How improve front of house?

[17CherryTreeLane]

We live in a house which is lovely inside, but ver ugly on the outside. We have brown windows, which don't help, and kind of beige roughcast. I think I'd like the windows to be grey (awaits Mumsnet sighs), but not sure what else to do.

Ours is a modern house, well...it's an old house with a modern wrapper round it, sitting on a beautiful street of Edwardian houses. We stick out like a sore thumb! Wondering about stone cladding etc, and how we'd go about that. Has anyone done similar?

I think you'll have to upload a photo so people can give you some real suggestions

Change the brown windows. We bought a 100 year old cottage with brown windows, changed them to white and it made an immediate difference.
Possibly change the front door if it’s ugly. I’d be very wary of stone cladding.

Photo? Beige and brown doesn't sound great but it's hard to tell without the context of a photo.

Ok, so this will totally out me to anyone who knows me, but I'd really appreciate advice, so here you go!

Paint it white, simple not expensive and will make the world of difference

Could you paint the render and redo windows? White with anthracite windows is very fashionable here and looks modern. However windows are very expensive and I think render would be too (never done that myself!)

@Letsrunabath thank you, do you mean paint the roughcast white?

Every other house in the street is over a hundred years old, and stone so not sure how a bright White House would look.

Yeah, that's a dull combo of colours for sure. I'd pay someone to paint the render. Are really good professional painter will do the window frames too.

A wisteria planted and trained up the middle of the house horizontally and a bed with some cottage garden type plants in front of it and some hanging baskets and it's be as pretty as a picture.

@FrancesFlute thanks, yes we can definitely redo the windows.

For those saying to paint the render, is that the bit over the windows? Sorry, am clueless!

What about sage green door and window frames? I'd soften the front with plants. Couple of large red robins in pots

www.gardens4you.ie/standard-photinia-red-robin-a10858.html?gclid=Cj0KCQjwnoqLBhD4ARIsAL5JedKjlMLFNyHDH2uwF87aU7oKDhiazBeraD61Yu3DBbMAtRtOUTVhVfAaAnuGEALw_wcB

or bay trees.

Those red robins are very pretty, thank you! Hasn't considered a sage green door, will think on that.

What’s underneath the render? (ie the pebbledash)
Is it brick or stone?
Would knocking it all off & going back to original appearance be a possibility?
If not, agree with painting it. White might be a bit dazzling, but there are loads of different shades of masonry paint which would blend in better with your stone neighbour.

I'd add a couple of hanging baskets either side of the door, one between the two windows, and a long trough, fill with pansies this time of the year and will look very pretty.
Sage green door, and a light cream sofit and window frames would tone in with your grey neighbour (white may look a bit stark)

There’s a few house similar near me, recently been renovated. Both painted cream, one with dark grey windows and one with pale/ sage green. The one with green windows looks fab and sold much quicker than the grey windowed version.

The render is the grey cladding.

There are people out there who are experts in removing cladding. There aren't many people who do it though. I would personally try and get the cladding removed. You might be able to restore it so it looking like next door.

If this isn't an option, I would have the cladding smoothed and paint it white and I would choose grey windows too.

Sandtex colour range here, but there are loads of other brands.

It's brick underneath the roughcast. I really think pure white would look odd. Its a tree lined street of old houses, looking into a river and fields, if that makes any difference.
Would a much lighter roughcast with grey windows and some plants still be naff??

Lighter rough cast render and pots would look great .

Is that plain concrete above and below the windows? If it is I'd start off by painting them white. I'd see how that improved things before deciding whether to paint the rest of the render and redo the windows.

I'm also a big fan of planting to improve kerbside appeal. Is the area on the ground directly in front of the house flowerbeds? If so I'd plant shrubs along there with a few climbers like a climbing rose or clematis where you have space. Hanging baskets and statement plants in nice pots always generally work well.

It's just a bit drab right now but has a lot of potential to be a lot better.

I agree with others re painting the outside. I don't think changing to grey windows will brighten it up. I do think planting would help a lot eg the end of drive, under the windows near the door. Planting would soften the look of the house.

You could spend so much on this though! If money was no object - absolutely paint the render something lighter/warmer. Paint the lintels and fascia boards a contrasting colour. New window frames, new door. Relandscape the whole front lawn/driveway area to incorporate a lot more planting areas and not just one massive expanse of tarmac. Do you need parking for that many cars?

Thanks for all the suggestions, you're all so helpful! Would I be way off with something like these pics? Where the front door is sticks out a bit iyswim, so could do similar there?

There are lots of plants in the front garden, but totally agree with everyone saying there should be more nearer the front of the house, so will get started on that.

To harmonise with your neighbour, paint the main body of the house Sandblast Sandtex, and the window frames white.