The front of your home sets the visual tone and appeal for your guests when they first arrive at your front door. Whether you like it or not, your front entry may be the deciding factor if your home looks inviting and welcoming or the complete opposite.
Materials such as stone, copper, wood, steel and brick can be used to finish a specific landscaping architecture or create a new one. Your house's exterior paint color may be the most visible design decision you make, especially if showcased with exterior lights. The landscaping ideas in the front and side yards offer both a welcoming transition from street to door and a buffer between your home and the public spaces it shares. Architectural details on your home can enhance your front area and help set the tone for your interiors. Popular home designs in the US include Victorian, Queen Anne, Colonial Revival, Tudor, Cape Cod, Mediterranean, Craftsman, Prairie Style, Art Deco, Modern, Mid-Century Modern, Ranch Style and today's sleek, utilitarian LEED-certified "green" design, among many other architectural styles.
If you are trying to enhance your front entry, the colors and architectural style details you choose can provide all beauty you are looking for. The right set of landscape pictures can add dramatic impact to your garden plans and landscape plans.
Following are four design hints to make your front of house an everlasting positive image of you and your family.
Light the way
Have you ever been to a beautiful home in the daytime, but when you drive by the house in the evening the front entry is dark and uninviting? Landscape ideas that include architectural lighting can enhance your home, and make your home more inviting and safe to walk up to. Landscape lighting can also be included with architectural details, as they light the walkways, sidewalk, and front porch of your home. Use up lighting to also enhance architectural details like columns, niches, and trim enhancements on your exterior.
Highlight architectural period details
Whatever your home is a modern and minimalist home or it is a Victorian styled home from hundreds of years ago, architectural period details are what makes your home unique and personalized. Look at your front entry and look for details that can be painted, enhanced or updated. Trim around windows, and doors, shutters, and cornice details can be painted in a contrasting color to stand out, or blend with surrounding features. Look at the front façade of your home as a whole and determine which details run around the perimeter of your home. Roof eave details and gutters can be highlighted with color and can make a bland front façade more visibly appealing.
Mix and match materials
Often times the best way to beautify your front entry is to use existing materials and enhance them with a variety of others. Brick, stone, siding, cedar shingles, exposed wood and metals can all enhance each other in separate details of your front entry. To unite your front entry with other areas of your front façade, use the same geometric shape, but differentiate with colors, scale, and materials to bring your theme together. Strong geometry can beautify a front entry, and can be mimicked in you porch decor, front door, and even roof details.
Simplify your front entry
Have you ever noticed that the smallest details can often make the biggest difference and impact? Instead of using color to signify the front door, how about changing your front door style and shape to mimic surrounding exterior details? If you have stairs leading to your front door, use mosaic tiles and quarry tiles to highlight the way. Even simple walkway banisters and handrails can make a huge presence. Try updating your existing house numbers, wall mounted mail box and door hardware to complete the look!
Your front of the house can be beautified with light, architectural highlights and simplification. If you are trying to make your front entry read as a welcoming home to visit, beautifying its architectural details can help. Use these simple tips to help you create a front entry that you and your guests will be proud of.