Browse Forums Renovation + Home Improvement 1 May 10, 2013 2:31 pm Hi there, My husband and I built a new home about a year ago but are really disappointed in the facade. We tried to go fairly simple so it wouldn't date too much but now it just looks boring!! What sort of person do I look for to do a redesign for us? An architect/building designer? Are there people out there that would just do a facade redesign? It's something we would look to do gradually so we don't really want to hire anyone that insists on doing the work as well. Here are some pics, would love to hear any feedback! Like ⋅ Add a comment ⋅ Pin to Ideaboard ⋅ Like ⋅ Add a comment ⋅ Pin to Ideaboard ⋅ Like ⋅ Add a comment ⋅ Pin to Ideaboard ⋅ Thanks! Tracy Re: Facade redesign on a newly built home 3May 10, 2013 4:20 pm Personally, I think it looks nice and neat, although your brick colour wouldnt be my first choice. I wouldnt touch the building facade at all, rather I would look at 'dressing up' the front with a couple of tall mature shrubs or a couple of large plant tubs with colourful plants to mask the bareness. Arfur Re: Facade redesign on a newly built home 4May 10, 2013 4:47 pm Thanks for your feedback! Yeah the garden does need work, we just did the very minimum to start with so we do need to add more to it. Perhaps that is enough to lift the look of the house. My husband doesn't like the idea of pots on the deck but I might just need to work harder to convince him! I was also thinking of some nice outdoor furniture on the deck, a bench seat maybe. The posts, I do agree. On other houses I love this look but it doesn't seem to work well on ours! I might look at how we could change them. The fence I think will have to stay though, it was too expensive to pull down;-) Plus it fits well in our surrounding area. Thanks again, I appreciate your advice Re: Facade redesign on a newly built home 5May 10, 2013 7:34 pm Needs more plantings, or for what you have to mature. It still looks too raw and new and neat! Personally, I'd wrap the posts in wire and train a banksia-rose (thornless) up them. And a feature tree/shrub in the center of the lawn - a small magnolia could look lovely for instance. And something with height along the far (from the drive) fence line along with something more substantial along the fence. In my opinion, that style of fence looks best with plenty of greenery dominating - either climbing on it, poking through it or overshadowing it. Break up the straight lines with curves and natural shapes and textures, soften the whole exterior. It does have a timeless look; I don't think a modern style of garden will particularly complement it. The structure of the facade is good; it just needs more dressing. Wander around some established suburbs for inspiration perhaps? Plan the garden for longer term too, and accept that it will take time for a garden to be established enough to complement the house. Some plant nurseries have a garden/landscaping design service and it might be worthwhile seeing if they could help you put it all together. HD Land settled May '14. Building the PD Hoffman39: 5/11=site start, 13/11=slab pour, 26/11=frame complete, 10/12=roof on, 12/12=bricking started. Blog: http://jyndeira.net/blog/ Re: Facade redesign on a newly built home 7May 11, 2013 12:46 pm You could actually just box in the front posts and then render them, which would look lovely and be relatively inexpensive? I don't think you need to engage a designer or anything, h1 will be just as good, and free ;D Our build: viewtopic.php?f=31&t=64705 Re: Facade redesign on a newly built home 8May 21, 2013 2:03 pm If you are wanting to make structural changes, an architect or building designer would be the way to go. I think, though, with some relatively minor cosmetic changes, you could achieve a whole new look. I really like meowsy's idea about boxing in the posts and rendering them. My suggestion would be to render the walls around the windows in a taupe-ish colour, perhaps Colorbond Dune - that would really bring out the timber windows as a feature - and then box in the posts and clad them with stacked stone or crazy pave. I really like your front fence. Using varied materials (in moderation, of course) really lifts the look of your home. Re: Facade redesign on a newly built home 9May 22, 2013 6:52 am Most people seem to dislike the twin posts, however I don't. Could it be because they are painted a light colour and stand out like the proverbial against the dark bricks? I think if they were darkened you might notice them as much Arfur Re: Facade redesign on a newly built home 10May 22, 2013 9:37 am Thank you everyone for your replies, there are some great ideas there! I think we will definitely look at boxing the posts in and cladding it in some kind of stone, that would look fantastic! And rendering the brick would make the windows stand out more. Hubby loves render but I'm not as big a fan. I think if we had have chosen a different brick it would have worked better with the windows. It's so hard to choose off small samples!!! Is render expensive these days? Uncle Arfur, the posts were originally stained a similar colour to the windows but it wasn't an exact match which bothered me. And it all looked a bit too brown! I tossed up doing a colour similar to the guttering but thought the lighter colour might lift it. I guess that worked a little too well as it does make them stand out too much among the darker colours. Meowsy, you're right who needs a designer with all this feedback! So in the short term I think we will go with changing the posts and building the garden up. Hopefully that makes a big enough improvement. Thanks again everyone, I'm really excited to see how it looks! Re: Facade redesign on a newly built home 12May 23, 2013 7:06 pm I think it will look really lovely! Btw, I love how you have used the light fascia to highlight the eaves, we are going to do the same thing. Plus your roof tiles are really nice, you won't need to do much and the facade is going to look absolutely great. Our build: viewtopic.php?f=31&t=64705 Re: Facade redesign on a newly built home 13Jun 05, 2013 10:25 pm definitely box in the posts and clad in stone... nice. dont like the colour of the bricks, so maybe even render the front too? good luck let us all know how you go The unit normally clips into a metal plate screwed to the wall, either plate is not flush, or unit not hooked in and could be hanging from the pipes partly, either might… 2 15798 Hi, guys! If you've built with Wisdom Homes, would you mind sharing images of your front facades once they're all rendered? 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