taller bushier /fuller plants can add shade for the lower ones.

pl, in the last house, I had lines run from the main irrigation system to pots on either side of the front door. In the back of the house, I had lines run to either side of the terrace for pots on the terrace. All were drip lines but for one that was a tiny little spray head for my "herb garden" (a large pot filled with herbs).

The tube from the sprinkler system to the pot was clear. I put each pot up on a pot lift then ran the line under the pot lift and up through the hole in the bottom of the pot. I never actually plant the plants in the big pots. I leave them in the pots they come in, then slide them down into the decorative pots except for the "herb garden." Herbs got planted into the pot.

Even with my brown thumb and penchant for neglect, with the pots getting irrigated regularly, I managed to grow things.

Here is a link that might be useful: pot lift

Glad you liked my ideas - & I think you could observe what kinds of plants are growing successfully in your neighborhood & that you like.

Also FWIW, don't make the mistake of planting trees too close to the house &/or driveway/walkways. Always make sure to check the mature size first - this I learned the hard way...

OH, since I posted that last message, in a magazine I was flipping through, I saw a potted magnolia in a grouping! I had no idea you could pot a magnolia! Below is link to what Better Homes and Gardens has to say about potting magnolias, along with some suggested varieties.

From Southern Living, a potted Little Gem magnolia
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Red âÂÂFreida Hempleâ caladiums, a spider plant, and a âÂÂLittle Gemâ Southern magnolia decorate a large pot in the corner and hide the downspout. Smaller pots of the same caladiums tie together the grouping.

Here is a link that might be useful: BHG - Potting Magnolias

If you really don't like the look of the concrete you could stain it or
Pave it over with tile.
Like the potted magnolia. Wonder how long before it needs a bigger pot
Or needs to go in the ground.
Jo