All Forum Posts by: Dwayne B.

@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!

@Dwayne B.

Upon closer examination it looks like that's the existing faux brick you were referring to?

One thing you could do is use S mortar or something similar with a brushed texture to go over the top of the faux brick if it's structurally sound, and then get artistic with a sponge with a row on the bottom (all along the front, under the windows, etc) , to give those bricks a nice natural tone/look (tans, greys, with multiple passes with dabbing with a sponge) might give you a really nice look.

This is all if the brick is structurally sound, of course.  If it's not, I'd rip it off before doing anything.

You'd possibly even be just a day in with labor with a good plan and I bet you can make that really pop with what you'd have.  I bet you could do it with a small amount of paint, as well.

Because you're likely doing this project on a budget, I'd let the 'deal' on some materials drive your decision.  You kind of have a blank canvas there.  I'd be looking for STELLAR deals on siding, especially higher end stuff that someone has significant overstock of, or overbought for a project.  You can do really neat things with accents with ledge stones, etc.

With you having what looks like a bit of work to do there, some inside work will allow you flexibility and some time to find those deals on materials.

Get used to being on craigslist in the materials section and hit the local restores, and get feelers out there for whatever vendors might have some of this stuff ASAP.

Certainly wrapping all that window trim would be nice, especially the stuff exposed to the weather (not under the porch).

I think a decorative railing would do a lot for that house design.

I also think a nice light blue / grey would be a good color selection there.

The walkway can use some roundup and weed pulling when its time to list - that'll be a huge value add for the time invested.