Exterior Design Ideas Wanted

[Dwayne B.]

I have a home in Detroit, looking for some cost effective ideas on making the front of the house stand out. I was looking to repaint and add the faux brick on the bottom of the porch banister. I am going to remove and replace the rails but not sure if I should go wood or the same that is there. I may use the faux brick around the door and window area, then just add new siding everywhere else. I am looking for suggestions on materials and colors etc. Whatever would greatly improve the curb appeal..What do you guys think?

[Scott Mac]

@Dwayne B.

Hi Dwayne,

If it were mine, here's what I would do.

Remove ALL of the shrubs 100%

Remove the front walkway and the part that goes to the walkway around the side of the house (leaving the side of house walkway. Then replace just the front steps part with a Paver and Gravel walkway.

Move that X Lattice stuff behind the porch beams and frame it in like in this pic.

Keep the original porch uprights because they add class to the house. If they are rotted, replace the rotted parts and keep the rest intact. Then install "Vinyl" railings and Balusters (low upkeep).

Have the front steps built like this (so they don't look like your looking through a skeleton).

Put in a Fiberglass (low maintenance) Large Oval Glass front door with a good looking lock handle.

Then I'd get rid of the vertical slider windows upstairs and replace them with ones that match the downstairs windows. Vinyl windows of the exact same size as the the window holes on the front (even if they cost extra, because smaller windows tend to make the house look downscale).

I'd then have the upper shingle texture siding on the FRONT sanded and repainted white and replace the faux brick with Vinyl siding that matches the siding size on the side of house to the right. 

I'd finish off painting the porch, steps and all trim the same white as the house.

And if the roof is worn out, replace it with black Architectural shingles.

A white and black theme with a new black mailbox to the left of the door with black house numbers above it.

Add a light to the porch ceiling and paint the front door dark bottle green.

Then alarm it and put an Alarm sign in the front yard (in a very visible place).

That would be my curb appeal for the front.

Good Luck!