Planning a mini make-over to the front of your home these holidays? Here are a few ‘quick wins’ to get the ball rolling!
1) You’ve heard it before. This is not rocket science! Start with a pressure wash of your entire house, driveway and paths. Even if you don’t like the outside of your home currently, at least it’ll look fresh and clean. You’ll be surprised at how much better you feel about it!
2) Pick one small area that is the most desperate for a lick of paint. Is it the window sills, the road-facing wall (render, weatherboards etc), the gutters, the front door, garage door, front fence or maybe just the mailbox? Check the Handyman Magazine YouTube channel for tips https://www.youtube.com/@HandymanMagazineAU or talk to your local paint shop to find out how to paint what. Remember the prep is key, so don’t skip it! TIP: If bigger changes are on the cards, it’s a good idea to work out your overall colours and materials before you start!
3) Paint your driveway. This will depend on the type of driveway you have, including the slope. Choose a neutral colour that links back to your house colour in some way (usually a mid-grey of some kind). Here is an article to help determine the suitability of painting a sloped driveway https://www.berger.com.au/how-to-and-diy/how-to-paint-sloping-surfaces/
4) Trim your trees, mow your yard, remove weeds and dying plants, then add mulch or dark brown (please, not red!) bark to finish! This is one of the easiest way to refresh your front yard and begin to transform your home.
The key with all of this is to start with a big-picture plan of what you ultimately want the front of your home to look like. This will dictate what you do, what colours you use and where you focus your time and energy. In my role as an exterior designer of house facades I often see piecemeal renovations that look totally incohesive – so plan it all now, then chip away towards your end goal over time.
If you need help coming up with a big-picture plan of what to do to your home, you can get in touch with me via my website. Link in bio or go to https://hotspaceconsultants.com/.
Jane Eyles-Bennett x
Dark and Stormy is not an official design term but I think it clearly describes the style I’m referring to today. I absolutely love this look, but there are definitely some things to consider before you go painting your house entirely black!
Firstly, a pure black may not be the right colour to paint your whole house exterior. Perhaps a charcoal grey could take the edge off and make it just that little bit less intimidating.
If you do choose a dark and stormy theme for your renovation, be mindful of giving it some ‘lift’ in other ways – otherwise it can feel like a big black prison block. My preference when renovating in a dark colour scheme is to use interesting textures (slats, dark stone etc) to give the house some depth.
In my role as an exterior designer of house facades I always recommend at least one contrasting colour or material. In the example here, I added a timber feature (hidden near the bottom in this image) and also some vines to soften the overall effect.
The trick is to make it look interesting without introducing lots of colours, so timber and landscaping work wonders here. Even if your home is not of a contemporary shape (eg a 70’s brick home), you can still use the same concept of introducing the darker colours and adding accent areas to complement them.
Another factor to think about is the heat. If you live in far north Queensland, then a black house is probably not a great choice. But if your climate is cooler, these colours could help reduce your power bill. Also, did you know that dark paint is more expensive than light paint (generally)?, so make sure you factor that in to your budget before you get started!
If you’d like assistance with sprucing up your home’s facade (dark and stormy or otherwise!), you can get in touch with me here.
Jane Eyles-Bennett x
Like most owners of a tired or older home, you know that a lick of paint is going to update it in a way nothing else will. But in addition to a well-chosen colour, you can boost your street appeal by incorporating other features, materials and landscaping to give it more zest.
One of the strategies I use as an exterior designer, is what I called the Sprinkle Strategy. The sprinkle strategy is used in addition to your main house colours and is what gives your façade a more cohesive and balanced look.
I always recommend a maximum of three or four colours for an exterior home renovation. These will include your paint colours, brick, timber, windows/guttering colours and every other element that exists there – except the landscaping.
Out of your chosen 3-4 colours, you’ll have one main colour (this could be a paint colour or brick for example), then one or two trim colours. And finally, an accent colour/material. I usually recommend using a differently textured material like timber or stone for the accent. And this is where the ‘sprinkling’ comes in.
The concept is that you sprinkle your accent colour or material across your façade and front yard three to four times, roughly in a triangle or diamond shape. I like to do this because it visually ‘pulls the house together’ and makes it look and feel cohesive and attractive.
For example, imagine you’ve painted your façade, done all the trims, painted the gutters and roof and you’re now ready for the accent or contrast colour – the sprinkle. You might choose timber as your sprinkle in which case you might choose a timber front door, timber accents on the letterbox or portico and a timber-look garage door.
There is no hard and fast rule about what colours or materials should go where because sometimes you just need to work in with whatever is existing.
In the example here, you can see that the sprinkle is the timber (actually timber-look aluminium). It’s on the ‘arch’ and the two upper windows.
The key is to not have too many sprinkles on your facade. Imagine if we’d designed it with the planter box in the timber as well. I think it would have been slightly too busy and that’s why we stuck with the charcoal on the planter box for this façade.
If you want to, you can actually extend your sprinkle into your interior too. This will visually connect the interior and exterior and assist with create a nice indoor-outdoor flow.
If you’d like assistance with sprucing up your home’s facade, you can get in touch with me here.
Jane Eyles-Bennett
You’ve renovated inside and now the outside of your home looks completely out of place. Sound familiar?
Whether it’s pure Hamptons, coastal Hamptons, Coastal, Contemporary, or something else, this is a common problem for many of my home owner clients as an exterior designer here in Australia.
Inside is easy to renovate. Outside – not so much! And that’s when people start looking for help.
What’s great to know is that most houses can be tweaked towards a Coastal/Coastal-Hamptons style, even if it looks nothing like it right now.
If budget is a factor (when isn’t it!?), then consider doing some of the following things now and chipping away at the rest over time. If you can come up with a ‘master plan’ now, your final renovation will come together cohesively and look like it was all done in one shot, instead of a mish-mash pieced together over a period of time.
I think there is a misconception about what Hamptons or Coastal style is made up of. Colour is absolutely an important factor, but it is by no means the only one. Weatherboard cladding helps, but it’s not the be all and end all. Gable roofs do wonders but again not essential.
The most important details on a Coastal-Hamptons home are the following;
– Light and bright colour scheme (render brick to create a clean backdrop)
– Accents of fresh white – eg guttering and trims
– Lots of texture made up from details in the gables, balustrades, and other accent areas
– Window mouldings
– Interesting doors in a contrasting colour
– Minimal soft landscaping and a variety of textured pots
– Simple fencing in a crisp clean colour (often white but not always)
Awnings, gable vents, frieze rails and balustrades can also add to a Coastal-Hamptons vibe on the right home.
The trick is to get the right balance to ensure an interesting and elegant combination of products, colours and materials, but not too much.
If you’d like my help achieving a beautiful Coastal-Hamptons look on the exterior of your home, you can get in touch with me here.
Jane Eyles-Bennett x
Join 11,000+ other renovators in my Facebook Group ‘Home Renovators Network Australia’ (https://www.facebook.com/groups/HomeRenovatorsNetworkAustralia/) for feedback & ideas as you update your home.
Own a modern home with zero personality?
Your problem is probably not the colour scheme. It’s the lack of interesting detailing and texture that would otherwise bring your home to life.
The most attractive homes not only incorporate a great colour scheme, they have an eye-catching combination of materials, accents and landscaping that offer warmth and interest and just make it pop! Time and again in my job as an exterior designer, I am charged with adding spunk and sizzle to a flat and uninteresting house facade. Here are some of the ways I do it!…
1) Add some feature cladding in a contrasting colour. Make sure it has texture (slats, stipples etc) that compliments your existing wall surfaces
2) Add warmth with timber-effect accents. Try to use this in more than one area on your facade (aim to ‘sprinkle’ it three times across your facade).
3) Use a contemporary colour combination – typically whites and greys with pops of warmth
4) Define your front boundary line with landscaping or even just edging as a crisp ‘frame’
Jane Eyles-Bennett x
P.S If you’ve tried and not yet succeeded in coming up with a suitable solution for your home, perhaps it’s time to seek professional guidance. To find out if I can help you, contact me here.
Most people would love an ‘architecturally designed’ home. But what is it that makes it so? What are the ingredients for achieving a house facade that stands out for the right reasons?
The answer is simple: these houses adhere to the ‘Golden Design Rules’; a set of design principles that architects and exterior designers have been using for centuries.
So what are the Golden Design Rules, and how can you apply them to your property? As a professional exterior designer, here are my top 5 strategies you can try for yourself;
1. Balance
Getting a ‘balanced’ look on the front façade of your home is essential to a visually appealing effect – but can be tricky to recover from if you get it wrong.
This doesn’t mean that everything has to be symmetrical or equally spaced apart or anything like that, but there has to be some sense of proportion and spatial balance.
Take a look at a workers cottage vs a contemporary house with a skillion roof. Both achieve visual balance, but in entirely different ways.
2. House Materials and Textures
The materials and texture choices (cladding, stone, timber, landscaping) are a critical component of a designer looking home. Textures can be used to add interest to make a home more interesting (if currently quite ‘flat’ looking) or textures can be reduced to make a home look less chaotic.
You can use different materials and textures to accentuate some areas and downplay others. Personal preference definitely comes into play of course and should always be the primary driver when selecting your colours, finishes and textures.
The best way to update the façade of your home is to weave the look and materials you love, in with the existing shapes and materials of your home’s exterior.
Exterior colour choices
Getting the colour combination right for your exterior can make or break a renovation. It pays to think about what you are trying to achieve with the colour choices. Colours can be a clever way to provide depth, shorten, widen or lengthen spaces and you can also use it to camouflage or accentuate different elements. A common misconception is that a lick of paint will solve all, but a great looking home exterior goes much deeper than that.
Making the entryway your focal point.
One of the areas that many renovators forget to take into account is the entryway. You want your front entrance to draw the eye in and extend a welcome to family and friends. You could make a bold statement here or gently draw focus by using a colour that is a shade or two lighter or darker than the façade. Clever use of lighting and landscaping is also key to a designer-looking entry and façade.
Landscaping for maximum effect
There is more to landscaping than just filling up garden beds with a plethora of plants. Take another look at the architectural features of your facade. Is your house top heavy? Is it brick or timber? Is it high-set or low-set? Your landscaping needs to work with and anchor the house, so choose plants that will achieve this.
As a general rule of thumb, choose visually heavier looking plants if your home is made of a heavy material like brick. A house made of a lighter material like timber can get away with using daintier plants or going with plants that are less visually heavy.
Accomplishing a cohesive designer look for your façade is a complicated process (a lot more difficult than what it seems), but it is achievable if you employ these design tips.
Jane Eyles-Bennett x
P.S Want help achieving ‘architecturally designed’-type status for your home? Send me an enquiry here and I’ll see if I can help.
