Real Life Rooms – Modern Colonial Curb Appeal

Hey there Remodelaholic readers! Dawn here, from AD Aesthetic, and I’m back this month with another reader question mockup to hopefully inspire some creative ideas for your outdoor space. If you’ve missed any of my previous reader question mockups, you can always see all my posts here.

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If you follow Remodelaholic on Facebook, you’ve probably seen several of the reader questions that are submitted every month. Well each month here on Remodelaholic, I choose one reader submitted photo to offer my two cents on, and I create a Photoshop mock up of what I would do if I were in your shoes! (Pssssst— you can submit your reader questions by messaging Remodelaholic on Facebook!)

First though, my disclaimer: While I can recommend ideas that I think look nice, I have never seen this house in real life and don’t have accurate measurements. I am also not an architect or landscaper and do not know the planting recommendations for your area- I just like to make things look nice. I can’t guarantee that any of the items I put in my ‘virtual’ design will actually work in real life (or that they’ll fit your design style for that matter), and this is not intended to be a professional design consultation. So think of this as a just-for-fun rendering that hopefully gets your wheels turning and provides some inspiration!

On to the fun!

READER QUESTION from Lauren —
I need major feedback on ways to give curb appeal to my newly purchased home. I want to redo siding (thinking medium/dark grey vinyl). Need stoop/walkway ideas and I have a breezeway before the garage. I’m not sure how to close it up and for it to be a functional living space with a garage behind it. Please help, Thank you!

This is one of those houses that many people might look at and think that it already looks adorable. It is cute and there’s absolutely nothing wrong with it, but it’s safe to say that there’s nothing really memorable about it either. Lauren was looking at painting the home a gray tone, so I started looking around for some inspiration along those lines:

Modern Colonial Inspiration

Image Source: Commona My House  

Image Source: Tweddlebugs on Flickr  

Image Source: Skyline Pressure Washing Pros  

Image Source: Your Nest Design 
Photo Credit: opalnevershouts.com

Image Source: via Pinterest

Image Source: This Old House 
Photo Credit: Ken Gutmaker

Image Source: Bob Vila 
Photo Credit: kdyoder.com

With some visuals to inspire me, I got to work on my Photoshop mockup of Lauren’s home:

Sources:

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Garage Light
Porch Lights
Garage Door
Fence

Tips for Modern Colonial Curb Appeal 

1: Colors

First, I gave her the gray tone she was hoping for. I went with a medium toned warm gray, which I think suits the home nicely. To provide contrast, I updated the shutters and front door to a deep, almost black, charcoal gray, and painted the foundation the same color. I also brightened up all the trim to a fresh white and added shutters on the side of the house to match the front. (Similar colors listed above.)

2: Walkway

Next I cleaned up walkway and the edging around the lawn with some bright limestone and a new stone path. The previous wood trim was looking a little worn down, and the pathway had a unusual and distracting shape to it. Almost like it was curving away from the house, and then sharply jutted back towards the front door. Creating a more aesthetic gentle curve from the drive to the door makes the entry look more welcoming and open.

3: Garage

For the garage/breezeway area, I had a couple of ideas. Lauren mentioned wanting to use the breezeway as closed in living space. The only way I can see that this would work with the garage behind it would be to move the garage door to the left side of the garage structure, and create a drive that went around that side of the house. Then you could seal up the current garage door and breezeway into a room, adding windows in front to match those on the main house. Depending on how much area there is over there, that might be a possibility, however, if the neighboring home is too close, or it’s not in the funds to do that, I mocked up a second option that is much simpler, and is what I would probably do if this were my home. I moved the garage door to the front of the breezeway.

Moving the door helps give the front of the house a more finished, polished look, and eliminates the cave-like vibe the breezeway is currently creating. In this instance, you could either just have a double garage area, or you could use the former breezeway as a garage, and convert the former garage into storage or living space as needed. 

4: Landscaping

The final change I made was to add some more lush and colorful landscaping around the entry to the home. Some plants of varying height, color, and texture create nice visual interest and pop against the gray of the home.

So what do you think? What would you do if this were your home?

As always, thank you to Cassity and the Remodelaholic team for having me back each month. If you like this post, and have a design dilemma you’d like me to mock up some ideas for, you can ask your questions by sending Remodelaholic a message over on Facebook, or checkout my mockup design services over on my site adaesthetic.com. And be sure to follow me on Facebook, Pinterest, or Instagram and say hello! Have a great day, friends!

-Dawn

More updated curb appeal ideas:

Colonial Curb Appeal Ideas

Modern Curb Appeal Ideas

Mid-Century Cape Cod Curb Appeal Ideas

Stylish DIY Curb Appeal Ideas

Budget Friendly Curb Appeal Ideas

Home Exterior Colors to Add Curb Appeal

Published: November 21, 2016Filed Under: Contributor, Contributors, Design Inspiration Tagged: curb appeal, Real Life Rooms

About Dawn Sailors

Dawn is one half of the team behind the creative blog, AD Aesthetic. By day she works as the VP of Creative for a design and marketing company (getting paid to make things look good!), while by night she renovates her Midwest home, refinishes thrift-store furniture for fun, and works with her husband on raising two tiny humans. Dawn believes in the potential to design your surroundings and your life one day at a time, and lives by the motto, 'Make everything beautiful.' Get to know her better by visiting her blog, ADaesthetic.com, or following along on Facebook and Instagram.