A home’s exterior design is an important feature. When you ensure your home looks beautiful from an outside perspective, you improve its curb appeal and its market value. Whether you have traditional or modern properties, there are big changes and simple tweaks you can make to your home to help improve its value, so it’s beneficial to explore your options. If you are looking for affordable tweaks on your home, you can go for a coat of paint or cladding. If you are looking for a more substantial improvement to your home’s exterior, you can change your home’s roof structure through a reliable roofing contractor, or you can try landscaping your front yard or adding an extension. When it comes to improving your house’s features, they all need to complement your home’s style.
Why Should You Change Your Home’s Exterior Design?
While a home is viewed as a building for its practicality and how it serves the inhabitants living it, a home’s appearance is important as well. Old homes often exude charm and character but some homes lack these qualities which can be off-putting to potential homebuyers. If you are looking to improve your home’s exterior, there are a couple of things you should consider first.
Newer homes are not the only ones that may be in need of improvements. Features such as shoddy exterior finishes can ruin the appearance of an older house. For instance, replacing the windows in your home is necessary when you are in need of replacement windows or your home’s tiles need to be replaced.
How Can You Improve Your Home’s Exterior?
There are various ways you can use to chose contemporary home exterior ideas to beautify your house. It all depends on your preference and the style you are accustomed to. Here are some of the home exterior improvement ideas you can add to your house.
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Change Your Home’s Exterior Proportions
For significant improvement, it’s often advisable to change the proportions of a building structure. This can be done by extending your home outward or upward to give it a new siding as well as create space and balance, symmetry, or by replacing poor extension designs added by previous homeowners. It’s also possible to add a second story to your home and turn it into a two-story house. You can also replace your roof by hiring reliable roofers or a roof service . It’s important to note, however, that you will need to obtain a permit for this kind of contemporary home exterior idea to beautify your house. However complicated your home addition design is, you can make an effort to match the new building material your home is built with. This will help in adding curb appeal to your home.
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Change Exterior Finishes
There are various reasons why you may wish to replace your home’s exterior finishing. If your house has outdated mismatching bricks, pebble dash, stone cladding, or a mixture of various external materials, you can cover or remove them using different materials and create a new look for your home. Cladding over pebble dash is mostly done because it is easier to maintain and hard-wearing but it can appear to be harsh, especially in estate homes. A cheaper option is to paint your home’s exterior by using masonry paint in neutral shades like white to help combine and unify different materials. Repainting and rendering external walls may be an ideal choice if the original work on your home is damaged. If you prefer to provide your home with the latest, contemporary exterior appearance you can clad your home’s exterior to give it a prolific difference.
Which Exterior Finishing Is Ideal For Your Home?
You can start by perusing through various samples in cladding choices when thinking of contemporary home exterior ideas to beautify your house. Ask a reliable supplier if they can provide you with aged and new samples to compare how your home’s appearance will look in a few months after undergoing cladding. Ensure your chosen cladding weight or render is ideal for your home because some materials are heavier compared to others. Here are some examples of cladding you can choose from.
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PVCu Cladding
Wood-effect or colored PVCu is comparable in price to timber boarding. Easy to clean and low maintenance are some of the qualities it boasts of as well as long-lasting. Some PVCu cladding contains a cellular core that provides adequate thermal resistance.
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Laminate Cladding
It is made from compressing wood fibers or impregnated paper and polypropylene resin, phenolic, or epoxy. With its scratch-resistant and durable qualities, laminate Cladding can have added colored pigments to the surface during curing, making various finishes and colors possible to achieve.
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Composite Cladding
It is made of high-quality acrylic resins to add color. With its weather-resistant ability, it can be easily fitted, molded, and cleaned.
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Timber Boarding
It is suitable for contemporary and some period properties. Hardwoods such as larch, chestnut, or oak can be sealed with fire-retardant coating or left to weather naturally.
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Fiber-cement Weatherboarding
Being a composite material, fiber-cement weatherboarding won’t rot or rust requires minimal maintenance, comes in pre-finished condition, is frost-proof, is fire resistant, will not warp or twist as time goes by, and is long-lasting.
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Black Slips
They have an appearance of solid bricks but they are actually ’tiles’ made out of clay either kiln-fired as shown from the face of standard clay bricks or as preformed slips. Cladding panels with brick finishing and interlocked prefabricated boards.
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Stone Tiles
They share similar construction and are made out of genuine stone. They are suitable for a more traditional appearance and offer weight and cost-effective alternatives to using natural stone.
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Metal
It is an expensive choice but is weather-resistant and requires low maintenance. It can come coated, pre-aged, powder-coated, or painted to preserve its finishing. Steel is more affordable and should last longer.
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Masonry Paint
It is a fast and cheap way to cover an unpleasant home exterior quality brickwork on period properties and create sleek finishes on modern houses.
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Concrete Render
It should not be used with lime mortar masonry as it may cause rot and dampness. Using a silicone-based render is advisable as it is easy to maintain, breathable, and flexible. Lime render can be an eco-friendly option for new homes.
How Much Does Cladding, Rendering, or Painting Cost?
Comparing costs does not only involve comparing the cost of materials. You need to factor in the costs of associated materials used in fitting and labor required for the home exterior improvement idea. It’s important to note costs are impacted by treatment when it comes to timber cladding. Hardwood cladding requires materials that cost more than softwood but because it doesn’t need to be decorated, the full cost of treatment and installation brings softwood to a similar total.
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Replace a Roof
In many house styles, the roof is a very important business, so changing its shape or its exterior or installing gutters to cover or improve the looks of pre-existing tiles will transform your home’s appearance. This is not an easy task to achieve when it comes to home exterior improvement. It is labor-intensive and costly and most people do it for the following reasons:
- When they change their roof’s covering
- Improving the home’s efficiency
- As part of loft extension or conversion
Replacing a home’s roof covering will usually require you to obtain a permit before commencing on it. If you are planning to strip off your home’s roof tiles, it is an ideal opportunity to put into consideration adding roof lights and increasing insulation as it is much easier to perform changes to the home’s structure when the weight of the tiles is removed.
Changing the Roof’s Shape
In general, modern, low-pitched roofs and flat-roof extensions are not ideal for houses with a traditional style so replacing them with a more appropriate design can make a significant difference due to it being steep which helps to justify the cost of replacing a roof. For a more contemporary home exterior improvement, an overhanging sunshield can give the appearance of a modern home design and can hide a low-pitched roof.
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Replace Your Home’s Windows
Windows are the first things that are noticed in a home’s design. Altering them or getting a shutter installation can change your home’s entire appearance especially if it is done by combining with a general redesign scheme. You can choose to fit replacement windows, alter the size and shape of your home’s window openings and add new windows. You should, however, choose windows carefully if you plan to maintain your home’s authentic style. If you are considering giving your home a contemporary exterior improvement, you should consider getting metal frames windows as replacements. Ensure that all your replacement windows and new window supplier comply with the regulations set in your state or county before installing them.
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Update Your Front Door
If you reside in an area where houses follow a uniform house style, you should match your home’s front door to follow the doors of the homes near yours. There are various modern doors made in traditional styles which gives you a lot of options to choose from. If you are looking to restore your home’s exterior appearance, you can try trawling reclamation yards to get a door style ideal for your home. When picking out an ideal new front door, don’t always choose a budget option. You need to consider a number of things such as the safety, and the style, so settling for a secure and solid door is highly important.
What Are Some Ideal Front Door Colors?
- Purple, lilac, blue: They are perfect colors that appeal to visitors and are associated with spirituality, prosperity, and calmness.
- Grey and black: They are suitable shades that make your home stand out from others and are a good choice if you are planning on selling your home as it attracts homebuyers to your property. Black and grey are associated with elegance, exclusivity, and anonymity.
- Teal: Teal is a color that appeals to a wide pool of potential homebuyers. It is a vibrant color with warm and cool tones and has calm and cheerful qualities. It is also suitable for all seasons and can be styled with Christmas wreaths and summer plants.
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Add an Extension
Changing the function and shape of a home can significantly impact your home’s exterior appearance. Small home alterations like adding a window or a porch are not expensive but can add character and interest to the overall home exterior design. A large extension like a two-story or single-story addition to your home siding or front is beneficial in balancing the proportions and shape of your home and helps create a distinct architectural style for it.
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Add a Porch
Adding a porch to your home’s front yard gives it character and provides practical and extra storage space indoors. Think about your home’s design and consider when constructing a porch is proportional to your home’s size. Remember to factor in existing roof angles and pitches.
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Convert a Garage
Your home’s appearance will alter significantly and you stand to gain a new living space if you convert your garage. While it’s normally a seamless process, it is wise to hire an architect to make sure the details and proportions of various features like windows are correct or garage door repairs. Before commencing the garage conversion, be sure to consult with a local real estate agent to ensure you are making the right decision for your home’s exterior. If the advantages of having extra space for your car, going through with the garage conversion could impact your home negatively.
There are many contemporary home exterior ideas to beautify your house. You can choose from a variety of options such as replacing your windows, adding an extension to your home, replacing your home’s roof, and updating your front door. Make sure to go over the necessary steps needed in choosing contemporary home exterior ideas to beautify your house. Get a reliable contractor to help you with the improvements you plan on making to your home’s exterior.