Do you think this house has kerb appeal?

[Ladyof]

Or what could be improved?

Thanks

[photo removed at OP's request]

Too red/brown. It needs grass

Well I think it looks smart and practical. I genuinely wouldn't give a monkeys if the inside and back garden was what I wanted

In the second picture, there’s some large pot plants/bushes. This together with having the car on the drive breaks the drive up. In the first photo, you notice the drive before the house. It’s a strange angle,

That red driveway is awful. House itself is fine. Definitely needs some greenery out the front

The rain doesn't help it but I don't really like it. The street view picture someone posted it looks a little better. Too dark for my liking though. Some plants, more grass and less driveway (with a better colour rather than ugly red brick) would improve it greatly. However, the garage door I can't stand, as it's not central, but from looking at the pics you can see why. Sorry just not my style of house. Are you looking to buy it or sell it?

It is a house I am thinking of viewing, my first thought was no I dont like it, even though I really like the estate it is on.

Now nothing suitable is coming up I keep looking at it thinking should I view it, could we do something to make it look nicer. I'm not keen on dormer windows but I didnt think this one looked too bad. It is very red though.

What colour windows, door and garage door would look better? I thought about it bring rendered but it would probably look odd to the other houses in the street.

@nickymanchester I've sent you a private message!

@MiddleClassMother thinking of viewing it!

@Ladyof
It wouldn't be my choice but I'm sure you'll make it lovely, hope it goes well!

Just go and view it! If you love the inside then you can think about how you might make the outside look better if you bought it. But you might not like the inside and so all this agonising wouldn’t be worth it. Seems quite an odd approach to house hunting. What about the pictures of the inside?! You only seem to care about how it looks from the outside which is weird, as a pp said you spend most time inside and so it’s more important if the space works for you.

The bright red (!!) driveway is doing it OP - or not doing it as I'm guessing is the case - you may have to invest - or look at getting it prof. painted? the neighbours have tarmac and this house stands out too much.

I think it's a lovely house Can driveways be painted though?

Next door has kerb appeal by the bucket load, so it's not the house that's the problem. The red carpark at the front needs to go.

@IdentifyingCreamCake
I dont like wasting peoples time so I wanted to know peoples thoughts on whether it can be improved, I definitely dont only care about the outside but I like the inside so didnt mention that.

I wanted peoples thoughts and I'm grateful for the fab ideas people have put forward so I probably will go and view it now as I'm more confident I can make it more to my taste.

@bloodyhairy no I dont think so, I think we would have to rip it up, which would be quite costly to put a new drive down but I think it needs some garden back to make it look nicer.

it just needs some grass outside. any house looks crap when there is only driveway outside

I don’t like it, sorry. I’d get new windows that aren’t brown, render the front and paint the drive grey.

The drive! It needs to go. Gravel is better for the environment.
I blame people with paved drives for contributing to flooding

Urgh. Nope.

Re. restoring the lawn. When a drive is laid the topsoil is removed and replaced with hardcore to a depth of 6-8 inches, then the hardcore is compacted, then the sand and bricks laid on top. It’s very heavy work to dig out all the compacted hardcore and dispose of it, then you have to purchase new topsoil to fill the hole. It ends up being very expensive. Our solution was to lift the bricks in one section and replace them with gravel without removing the hardcore below, then dig some planting holes which we filled with topsoil. It was much less work because we only had to remove the hardcore from the holes, so it was much cheaper.

You can paint the drive with special stone stain. It needs repainting every few years but it’s much cheaper than a new drive. If you want to replace the drive I’d go for tarmac as the cheapest option.

@Glenorma ooh sounds expensive but very helpful and something to bear in mind if we do like it. Thank you

Grass is a bit unimaginative. Planting with grasses would be better! I think you might be able to get a resin covering for the drive in the areas you wish to keep. Just soften the edges with planting.

It depends on the rest of it, whether there's a busy road? But I would replace the austere red brick with a garden, unless that is the only parking it has, in which case I'd soften it with a very small border against the house, pots and handing baskets. It definitely needs some nature!

not read the whole thread but i'd consider a timberframe awning structure over the door to give the illusion it faces the road.

I agree there's too much brick. It could be jazzed up by a few plant pots.