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