Dear Homework,
We’ve been in our home for 11 years, and we absolutely love it! But as we get closer to retirement, we’ve decided to downsize. Can you help us make a great first impression on future buyers so they’re drawn in to see the rest of this beautiful home and yard? Thanks!
Sincerely,
—Be Seen to Best Advantage
Dear Be Seen to Best Advantage,
If you want to grab someone’s attention, your house has to have some ‘pop’ and look ‘right’ in an instant. Here’s how I would achieve that in this case:
To add some pop, you need to add a jolt of contrasting color. At the moment, your house is too bland. The new green shutters draw attention to the façade, whereas the current ones just fade into the background. New landscaping equally distributes a similar green along the length of the home, and festive flowers add further points of interest.
For the house to look ‘right,’ we need to change a few more things. The biggest problem is that you can’t see the front door. A new porch/pergola and a wider entry walk clearly show the way, while the shadows from the pergola animate the area and draw your eye to it.
You also will note that the living room window is now taller, arched and projected with its own gable. This fixes the somewhat awkward, asymmetrical front-facing gable and gives the façade the dominant element it needs.
Finally, the shade tree is trimmed higher to reveal more of the overall composition. At this stage of your life, you may not want to do all of these things. But if you do the shutters, landscaping and tree trimming, the home definitely will grab more attention than it does now.
Hope that helps,
—Homework
Homework is penned by Paul Doerner, Founding Partner of the Lawrence Group. if you would like your home critiqued, contact us at homework@townandstyle.com.