Shutters and landscaping advice!
Hi all! My husband and I just bought our first home last fall. We have been working on the inside and haven't really touched the outside yet, but would like to start making some improvements there as well. I have been scouring Houzz and noticed the distaste for faux shutters that are the wrong size for a house! Mine definitely are, but I am worried that my house will look like a big white box if we remove them. The shutters help tie into the front door. Any ideas? I am also looking for help with landscaping. The changes we are already planning to make include:
1. A better walkway that extends further down the driveway to make getting in and out of cars easier.
2. A new front door with windows to allow more light into the dark entryway. I like the black color, but am open to other color suggestions.
3. I want to clean up those beds around the house, but am clueless about plants. I know we are in zone 8-9ish. I think we need more color. My MIL keeps saying that the bed around the tree is too small for it...should that be expanded? It wouldn't leave much room between the two beds if so. Any landscaping ideas would be welcomed. Thank you!
Kommentarer (25)
PROBeth H. :
6 år sedanÄndrades senast: 6 år sedanif you removed the shutters and painted the inner window trim black, I think it would give you enough contrast. see the window in the pic.
(also notice the landscaping. trim you bushes under the windows and the large tree in the corner). if it's a somewhat shady area, bring in some color w/Coleus plants.
lose the white rocks and try some flowers, mexican pebbles or some type of plants as in the photo. do a nice aqua on the front door. paint the trim under the roof black.
Erin Huffman thanked Beth H. :Erin Huffman
6 år sedan- PRO
Beth H. :
6 år sedanÄndrades senast: 6 år sedananything that is white in that window (other than the grids on the inside of the glass), can you paint it black?? seems as though there is enough trim to do so. or even a naval blue would work.
as for the shutters, the space on the side is just too narrow, and the window too wide, to support the look. try removing them, power wash the white, paint the window trim and roof trim, and reevaluate
notice these (and look at landscaping!) see how these fit the windows? if the shutters don't cover the entire window when folded close, they don't fit.
A wood garage door would look beautiful
Erin Huffman
6 år sedanÄndrades senast: 6 år sedanErin Huffman
6 år sedanÄndrades senast: 6 år sedanErin Huffman
6 år sedanÄndrades senast: 6 år sedanSugarcakes2, that is an interesting idea I hadn't thought of! Now I'm wondering if we could do this kind of effect, leaving the bottom part of the brick to tie it in, and then frame the window out nicely. Could we do it across the front, encompassing both windows? This is the type of siding we have along the back of the house, although I prefer vertical siding that looks like board and batten.
And if we did something like this, maybe we should make the brick front post half brick, half chunky wood post to tie it all together?
decoenthusiaste
6 år sedanFirst job is to remove all the white rocks and the pre-fab building blocks around the beds. Then break out the two concrete slabs that are the walk. Reduce the bed that is close to the porch so you can have a meandering path/walk that goes out to the street but also has a short detour to the drive. I agree with joining the two beds together. Keep them nice and asymmetrical do distract from the squarish building and all its blocky features. Have a local nursery help you with plants that will thrive in your locale. Set a big pot of "thriller, spiller, filler" plants in front of the square column to soften it. If those are snap out grids on the windows, a quick day of spray painting can make them black. If they don't come out and are too big a job, I think you can get away with the "decorative" shutters until the windows have to be replaced. Then go with black windows. Get a colorful indoor/outdoor rug to replace the standard doormat.
Walkway
Buckhead renovation · Mer infoPlanting
Grace Design Associates · Mer infoErin Huffman thanked decoenthusiasteErin Huffman
6 år sedanErin Huffman
6 år sedan- PRO
Beth H. :
6 år sedanÄndrades senast: 6 år sedanErin, whatever other trim you can paint black would give you the extra contrast you want. I thought the fascia/trim right under the roof eave would look nice. keep the downspout the white color.
as for the windows, paint black whatever you can. if the middle part is white, it's fine. It would look like this
try leveling out the stones around you tree. what's there now is lopsided. take the time to set a good base and level it. now put on the 2nd and 3rd tier. use construction adhesive caulking to hold the stones in place. Doing it so it looks like this will amp it up. plant ferns, coleus/impatiens around the base for extra color
there are a bazillion flowerbed edging ideas. depends on your cost and DIY skills. search around and see what you like. here are some ideas. a brick or cobble path would look cool
edging the flower bed w/pebbles and rocks like this:
stacked stone:
or just doing a neat concrete edge. here is your vertical siding you like.
other options. lowes has a grip of edging materials. main thing is to make sure they're neat and level. otherwise it looks sloppy
Erin Huffman thanked Beth H. : Erin Huffman
6 år sedanThanks for all the ideas, Beth! I love all the pictures of edging. Well I am now up entirely too late obsessing on this and found this picture that is inspiring me a bit...I know the shape of the home is different, but I wonder if I could do a similar treatment with my windows, the door, and the way the darker brick carries over into the walkway? I was already thinking of lining the underside of the tiny porch with a natural wood, maybe cedar, and doing a carriage-style black light fixture there. And if I ever got the carriage style/wood garage door that would tie in as well.
Erin Huffman
6 år sedanErin Huffman
6 år sedanÄndrades senast: 6 år sedanThis house is more similar to ours and has some of the trim painted a contrasting color which does add some interest. Their paint is dark brown. Could this work with black or dark gray and still add in cedar as well? Although, looks like we would have to paint our gutters to make that work. Our roof is charcoal...too much of that color? I like how they used the cedar for their posts and under their porch roof. Alas, they also used it for shutters...which unfortunately still seems the easiest way to achieve cedar accenting around the window.
For comparison purposes...same house before they added the shutters! What do you think, does this stand on it's own?
decoenthusiaste
6 år sedan- PRO
Beth H. :
6 år sedan 
emmarene9
6 år sedanThe tree needs to be limbed up.
Shutters should be removed.
When it comes to landscaping around a home the goal is to make the house look nice. I think for your house the bed is too dominating. I would relocate some shrubs so you can plant perennials in front of the shrubs that remain.
The ring around the tree I would remove. It is not a good idea to pile mulch against a tree trunk.
If you want to edge the bed with something do it at grade level, not above.
I think a stone path to the door would be nice.
The eye should be drawn to the door, not to the tree or the shrubs.
dyliane
6 år sedan
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