Dear Homework,
We love our neighborhood and floor plan, but not our ’50s-style ranch. After six years in our home, we would love a more traditional look and are prepared to paint the brick. Please help!Sincerely,
—Paint Me A New Picture
Dear Paint Me a New Picture,
While I appreciate your willingness to go to the extent of painting your brick, the problem with your house is its composition, not its color. For a façade to have a pleasant composition, it needs a hierarchy of elements. That means some elements should dominate, and some recede. In your situation, all the elements are of equal and marginal importance.
The other issue is trying to make it more traditional. I suggest that the Craftsman style would help blend a bit more detail with the home’s shallow roof slopes and horizontality. As you can see, I have chosen to create a new, wider entry walk, aligned with a taller picture window. New stone walls and light piers mark the entry to a garden court that creates the façade’s ‘dominant’ element and helpfully shifts the focus closer to the center of the composition.
Supporting details, such as columns, window mullions and a flower box, add more Craftsman elements, while a grouping of birch trees brings a vertical accent to the very horizontal composition. The façade is now much better balanced and includes charming new details that give it the more traditional character you were looking for.
Thanks for asking,
—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 .]
