Welcome to Gardenweb, tmolly. It's a cute house!

I have been in tri-level houses, but what's different about yours compared to ones I have seen is the relatively flat front. Someone here may know what the style is called.

I can see why you would want to research the style, but from the standpoint of landscaping and remodeling ideas, you could just focus on those issues. I suspect if you drive around your city, you might find similar houses and could get landscaping ideas.

For both landscaping and interior ideas, the Home Decorating forum is a good place for specific suggestions.

Here is a link that might be useful: Home Decorating forum

it looks like a 1940's side split brick home. I have seen these in the older Atlanta burbs.

edited: just saw it is 1950's. I lived in Bergen County for a few years, I guess I can say I remember this sort of bland post-war housing. I lived in a bungalow with a tiny attached single garage two steps below the main floor.

You can do all sorts of things with the exterior. If you have the roof extended forward, and create a more welcoming entrance with a covered front entry porch and a more generous entry porch, it will take the emphasis away from the large bland gable over the garage. You can put a taller shed roof over the front porch with copper standing seam roofing, or create another smaller gable over the front door.

I have seen this sort of thing done very successfully in the small midwestern upscale burb I lived in for the last decade. I'll try and grab some photos for you.

http://www.floorplans.com/house-plans/fp/styles/ranch-floor-plans/split-level-floor-plans.html

This post was edited by detroit_burb on Sat, Nov 29, 14 at 23:38

here is a picture of two bungalows, they are not the same as yours, but the updates will give you an example of what I mean.

On the left, the home is in essentially 1946 condition. Note how bland it looks, the roof line is flush with the brick.

On the right, the home had extensive exterior work done about 8-10 years ago to make it more charming, no square footage was added. Over the large gable on the left, they put siding over the brick. The front door used to be uncovered, now has a front porch with a roof line that was brought forward of the large front gable and some interest was added over the covered porch. Also note that all of the roof lines, including the little dormer on the right, had their roof lines brought forward about 8" of the face of the brick, again, adding interest. The owner also painted the siding and underside of the new roof line different neutral shades. It is a very successful upgrade that adds charm but does not make it look like anything other than the 1940's brick bungalow that it is.

Now for the house on the left...

Here is the house on the left a few years later. The owners spent about the same as the house on the right, but changed the facade to reflect the completely modern interior and the owner's aesthetic. No changes to the roof line were done, and no square footage was added, either, but the roof was done in black with metal troughs, and all of the trim was clad in dark brown or a very dark taupe.

This is not everyone's cup of tea, but it gives you an example of how you can dramatically change the feel of a bungalow by just changing out the trim color.

This post was edited by detroit_burb on Sun, Nov 30, 14 at 0:27

Here is another successful facade renovation. They added a wide porch with a standing seam copper roof. They also redid all of the solid surface and the landscaping. This was a very bland foreclosed bungalow, with a ratty front lawn.

note: it is a north facing facade, and I would not have made the porch so wide because it decreases the light into that front window beside the front door, but you can see how bringing a porch roof forward of the large side gable makes the entry way more welcoming and prominent and downplays a large gable, which is what you are trying to do with your place.

This post was edited by detroit_burb on Sun, Nov 30, 14 at 0:20

same home before the porch and hardscaping.

Hope this helps. Gotta love google maps with a five year gap between images!

Another very tastefully done covered porch, this house was extensively remodeled, but I love what they did with the exterior.

There is no photo of this one from five years before, I guess google didn't drive down this street in 2007. You can imagine the same house with white painted windows and a flat facade with no cover over the front porch. Again you can see how covering the front door and bringing the porch line forward of the large front gable brings the eye to the entry way, instead of the large mass of brick on the side of the house.

This post was edited by detroit_burb on Sun, Nov 30, 14 at 0:33

Your floor plan is split level. Your style is called Minimal Traditional.

Also see here. And here.

This post was edited by marcolo on Wed, Dec 3, 14 at 19:28