Our local free newspaper has a column where readers submit a picture of their home and ask for advice about improving the curb appeal. I submitted a picture of our house a few weeks ago, and here is the answer.
Notre journal local gratuit a une rubrique ou les lecteurs peuvent envoyer une photo de leur maison et demandent des conseils pour ameliorer son aspect. J'ai envoye une photo de notre maison il y a quelques semaines et voila la reponse
We bought our first home a little less than a year ago. The facade is reduced to a bare minimum, and while this gives us a lot of room for upgrades, we fell it would benefit from more details that add character and depth.
Signed: Bare minimum
Dear Bare Minimum,
In a way, it is helpful to see a house reduced to its bare essence. In this case, it shows what some structures look like with no "jewelry". What we see here is a well-detailed brick box with, frankly, tiny openings, no color and few details that cast interesting shadows and add charming details.
Frequent readers of this column have, no doubt, already identified the obvious need for shutters. A close examination of your existing photo even shows the presence of the previous shutter "tie-backs" still on the wall. In this situation, the shutters double the size of the windows, add a jolt of color and cast some welcome shadows, which single-handedly move the house from naked to fully dressed.
The next transformation initiative would be landscapre upgrades. Here I show a new, low stone wall that acts as a planter and projects forward at the entry to emphasize this area's importance. Tall, columnar evergreens on either sides of the fron door will increase its apparent scale, almost the way a front porch would. Further foundation plantings are kept very low so as not to block the new, wrought iron Juliette balconies. Taller foundation plants would have the effect of making the facade fell shorter.
Finally, small details such as a larger lantern above the front door and the new French doors with decorative iron balconies are better sclaed to the facade, meaning that they do a better job of getting noticed.
In this situation, we could have added an elegant portico, widened the windows, painted the bricks, etc., but that would have taken the response beyond the bare minimum required to make this an attractive, elegant home.
Thanks for asking,
Homework
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