Give my modular ranch some character

November 1, 2018 6:39 AM

My husband and I want to throw money at our house’s exterior to give it some character. Difficulty: modular ranch. Budget: $50,000. This is the House in question. I’d also like the architecture to fit better into our environment, which is coastal Maine.

I asked a similar question when we first moved in and took your advice to cut the shrubs way down, move the trash cans, get that planter out of the yard and paint the front door. That was phase 1. We are ready for phase 2 !

posted by pintapicasso to Home & Garden (24 answers total)

Can we get an updated pic?
posted by saladin at 6:40 AM on November 1, 2018

Response by poster: It’s pretty much exactly the same with an orange front door and no shrubs.
posted by pintapicasso at 6:41 AM on November 1, 2018 [1 favorite]

I am immediately thinking a porch. I'm sorry, I don't know if that's within your budget, but even for a single story, look how cute!

Edit: Just saw that it's a modular ranch, which throws out even more relevant examples.
posted by like_neon at 6:53 AM on November 1, 2018 [10 favorites]

Best answer: Your budget is huge for character. Build an actual porch (whatever material) that goes from big window to the small window to the left of the door. Cover it, and make the cover nice architecturally. The steps should be wide, at least 6 feet.

Then you have combined sidewalk/driveway thing. Separate it out into an actual sidewalk from your front door to differentiate it from the driveway.

Finally, if you want to spend the whole $50k, consider some stone accents for the bare concrete footing below the siding.
posted by The_Vegetables at 7:12 AM on November 1, 2018 [11 favorites]

Best answer: If you had a larger budget, the ratio of roof to siding on your house is way off, ie your roof pitch is too shallow. If you had more like $100k, you should rip at least part of it off and make the pitch steeper. This could be done in conjunction with a 2nd story or with just higher ceilings in the public rooms (living, kitchen).
posted by The_Vegetables at 7:16 AM on November 1, 2018 [2 favorites]

Less money and more time with the plants. Trim those bushes. Walk the neighborhoods and talk to the folks with nice looking gardens about which plants grow the best/easiest to start. (yeah and porch)
posted by sammyo at 7:17 AM on November 1, 2018 [3 favorites]

Also, if you want a decent source for nice coastal Maine homes, check out this website:

Salt Water New England

The author did a 180 from her old pretentious site and now focuses on her excellent (in my opinion) amateur photography of daily life.
posted by The_Vegetables at 7:21 AM on November 1, 2018

Best answer: Just some ideas -

1. Get a copy of Christopher Alexander's "A Pattern Language" and Sarah Susanka's books about the not-so-big house. These are full of great ideas and approaches to thinking about things to do with your home - you should be able to get them from the library.

2. I would focus on the process of arrival. Maybe a small porch - painted to match the house with tongue-and-groove porch boards running perpendicular to the house (and not a handyman special deck-style treated lumber clunky thingy). I would look to something like this for guidance. (In fact I think that whole facade is quite nice and could fit in well in Maine - note the beltline and the thickened borders around the windows).

3. Larger roof overhangs would help, but maybe only do this when you have to re-shingle the roof.

4. I would paint the above-ground portion of the foundation maybe a cream color and I would use landscaping to screen it even more.

5. I guess shutters, But nice shutters that could conceivably function - they should match the size of the window. Something like this, but without the barn hinges.

Good luck!
posted by everythings_interrelated at 7:24 AM on November 1, 2018 [4 favorites]

A covered porch and some nice landscaping would go a long way.
posted by trbrts at 7:29 AM on November 1, 2018 [2 favorites]

Best answer: Well, the hard part is done already. Those shrubs were out of control. It probably looks much better now just with those removed.

Step one, IMO, is to paint the siding. I think a light blue would look really nice and give it a coastal feel. It would give some nice contrast to an orange door, too.

Step two, add some shutters to the windows (but not the picture window). Paint them a dark blue-gray.

Step three, add some landscaping to replace the wild shrubs. Some yews or boxwoods along the entire front wall, just a little taller than the concrete foundation. Maybe slightly taller on the right side under the picture window, to give some interest to the end of the driveway.

Step four, line the edges of the driveway and the street with brick pavers. It creates a hard line to say "this space is intentional".

Step five, get rid of the light between the door and the picture window, and replace it with a separate lamppost closer to the street that includes your house number and, depending on your desire for privacy, your family name.

It looks like there's a slight slope in the front yard. Is there enough to build a retaining wall?

And could you build out the picture window over the driveway into an actual bay window?

It's not a hideous house. You've got some material to work with. Whatever you decide, please post an "after" picture!
posted by kevinbelt at 7:29 AM on November 1, 2018 [2 favorites]

Aim for something like this. The door and steps can be at one end, no problem. You might be able to achieve the higher roof profile within your budget but it's not critical.
posted by beagle at 8:13 AM on November 1, 2018

Best answer: For more advice and lots of pictures, post this question on Houzz.com. many designers contribute, and the site is full of ideas. You may find past questions and answers covering your dilemma, too.
I second Sarah Susanka as a resource, and really, any Taunton publication for ideas, though their solutions are usually quite high end.
posted by Enid Lareg at 9:57 AM on November 1, 2018 [1 favorite]

Best answer: Be aware of the way a porch would impact the amount of sun you get inside the house. In Maine, in the winter, that might be a serious consideration for both passive solar gain and sanity.

What is the view from the front of the house?
The sides, the rear? Where do you like to hang out outdoors?
posted by mareli at 11:17 AM on November 1, 2018 [2 favorites]

Just spitballing, thinking about some of the nice houses in that area --
Maybe a round garden bed out in front (away from the house, middle of the front yard kind of thing) -- centerpiece of a big rock, in a nice ovalish mulched bad with lupines and tall seagrasses. Maybe a way to make a little more variation in the landscape contours, or the illusion of it - maybe with stone wall, curvy path, raised garden sections with stone (or fake-stone) retaining walls. This depends on your lot, maybe there's no practical way to do it, and I don't know how expensive.
posted by LobsterMitten at 11:23 AM on November 1, 2018

Best answer: Shutters, landscaping, a porch, replace that light with something more nautical/industrial/coastal. Perhaps a nicer door, tbh...orange or not. There's nothing wrong with it but a solid door where you can put a great knocker or wreath or something is a lot more welcoming and more private, that seems more like a back door in my eyes. Planter boxes, an eave over the front door. Soften the lines under where that bay window area meets the driveway edge with some easy care foundation plants or a low wide window box with greenery.

Look at some of these 'afters' of houses where a plainish ranch facade was redone on the show "Fixer Upper". These styles may not be your cup of tea aesthetically, but you can see how lighting and an amazing front door and a few porch columns and an eave or two make a house look crazy good.
posted by the webmistress at 12:10 PM on November 1, 2018

This Old House has a Photoshop Redo series that can give you some ideas. Here are some that look similar to yours, all of which are lovely: 1 2 3
posted by little king trashmouth at 12:14 PM on November 1, 2018 [1 favorite]

The exposed foundation: cover with a stacked stone veneer.

Replace picture window with two 6 over 6 sash windows to unify front facade, three if you can fit them.
posted by TWinbrook8 at 12:22 PM on November 1, 2018 [1 favorite]

Paint a dark color, paint the foundation, build a front porch, add some landscaping that leads up to the front porch.
posted by Packy_1962 at 12:55 PM on November 1, 2018

How about a sweet standing seam metal roof on that baby? If the existing roof is old it might be time to throw some cash at a new one anyway, and metal roofs are just a better product—they last for like twice as long, they're not flammable, they shed snow, etc. Also they come in all kinds of snazzy colors, and they're appropriate for your climate and common in your area.

Also, that's vinyl siding right? I guess I probably wouldn't mess with it unless it's in rough shape, but if it is then maybe this is the time to switch to some wooden clapboards or maybe some board-and-batten. Way more character than vinyl.
posted by Anticipation Of A New Lover's Arrival, The at 12:59 PM on November 1, 2018 [1 favorite]

Best answer: I think a full-width porch would bust the budget, and I'm not sure I'm comfortable with my bedroom window opening onto a porch. But I do think the stairs to the front door are out of character. I'd think about a smaller porch with enough roof to shelter you while trying to find your keys.

Shutters can add a lot of character pretty cheaply if you are willing to screw on the plastic ones (like on my house).

The ranch house I grew up in had a trellis with a climbing rosebush on one side of the front door.
posted by SemiSalt at 1:32 PM on November 1, 2018

Best answer: You want to add some depth and texture to the facade, but you've not got enough room above windows/door to simply extend the roof plane. Might be able to create a low gabled dormer that extends out toward the street, tying in just right of the right-most window, and just left of the window left of the door. Front door opens onto 4 or 5 foot wide porch, with new steps leading off that. Some nice wooden porch posts in the neighborhood style, square (not diagonal) lattice underneath, and you've got a place to hide the garbage cans, too.
posted by bullatony at 3:41 PM on November 1, 2018 [1 favorite]

I remember the house's face from the last time you asked.
posted by the Real Dan at 4:36 PM on November 1, 2018

Best answer: The thing about adding a front porch to a house like this is that, as others have pointed out, the slope of your roof is quite shallow; about 20°, unless I'm mistaken. Your front porch roof would need to have a shallower pitch than that, and since there's not much clearance above your front door it would probably need to be significantly shallower. For a shingle roof, the shallowest slope you can have by code is 10° (although I've seen lots of 8° shingle roofs that seem to squeak by, and code enforcement is more lax in ME than MA—but there are good reasons for this particular code item so I wouldn't try to sneak a flat shingle roof past the inspector). If you wanted to do a front porch you'd likely have to do it in rubber or metal. Can't be sure, but that's my guess. Rubber on a front porch roof would not look very nice; metal would be fine if you like the look, but you'd probably want to re-roof the whole house to match (asphalt and metal together looks weird) and at that point you might bust your budget.

The more I look at this house, the more I think that the first place I personally would turn would be the exterior finishes. That house would look bitchin' with board-and-batten siding and a standing seam metal roof; you'd probably want to extend the overhangs a bit but the house would look better that way anyway. Maybe dormer out a portico with square posts made from cedar or doug fir at the front door to give the house a little more shape and keep those extensions from conflicting with the doorway. I'd probably stain (not paint) the siding a medium brown, and do the roof in dark blue or green, with the door and windows painted to match.
posted by Anticipation Of A New Lover's Arrival, The at 6:33 PM on November 1, 2018 [1 favorite]

Response by poster: Oh man I went down the rabbit hole. Great suggestions. When the roof needs redone we have talked about steepening the pitch. I really dislike our siding but maybe at the same time we could add some fake cedar shingles below the roofline - that’s a common look in our area.

Before then, I agree that our roof is too shallow for a covered front porch. I would like to widen the landing though and use nicer materials / finish. I don’t much like the look of a pergola covering the entranceway, seems out of place up here in Maine.

Also thinking about framing out the windows and adding chunky shutters, gotta be done perfectly though !

Love the idea of ditching the lamp for a lamp post.

If we want to spend the $ we are also thinking about popping out the master bedroom (first two windows from left) which will help the house look less long.

Will definitely post after pictures but this is going to be a many year project when we got the time as my husband will be doing the work. Thank you all so much.
posted by pintapicasso at 7:33 AM on November 2, 2018 [1 favorite]