Whether it’s 50 shades of white or 50 shades of grey you’re faced with, picking colours for your home can send you in a spin. If you’re sick of going round in circles; here are a few tips.
Firstly, there’s no hard and fast rule about what looks good on a home. Of course lighter colours make things appear larger generally, and darker colours make things appear smaller, but don’t let those concepts guide you too much for your exterior renovation.
The main things to consider are;
1) The style you’re aiming for: If you want Hamptons coastal, then a dark grey isn’t going to cut the mustard. But if you want a contemporary bachelor pad, then dark grey could be the perfect choice. Have a look on Pinterest for some ideas.
2) Existing/remaining colours; What parts of your exterior are you changing and which are you leaving as is? It’s important to work with the colours you have. For example, if you have cream windows that you’re not planning to change, then consider a creamier based light grey or cream/white colour to go alongside. A bright white will only highlight the yellowness of the cream. If you have warm colours already, stick to warm colours. If cool colours, stay with cool colours.
3) Climate; If you live in the Northern Territories, then a dark roof is simply a dumb idea! But if you’re in Tasmania, then a dark roof could be a great idea. Same goes for the wall colours.
4) Location; As I write this, I’m working on a façade design in Toowoomba where there is red dirt everywhere. My client likes the idea of a light coloured house, but this is just too impractical. My solution? A light coloured house with a slightly darker coloured stone cladding along the base. This makes it practical and also helps us achieve the modern farmhouse aesthetic my client is also keen on. Win-win!
There are literally thousands of colour options out there. To make sure you’re using the right one for your home; talk to a colour consultant or grab some test pots and paint at least a 2×2 metre area before spending mega-bucks on the wrong colour.
Jane Eyles-Bennett x
P.S If you want my help to transform the front of your home, send me an enquiry here and I’ll see if I can help.
Rendering your brick home can have both pros and cons. Here are some things I consider as a house facade designer and Street Appeal expert:
PROS
• Will modernise your home if done in conjunction with the right colours and accents (such as feature cladding, interesting materials, contrasting neutral colours, landscaping etc)
• Will make your home look fresh and feel more welcoming
• Will cover up any imperfections, mismatches, or blemishes on the brick
• Can add a lot of value to your property
CONS
• Can look ‘flat’ unless other changes are made at the same time (feature walls, trim details, exterior lighting etc)
• May not be suitable for homes of certain architectural styles or types of brick
• Usually expensive, especially if you hire a professional
• Requires ongoing maintenance to keep the render looking fresh and clean
If you’re considering rendering your brick home, it’s a good idea to research and see what others have done. Hotspace Consultants is a great resource for finding inspiration and ideas. Visit our gallery to see what others have done to their brick homes.
Keep in mind that rendering a brick home is a big decision, and it’s important to weigh the pros and cons before committing. Hotspace Consultants can help you make an informed decision about whether rendering is the right choice for your home.
Contact me here if you’d like to see if we can help you.
Jane Eyles-Bennett x
The biggest mistake we see is Homeowners trying to duct-tape together a few nice colours and a peppering of other design ideas from the internet in an attempt to transform the Street Appeal of their Home.
An eye-catching Facade consists of many unique Design Principles working together to create a well-balanced, cohesive look. It’s not just the aesthetic of each chosen colour or material either, but the practicality and cost factors that come in to play.
We make it look easy, but there’s a reason ‘Architect Designed’ Homes have a Professional Edge to them (See Above!).
At Hotspace, we are especially trained to turn your existing Facade into a Thoughtful and Striking Design that is specific to You, your Home’s Shape and Style, your Financial Investment, and your Location.
If you’ve tried and not yet succeeded in coming up with a suitable solution for yourself, perhaps it’s time to seek professional guidance. You can contact us here.
Join my Facebook Group ‘Home Renovators Network Australia’ (https://www.facebook.com/groups/HomeRenovatorsNetworkAustralia/) for feedback & ideas from other renovators as you update your own home’s façade.
Jane Eyles-Bennett is one of Australia’s top exterior designers and owner of design firm Hotspace Consultants. Join Jane in her Facebook group Home Renovators Network Australia for design and renovation inspiration and insider tips for your home improvement projects.
As a house façade renovation designer, many of the homes my company re-designs, were built as recently as 2000 – 2010. These houses look modern at first glance, but are lacking the finesse and interest of the contemporary ‘architecturally designed’ homes we’re seeing now in 2020.
They’re often built cheaply, clad with just one primary material (typically rendered) and usually with some sort of feature wall or material at the front entrance. Windows and doors are powder-coated and roof/guttering is often coated steel (think Colorbond etc). They look very ‘flat’ and uninspiring – even if the shape of the house itself is creative and modern.
Compare this effect to the latest in contemporary home exteriors and you’ll see that the difference between the two often comes down to the number of materials, textures and colours that have been used in the designs.
An interesting looking, well designed façade doesn’t have to be multi-coloured, however, though it should have a variety of different materials and textures going on. My designs almost always incorporate a neutral colour scheme, a splash of contrast (dark vs light) and an accent of timber to introduce some warmth; and this is a good rule of thumb to follow for a contemporary, but not too-stark an effect.
You can usually take your 2000 -2010 facade from zero to hero without making too many drastic changes if you follow some important (but typically under-estimated) concepts.
Start by looking at what you have to work with and consider how you can incorporate elements that will play off these, to add depth and interest.
Some ways depth can be attained is by incorporating texture through cladding materials, landscaping, or creating or altering pathways. Although many houses have these near the entrance (and that’s a good place to start), you can also include these in other areas across your facade too.
The interest factor of your home’s façade will naturally improve once you add depth as described above. However, more punchy elements such as minor colour contrasts and the introduction of timber accents (for example) could be what elevates the look of your home from flat and uninteresting, to the talk of your street.
Colour is another important factor when modernising your façade and helps to achieve depth and interest. For longevity’s sake, keep your colour scheme neutral and work in with existing powder-coated materials (windows, doors, garage door, guttering, roof etc) where possible. Powder-coated areas can be painted but it is always my preference to work with what you have – particularly when these surfaces are still so new.
There are design ‘rules’ you can follow to incorporate less desirable trim colours of windows, guttering etc into the new look of your home’s exterior. For example, if you’re stuck with cream windows, then your main house colour should link to this somehow. That’s not to say your whole house needs to be painted cream, but the colour you do chose should have more of a warm base than, say, a cool base.
However you choose to add depth, interest and colour to your facade, ensure there is visual balance from left to right. This doesn’t mean that everything has to be symmetrical, but it does have to be balanced on each side. For example, if you have something eye-catching on one side, balance it with something else on the other side to counteract the effect. It could be that you use the same material but apply it differently, or it could be a colour that is repeated on the other side or at the entrance.
Lastly, when updating your façade, don’t forget to link your fence back to the house in some way. You might have a plain rendered fence that matches the house but is otherwise a bit boring, so look at ways you can add interest. You could replace the letterbox, add a timber slat feature, change the gate or do some landscaping.
For the best result, ensuring your existing and new exterior textures, colours, materials and shapes all work together to create a cohesive picture, is key.
Join my Facebook Group ‘Home Renovators Network Australia’ (https://www.facebook.com/groups/HomeRenovatorsNetworkAustralia/) for feedback & ideas from other renovators as you update your own home’s façade.
Jane Eyles-Bennett is one of Australia’s top exterior designers and owner of design firm Hotspace Consultants. Join Jane in her Facebook group Home Renovators Network Australia for design and renovation inspiration and insider tips for your home improvement projects.
In part one, I talked about the very first steps you should take when planning a makeover. I gave you tips on how to get ideas and inspiration for your renovation and asked you to go out on the street to take a photo of your façade. I encouraged you to print out the photo so you could experiment with ideas by sketching in the changes over the top of the picture.
Now it’s time to get down to the nitty-gritty details of organising exactly what you are going to do, what order you are going to do it in, and how to allocate a budget for it.
Write out a definitive list of all the things you think you want to do.
This might include things you want to do immediately and things that can wait a bit longer. Include big-ticket items like painting, landscaping, replacing windows, guttering or roofing as well as smaller things like tidying garden beds, adding pot plants, repainting a door or changing door handles.
Divide the list into aesthetic changes and maintenance issues.
Now you have a clear list of everything that needs to be done and which category it falls into. (Some might crossover into both categories.) If you start with aesthetics, you might run out of money and be unable to rectify things that really need fixing, so begin planning the makeover by looking at your maintenance list.
Identify which items you are keeping and which you are replacing or changing. For example, you might have put guttering on the maintenance list. Are you just fixing sections of the guttering or are you changing the colour or the shape? At the top of the list, put maintenance items that only fall into the maintenance category and won’t be affected by aesthetic changes so these can be done first.
Cost estimates
Find out costs by doing some research online, talking to friends who have renovated and ringing tradies and hardware stores. You don’t need to get estimates that are correct to the last cent; ballpark figures will do at this stage. This will give you an idea of what is possible on your budget and help you to refine your ideas.
Plan the aesthetic side of your façade facelift
Just as you did with the maintenance side of the list, start by getting costings and prioritising jobs to be done on the aesthetic side of the list. Which items can be done now and which can wait? What areas overlap? For example, if you’re changing the colour of the house and adding a new portico, it makes sense to get the portico in place before painting or rendering begins.
Budgeting
Whether you are planning on just painting trims and window frames or doing significant changes like rendering or adding a portico, it’s quite important to consider where your house is and what it is worth before committing to a renovation budget. If you have a two-million-dollar house and you only plan on spending $3000 on the renovation, it’s probably not going to make a noticeable difference. Likewise, if you have a three hundred-thousand-dollar house, you will probably over capitalise if you spend $50 000 on a renovation. Of course, if it’s your forever home, you might spend a bit more than if you intend to sell sometime down the track.
Planning a renovation involves more than having a few ideas and colours picked out. A good renovation is achieved by using a system that combines logic, creativity and practicality. If you follow the advice given in Part One and Part Two of How to plan a fabulous façade makeover, you’ll be well on the way to starting your own fabulous façade facelift.
Join my Facebook Group ‘Home Renovators Network Australia’ (https://www.facebook.com/groups/HomeRenovatorsNetworkAustralia/) for feedback & ideas from other renovators as you update your own home’s façade.
Jane Eyles-Bennett is one of Australia’s top exterior designers and owner of design firm Hotspace Consultants. Join Jane in her Facebook group Home Renovators Network Australia for design and renovation inspiration and insider tips for your home improvement projects.
If you’ve got more time on your hands than usual at the moment, now might be a good time to start planning your façade makeover. Whether you’re keen to get in and do it all at once or you prefer to chip away at it bit by bit, you’ll need a plan.
Even if you’re not ready to begin the makeover, it’s an ideal time to formulate ideas while you have the time and space to plan things without the pressure of making quick decisions.
So, what is the best way to plan a façade renovation? Whether your reno is going to be small or large, the first step is the same.
Stand on the street and take a photo of the house.
Why? Because it’s always a good idea to look at the ‘big picture’. Although you might think you have a clear idea of what you want, having a photo of the entire area to be redone can give you a fresh perspective.
Print the photo out.
Look at the photo objectively. What is wrong with the current composition, and what can you do to alter it? Having the photo in front of you can help pinpoint areas you didn’t realise needed attention. You might even find that some things that bother you are less intrusive (and so less of a priority to change) when looked at within the whole picture.
Get Inspired
With your photo printout by your side, start looking at websites like Pinterest to get some ideas together. Focus your attention on houses you like that are architecturally similar to yours, e.g. if you have a 70’s style timber home, look at other already renovated 70’s style timber homes; if you have an 80’s square brick house, look at makeovers done on square brick houses.
Don’t just look at the colours or landscaping. Look at the combination of materials used to achieve a particular look. Maybe they added pots and plants, did some rendering, or used a darker colour on frames and windows with a lighter coloured roof. Identify why it all works well together.
Get creative
Something I like to do (and I encourage my clients to do) is to get the photo out and start sketching on it. Sketching over the top of the photo helps you to see what your renovation might end up like. Even if you aren’t comfortable drawing, just start drawing lines and making notes so you get a bit of a feel for what is possible.
Sketch in things you are considering doing. Are you going to put a portico on one side or are you going to add a window? Are you going to square off the archways? Are you going to add a fence, plant a hedge or change the landscaping? Just do some basic drawing and gauge how it works in relation to symmetry, composition and aesthetic balance.
Once you have a clear idea of what you want to change, you can start planning details like deciding what materials and products you would like to use.
Stay tuned for part two of How to plan a fabulous façade makeover, where I provide the second part of an actionable plan for you to follow.In the meantime , join my Facebook Group ‘Home Renovators Network Australia’ (https://www.facebook.com/groups/HomeRenovatorsNetworkAustralia/) for feedback & ideas from other renovators as you gather ideas to update your own home’s façade.
Jane Eyles-Bennett is one of Australia’s top exterior designers and owner of design firm Hotspace Consultants. Join Jane in her Facebook group Home Renovators Network Australia for design and renovation inspiration and insider tips for your home improvement projects.
