Browse Forums Renovation + Home Improvement 1 Mar 15, 2012 5:40 pm I'm no expert & am looking for ideas to improve the look of this 80's red brick 'gem'! A big reno/addition is still a few years away, but in the meantime - what materials/finishes would you use to update the facade? Rendering and painting is a bit predictable ... but may be OK in combination with another material (stone veneer?). Thought of painting the bricks... but would the finish be durable? And what colours would work (can't clash with the tile roof!). House is south facing, near beach (gets bombarded with salt air!). What have you done on YOUR house to update the facade? Would love to see pics of other red brick transformations! Any and all feedback welcome! Here's a couple of pics... Like ⋅ Add a comment ⋅ Pin to Ideaboard ⋅ Like ⋅ Add a comment ⋅ Pin to Ideaboard ⋅ cathie Re: Goodbye 1980s ....how would YOU improve this house exter 2Mar 16, 2012 9:22 pm If you are planning a big reno, why waste money in the meantime? The place is OK as it is, certainly livable. I'd instead plan your big reno, and get it several months sooner. We're mostly through our big reno. Before we started, I didn't spend a cent on the place as I knew it would be a waste. For example at one stage I broke a window in the garage: I boarded it up. If you do want to spend a little bit of money, you can paint the bricks and the roller door. My last house had the bricks painted white. Re: Goodbye 1980s ....how would YOU improve this house exter 3Mar 17, 2012 6:32 am thanks roba...you're right, i don't want to waste money but I'll probably be offering home as a holiday rental for a few years so need it to look a bit nicer than it does right now. How was the paint finish holding up on your last house? Re: Goodbye 1980s ....how would YOU improve this house exter 4Mar 17, 2012 8:22 am DO NOT paint the bricks. If you decide to render later you will need to pressure clean all the paint off as the render will not stick to it. Personally I think painting bricks looks cheap. Same with bagging, I think it's a poor mans render. If it's for a rental then you obviously want value for your money. Rendering will increase the value of the property and attract buyers. Red brick cuts out a lot of buyers. I would render (depending on the cost) both the house and the front brick walls. Maybe get some shades over the big window as it's a bit plain. As fort colour it's not that expensive to paint the roof (but again if it's to hold maybe leave it until you want to sell as it wouldn't increase the rent). Also paint the garage doors to contrast the render colour. If you decide to render now, choose a colour you like with the option of spraying the roof later. Don't settle for a colour just because it goes with the roof. We rendered our red brick home. Looks great. I don't know how to post photos on this site. Sorry. Re: Goodbye 1980s ....how would YOU improve this house exter 5Mar 17, 2012 8:55 am thanks travelbug for your thoughts... hadn't thought about brick painting as limiting my future options, might steer clear then. I do like render in combination with another material (like this house - http://www.aaarchitect.com.au/sydney/ar ... folio.html). But I'm not sure what other clad/veneer finishes I could add that aren't too $$ & where I'd put them (around garage doors?) Does spraying the roof give a durable finish? (hadn't thought of that). Not sure if i want to shade front window though - it has water views.... Re: Goodbye 1980s ....how would YOU improve this house exter 6Mar 17, 2012 3:19 pm The Bar house in the second photo is very similar to mine. We just put in new windows and rendered it, with new verandah tiles and railing. The arched garage doors is dated. You could put a straight beam and take out the arch. All tiled roofs are painted. It just gets cleaned and repainted. Lasts the same time the first one did (30 years?). By window shade I didn't mean covering it up. I meant a sticking out shade type awning to give it some character. I couldn't find a good picture but something like this (but nicer). http://www.lyrebird.com.au/window_canopies.html Re: Goodbye 1980s ....how would YOU improve this house exter 7Mar 17, 2012 3:53 pm Oh I see what you mean (about the window shade). I like the 'Bar house' photo - nice timber accents, but probably wouldn't put timber on ours (with all the salt air - too much maintenance!). Agree on the arched garage doors... (lots of arches inside too, unfortunately!). What colours did you use on your exterior walls & trim (& roof?). thanks for your help.. Re: Goodbye 1980s ....how would YOU improve this house exter 8Mar 17, 2012 4:31 pm travelbug All tiled roofs are painted. It just gets cleaned and repainted. Lasts the same time the first one did (30 years?). Concrete or terracotta tiles? I can't remember offhand what the exact warranties are but the factory finish on concrete tiles is a lot longer than the spraypaint. Cleaning and repairing the pointing when needed is one thing but repainting is not standard maintenance. Some of the roof spraying companies have gotten quite bad reputations so if you go that route choose carefully. If you're in a good location, the property is neat and clean and you're planning on spending money on a full reno down the track then like roba said I don't reckon it's worth spending much now to rent it out. I use to hate red brick but I've seen some awesome updates where the red brick has been made a real feature with good landscaping using the red as the perfect contrast with lots of dark green. You don't want to put alot into landscaping now if the property is going to be occupied by tenants and then pulled apart by builders but what I'm saying is don't go to the effort of covering up the red brick now if you haven't decided yet what you want longterm. Don't stick on stone veneer, that's predictable. Eventually stone veneer will be the dated feature everyone is pulling off/covering up. (Unless like me they really like it and don't care when it's not in fashion any longer.) If you like it and it suits the overall look do it as part of your big reno and if you don't like it don't do it cos it's what's everybody is doing nowdays. The arches look dated but they don't look unattractive IMO. Wait long enough and they'll come back into fashion. I don't know how expensive or structurally difficult it is to change that so I suppose you could get some quotes and think about doing it now, especially if that's something you know you'll want done anyhow. The things that bother me which might be easy enough to change now are
the blue trim (if in doubt go more neutral) the scallopy lacey window treatment the condition (touch up the paintwork, paint the fusebox, trim back some of the plants) Can you take a pic without the cars in front and try out different colours on the pic? Re: Goodbye 1980s ....how would YOU improve this house exter 9Mar 17, 2012 4:53 pm Whatever you do DON'T paint the bricks. We bought a painted brick house with a view to extending it and it really limited our options. Not only that, the paint was not put on properly so it was peeling and flaking and it was so difficult to remove. The red brick isn't too bad and could be toned done by putting some nice plants around the front. I agree with others - paint the trim and the garage doors and it would be a perfectly acceptable holiday rental. I wouldn't even worry about going to the expense of recoating the roof. Re: Goodbye 1980s ....how would YOU improve this house exter 10Mar 17, 2012 7:40 pm thanks kimu & JazzyJess for your thoughtful replies & great advice! If leaving the red brick alone wouldn't turn off potential (holiday) renters, do you think it could still limit the rent I can charge? I really don't want this house to be a 'bargain' holiday rental - I want to attract good tenants. It could be a holiday rental for many years before our 'big reno'. The exterior really 'undersells' how nice it is inside. If I did leave the red brick (& roof) alone, what colours do you reckon would work for garage doors & trim? I think this house is stunning: http://www.ontarioarchitecture.com/vict ... barrie.jpg Perhaps I could use their roof colour as my garage door colour? But maybe it would be too much...could be colours this dramatic only work on ornate Victorians! Maybe light coloured garage doors would be more contemporary. I'm in 100% agreement on the plants (landscaping is something I feel a little more qualified in -this is me: www.giftedgardens.com.au). Actually since these pics were taken, the landscaping is a lot neater (although a little bare - still trying to figure out exactly what I can put in that won't have to get pulled out later for a reno). ps. the roof tiles are concrete, and in pretty good shape. Prefer to avoid cost/time of repainting them if I don't 'have' to. Re: Goodbye 1980s ....how would YOU improve this house exter 11Mar 17, 2012 8:43 pm If the roof is in good condition I wouldn't worry about it at this stage.
Just a tidy up will improve it for renting. Maybe hang something next to the little window (steel art?). Paint the garage doors and the facia (blue bits). and pressure clean the driveway. Later if you render change the garage door overheads to straight (not a massive job). When you advertise have photos of the inside (the good bits). Does the inside need sprucing up? That's my area of knowledge. We've renovated more than a few homes. Is gifted gardens your business? Looks great. What's the inside like. That's where the rent differs greatly. I'll send you a PM. I'm good at renovating but hopeless at gardens. Maybe we could do a swap if it's not too far. LOL Re: Goodbye 1980s ....how would YOU improve this house exter 12Mar 17, 2012 11:18 pm You've got a beautiful website. Nice job with that sloping front garden in the before and after pictures! I love seeing before and afters, that's why I got pulled into this thread. I don't really know anything. I'm sorry I missed that it's a holiday rental not just a rental. That makes it a little different if you might need more exterior wow factor for your advertising? I wonder if emphasising the age of the house and making it retro chic could work by appealing to people's nostalgia for their childhood holidays? I don't know, just an idea? I love the red brick house with the blue trim you linked to. The colours work really nicely but it's not just how the colours look together but how they suit the style and how they work in different proportions if you know what I mean. Re: Goodbye 1980s ....how would YOU improve this house exter 13Mar 18, 2012 10:36 am Thanks JazzyJess & travelbug, glad you like my website! I'm a fan of 'before & afters' too... just been playing on the dulux website and was able to 'recolour' my house, these are the two I thought looked best: Like ⋅ Add a comment ⋅ Pin to Ideaboard ⋅ Like ⋅ Add a comment ⋅ Pin to Ideaboard ⋅ I wonder if simply painting with one of these makes it look nice enough as a "non-budget" holiday rental?! Or if I still need to render to make a good first impression when people see it listed on stayz! I tried with some blues like that victorian house but it didn't look right. And when I used creams/whites it looked less contemporary (reminded me of a 90's project home colour scheme). Re: Goodbye 1980s ....how would YOU improve this house exter 14Mar 18, 2012 11:24 am if you are down to just these two I think the dark colour looks slightly nicer. Inserted your pics for you so everyone can view them more easily. Re: Goodbye 1980s ....how would YOU improve this house exter 15Mar 18, 2012 11:33 am thanks for fixing my pics! just found another colour I like more than the lighter one of the two just posted ... not sure if the dark is still nicer, though.... http://www.giftedgardens.com.au/picture ... ndgrey.jpg The white metal balcony balustrade needs replacing (doesn't meet safety standards) - anyone know cheapest option? My husband could make a timber one, but materials might cost more than having a custom steel one made. I'm planning a bigger, glass-finished front deck in the future so whatever I do now will ultimately be pulled down again... Re: Goodbye 1980s ....how would YOU improve this house exter 16Mar 18, 2012 1:52 pm picture not found? Re: Goodbye 1980s ....how would YOU improve this house exter 18Mar 18, 2012 4:23 pm I think it looks nicer with the railing being the same colour as the touched up paint. White railing looks a bit dated even if you did new railing up Goodbye 1980s ....how would YOU improve this house exterior? 19Mar 18, 2012 4:28 pm I wouldn't touch the bricks (so many people build now with red bricks) I like the grey roller doors but what about cream? Holiday renters want nice inside they not care about the exterior. Good luck. Jasmin Hickinbotham Belmont - modified Signed: February 2011 Slab should go down before 2012 My build thread https://forum.homeone.com.au/viewtopic.php?f=31&t=52310&p=799483#p799483 Re: Goodbye 1980s ....how would YOU improve this house exter 20Mar 18, 2012 4:29 pm I like your second 'touched up' pic, with the dark colour. If you wanted to render what about leaving the red brick around the new dark garage doors and then just rendering the top storey around the window looking to the balcony. You wouldn't have to render the entire top storey just this bit. Street appeal on a budget? your new kitchen and living area looks great and we need accurate dimensions to be specific but with the thickness of the brick column you may be able to line the inside… 1 1221 Bought in Nov 21 at the height of the market (classic). Good area, atrocious floor plan. BUT has land out to the left-hand side that we can extend out on (see second… 0 8773 Thanks mate. Yeah good points! Leaning towards Option 3 to get a bit extra space in the cabinets but not going too crazy high (and expensive). Would require a mini… 13 39703 |