Ugly house help!

[AIMD]

Any suggestions /tips on improving an ugly house?

We have a ex council with grey rough cast exterior. It’s literally the ugliest house. Thinking of ways to improve its appearance whilst accepting it’ll never be great looking.

I don’t think re rendering is an option due to cost not being worth while for our house.

Any suggestions.

If I knew how to add a photo I’d add one.

Mine looks similar with newer rough cast but the windows are a different colour (brown) as is the door. I’m hoping to paint them and the door either all grey or duck egg. I’ve got a canopy at the front which really makes it look different. Held up by two chunky wood bracket things. So worth it if you can’t afford/aren’t allowed a porch. Given the choice I’d have added a porch with a toilet but it’s not an option due to our planning permission as it would stick out too much.

These are ex council not far from me.

Did you look at www.backtofrontexteriordesign.com/farnham ?

Ive flipped the image of one of them and i think you could do something really similar with yours...

Oh honestly OP I do not thing that house is dreadfully ugly - I would paint the shingle ( although with more budget - perhaps wood cladding but that is too expensive if it does not fit in with neighbours ) paint the front door and also the little fence bit in the front garden in a nice colour so e.g. sage green or blue grey type colour and then make the most of what you have , you have the most fabulous front garden - so a shrubby mallow or two or beds with roses or ceanothus or other lovely plants

& yes I agree a little porch type thing painted nicely

Honestly I think for little money your house could look like a lovely inviting cottage

Best wishes

It’s not that bad Op
It simply needs a lick of white paint and some topiary at either sides of the door
My dsis house was beautiful inside, but the exterior was awful. She hired a professional to paint the whole house a brilliant white with black trip at the bottom. She then bought topiary from B and Q . It looks lovely

I agree with what others have said. Paint the house a light cream/off white. Paint the front door a different colour.

Perhaps give the front garden fence a fresh new colour, not brown. And make some flower beds and then people have something to look at rather then the house IYKWIM.

@Karcheer yea I looked and some of the transformations are amazing. Need to maybe get my thinking hat on and think about what we can do. We wouldn’t afford to do such a big transformation at one but thinking we could work in stages.

The porch addition and over door/widow canopy on some of the houses seems to make a big difference!

The porch addition and over door/widow canopy on some of the houses seems to make a big difference!
They look good from the outside but I think that you have to be careful with over-window canopies because they can make the room darker inside because you are stopping some of the daylight from getting in.

I've seen uglier houses. Agree with painting the exterior and a trellis and shrubs in the garden.

Look at posh houses and see what they have got that you don’t! It seems like newer houses have wide front doors. So if you do build a porch perhaps a wide front door with a vertical pole handle and a six inch wide vertical glass insert would look very modern and lift the house, especially with the white rough cast.

I’d actually stay away from pale colours as they get grubby easily and against GGs wily it’s windows, although it would look better, if would be a bit bland. I’d go for a four that make the windows pop and I’d also paint a white ‘frame’ around the windows to make them look more solid. You could put trellis at that big empty space and grow a none invasive climbing plant.

and against GGs wily it’s windows,

*and bland with the white windows, I meant.

Interesting challenge having an ugly house (don't think yours is that ugly!)

We have an ugly house that we pondered for ages how to turn into a swan. It is an old welsh cottage (in fact probably was a barn in 18c but was renovated extended and modernised in the seventies. Rendered in fish scale concrete and had a flat roofed extension stuck on the front. We have removed the render from the original walls that aren't covered by the extension and lime rendered and lime washed. The seventies extension I am in the process of painting dark blue this week and I am shocked at how much better it looks. Will be adding some hanging baskets. We have also put a lavender hedge up to the front door.

stay away from pale colours as they get grubby easily
Not sure about this. Our neighbours had theirs done in 2010 in bright white and it's only just, 10 years on, starting to look a little grubby round the edges. No idea what was used, though - it could be that it's fantastic stuff because it's fantastically expensive.

I'd be wary of this year's 'fashionable' because it's next decade's 'dated'. Be true to the house, don't try to pass it off as something that it's not. Council houses like that are usually well-built, that's something to celebrate.

From TFUF's photo, are window boxes the answer? Do them nicely: cheap window boxes look cheap!