If you’re building or renovating a large home on a large block, there’s something you need to consider that you might not have thought about.
One of the mistakes I see with larger homes is choosing elements that might look perfectly appropriate on a typical suburban house, but suddenly look too small and insignificant when they’re placed on a much larger façade.
A beautiful exterior light can look too small and virtually disappear. Decorative mouldings can look too delicate. Even gutters, downpipes, roof profiles and architectural details can look strangely lightweight.
There may be absolutely nothing wrong with the individual selections. They’re just the wrong scale for the house.
✨ Designed by The Facade Design Co ✨
It’s not just about making everything bigger
You also should not make everything enormous! It’s about getting the proportions right.
A larger façade has more visual mass, so the elements within it need enough presence to hold their own.
That might mean:
- larger gutters and fascias
- a roof profile that suits the expanse of the roof
- larger-format stone, brick or cladding
- chunkier-looking columns or posts
- larger exterior wall lights
- deeper, more substantial architectural mouldings
- larger landscaping elements
- more substantial gates, fencing and letterboxes
And it’s not only the size of those elements that matters. The space between them matters too – because on a large façade, details positioned too closely together can make the exterior feel busy. Giving things more breathing room can create the sense of generosity and proportion that a larger home needs.
Think beyond the house itself
This same principle needs to extend across the entire property.
Your driveway, entrance, gates, fencing, pathways, retaining walls and landscaping all need to feel appropriate for the size of the house and block.
A standard entrance (even if that’s all you need), small pedestrian gate or collection of small plants, for example, can feel completely disconnected from a substantial home and expansive front yard.
The individual elements might all be beautiful. It’s their relationship to one another that makes the overall design work – or not work.
Why this is so difficult to get right as you go
Scale can be surprisingly difficult to judge when you’re selecting products individually.
An exterior light can look enormous in a showroom. A piece of stone can look substantial when you’re holding the sample. A front door can sound very wide when you’re reading its dimensions on a quote.
But put those same elements onto a large elevation and suddenly they can look very different.
And by the time they’re installed, changing them can be expensive.
That’s why the exterior should be designed as a whole before your renovation or build begins.
A complete façade design, particularly when you can see it in a colour illustration, allows you to see how the roof, doors, windows, lighting, mouldings, materials, driveway, fencing and landscaping relate to one another before you commit.
You’re no longer choosing a collection of individual things you like and hoping they’ll work together.
Instead, you can make every decision knowing it’s right for your home, your property and the finished look you want to achieve.
Planning a new build or renovation and want to make sure it comes together beautifully?
The Facade Design Co can help you design the whole exterior before you start – so you can see how everything works together and make your decisions with confidence. Enquire about your home here.
Jane
📧 jane@hotspaceconsultants.com
🌐 https://hotspaceconsultants.com/preliminary-enquiry/