My Victorian terrace looks terrible. How can I improve it?

[chilliplant634]

Hi. I bought a Victorian terrace as a first time buyer. It's not an amazing house. In fact it is quite ugly on the outside. It is what I could afford at the time. I'm looking for suggestions on what I can do to make the front exterior look better and what kind of costs would be involved.

The previous owner seems to have slapped concrete all over the front brick wall. I'm not sure why this is. Would the whole wall need to be knocked down and rebuilt? It doesn't even look level. Any ideas?

Assuming this was within means, I would paint the pebble dash a nice pastel colour (sage / blue / pink), paint all the window and door surrounds and wall in white, plant a climbing rose or a wisteria round the door and smarten up the path. Agree no point in having a chair outside unless you want to sit outside (nice road for reading etc?) - I’ve been admiring people’s magnolia trees in front gardens this year, so something like that or a cherry as a PP said would look lovely!

Some really inspiring before and after photos from someone who removed the pebble dash from a similar house... www.simoneolivia.co.uk/post/2017/09/05/victorian-renovation-kerb-appeal-pebbledash-removal-brick-cleaning

Render walls or paint white
Get blinds
Agree with poster who talked about getting a Victorian tiled path-
Paint windows frames white
Change or clean slate in bottom windows
Paint gate wall grey
Potted conifers either side of door
Clean the meter box / paint it white.

Beautiful house by the way Op.

It’s a great blank slate! I’d look at the similar houses you like on the same street and make a list of what you like about them: tiles, colours, styles, etc.

Then make a budget and plan for what would have the most initial impact. Plants will definitely help, and I agree about the net curtains.

It just looks a bit unloved I think.get rid of the nets and that will make a big difference. I think the door and window frames aren't right for the age of the house.planr some greenery out there in pots. It looks perfect for a FTB.

The only thing I would say about removing pebble dash is look carefully at what surrounds the house - if you remove it from a house where the neighbouring propertiesa re brick, you unify and put it back.

If you remove it from a house where all the houses have it and make yours look different from the neighbours - you spend a fair amount of money making yours look incongruous in the street.

The ideal with terraces is to get some kind of uniformity really.

That is why I would not paint mine a distinctive colour if the rest are all grey - it doesn't look in keeping and won't help with a sale.

The tender is a shame as I think brick always looks better. But I also think it looks smart.

By render I meant the covering on the front of the house- The wall bothers me less than the render on the house- the wall I’d just paint to match a new colour on the front of the house and draw attention away from it with plants & some nice details around the door or add a cute gate. Nice lighting at the front also makes a house look well cared for! Big plants would make a big impact if you don’t want to do any building work on the front. A wooden front door also would be a nice touch but I think you could get a nice look just by changing the render first, adding some nice styling details. xo

render is usually applied to hide bad brickwork. Scrabbling it off will damage it more. I think you have a newer repaired patch left side downstairs. The house may orinally have been built in yellow london stocks like the pillar on your neighbour's wall. possibly some soft red bricks round the windows to look fancy.

walk up and down the road to see what the other houses look like.

don't do the garden wall until you have done everything else, you might want a skip, or a pile of sand, or a mixer through it.

We got quoted £7,500 for a new front wall similar to yours, around all 3 sides of the front garden which is the same size as yours.

Also in east London

If you paint the window surrounds and the garden wall white, replace the nets and have some greenery in the garden you'll immediately freshen it up without spending too much.

Shutters, new front door, tiled path would be much more expensive.

I'm not sure painting pebbledash would look great tbh. Plus it would be a bugger. It really depends on your budget, but I'd do this in this order till money ran out:

Paint windows/garden wall/any beige trim white.

Some potted trees etc.

Shutters (if you like these). Will look great and can also be appreciated from inside.

An authentic looking and coloured front door.

New Victorian looking tiles on path and steps if nothing there that's salvageable.

I doubt the bricks under the pebbledash would be in great shape, and I'd only re-render if some of the street has and funds allowed.

It will look lovely when freshened up!

Quick fix
Dump the nets
Paint the wall maybe a teale or grey
Hanging baskets by the door and
plant pots on the stairs with happy colours
A nice outside light

Thankyou everyone for the wonderful suggestions. It's really helped me to crystallise what I want to do with the front. Removing the pebbledash is too cost prohibitive, although I agree it would look better without it.

Based on what everyone has said I plan to:

1. Clean tiles above bay window
2. Clean/paint meter box
3. Get blinds. Shutters too expensive right now, but

I do like the look of them & will keep in mind in future.

1. Paint windows/garden wall/any beige trim white.
2. New coloured front door as soon as budget allows.
3. Plants by door and possibly lamp
4. Some kind of draping plant/foliage over the garden wall to break up the "blocki-ness" of the wall. Any suggestions here?
5. Paint pebbledash on front of house when budget allows.

There already are victorian tiles on the path, apart from the steps. I'm just wondering if there is any way of cleaning both the steps and the tiles to freshen them up. I will try and post some clearer pictures when I get the chance.

I'd put iron railings in on the wall as they would have originally been. My friend did this on her Victorian terrace and it made a massive difference. You could also then see into the garden properly so you could add some pots in the front that would be seen.

Here is an image from the internet of a similar terrace in brick with a fresh coat of paint and a lovely victorian door. I don't think that you should take it back to brick though. If the render is in good condition (and it looks like it has been recently patched) then it protects and insulates your house. A new door based on victorian style, paint the render a lovely neutral colour - cream, sage, greige and the window surrounds white. If you aren't into gardening then putting down decorative stone and adding greenery in pots will make it look cared for. I don't mind the wall so much. You could paint that a darker shade such as anthracite to make it blend in better.

Although I think taking it back to brick could be amazing, I wouldn't want to be the first in the terrace to take an expensive gamble!

I also wouldn't paint the render unless others have and you can see it looks good. Once painted, you can't undo it, plus you have ongoing costs of maintaining the paintwork, plus possibly increased damp problems depending how breathable the paint is.

It’s highly likely removing the render will wreck the brickwork. Unless it’s absolutely necessary in order to re-render, then don’t do this.
It’s rendered for a reason.

Re render it - chipping off what looks like pebbledash to reveal the brick is heart stoppingly expensive.

Paint the new smooth render
Coordinate a new paint on the trim around the windows and doors
Get some nice window boxes (ferns are fairly bomb proof and evergreen)
Get a nice evergreen shrub
Paint the front door and update the brass wear
Burn those net curtains!

@Bluntness100

I don’t think it looks bad but I’d paint the window frames, replace the front door if you can afford it, paint or replace the front wall, and add some small trees in containers either side of the door.

Tbf this.

It would be fantastic if you could strip the tender back to the brick, replace everything for original features, install a new path etc. But you have to question whether it would be worth it.

All of that investment would add maybe 2-5% on the asking price depending on where in the country you are and would cost significantly more.

Instead I would keep the cladding painted, keep the windows and door clean, keep the front garden weeded with nice flowers etc and paint the wall and the gate in nice fresh colours.

I think anything more would unfortunately be a false economy and you would be better off investing in the inside instead.

Sounds like a great plan OP.

Apart from point 8, don't bother let it stay in keeping with the rest of the road.

Re draper plants it depends what the ground is like behind the wall and which way the house faces. A shrubby honeysuckle could be good and have a great scent. Or put some plants a similar height to the wall and grow campanula tumbling over.

Ours has a similar bumpy render. It's painted. When we moved in we had someone come to look at it to ask about either flat rendering or removing it. He said that it's risky flat rendering over existing render as it can pull the old render off in chunks if it's not sound. Likewise taking it off is a gamble as can be £££ if it takes half the brick off as well. Luckily our street is one of those quirky ones that has the houses all painted different shades so looks cool. Get some plants, maybe a climbing rose. Get rid of the nets, window boxes etc.