Midcentury homes come in all styles and sizes – generally with either “ranch style” or “colonial style” elements. The house above: A real mix of the two, and the exterior touches really give it…stature, even despite its small size – just 1,000 s.f. There is so much you can do to add great curb appeal to your postwar ranch, cape, colonial, bungalow, or split. Read on for 17 illustrated ideas… In our first house, notice:

1. The cupola above the garage. I really like cupola’s for the visual interest that they provide. Check out the Brosco catalog for a number of styles – get a hard copy, their website is not helpful.

2. The tree at the left, and that shrub at the left corner are “higher” than other greenery. Feng shui says that looking at a house, the left side is the “dragon” side that protects the house – trees and shrubs should be higher here. The right side is the “phoenix” side – lower to the ground here, please. I kind of also works in the west because we read left to right. I use this dragon/phoenix principle in decorating on the inside, too.

3. Not exactly shown here, but one other principle for exterior landscaping that I picked up when I did my house two summers ago and was doing extensive research: If you can (and it makes sense visually for your house), bring the beds along the house out the full height of your facade. That is, if the facade of your house (not including the roof) is 9′ high…bring your beds out 9′. This “grounds” the house within the landscaping quite nicely. The beds don’t seem “dinky.”

4. Let your windows breathe. Don’t have shrubbery covering them and if you do, trim it back.

5. Notice how the window treatments contribute to curb appeal. There are horizontal blinds with tape at each window. The draperies are all a light yellow. Harmony in repetition can make a big impact.

6. If you have a house like this, stay with the wide clapboards. The scale is so nice.

7. And of course, that structure at the front door is so welcoming, and the brick planter makes a nice addition.

Thoughtful exterior touches elevate this house, which otherwise could have been a forgettable ranch box:

8. Add shutters: Match them to your roof color. Note how they are sized vertically to also encompass the trim underneath the window. The rule of thumb for width is to take half the window width – as if the shutters actually could be used.

9. Garage door: Matched to the shutter trim color.

10. And notice how the stone trim under the bay also is that nice warm sandy brown. Your eye dances right along this house horizontally because all these colors are linked.

11. Consider using the front gable to introduce another trim color and another material. And while this may really seem obsessive – this illustrator has imagined that the linings on all the draperies are lined in the same fabric and orange-y color, complementing the gable. Nice!

12. Hard to see, but there is dentil molding along the cornice of the bay window. Hey – the bay is a nice touch, don’t you think? Edged in that stone below.

13. Finally here, note the use of the fence at the left – the trellis at the door – and the trellis at the far right. These are nice hardscape touches that add interest to this exterior (and the others shown).

My goodness, I’ve seen this house everywhere across the country! Ideas:

14. Mix the materials used on your exterior. Looking left to right, notice how the bedroom window is edged and “sectioned off” from the shingle siding….see that little bathroom glass-block window with three horizontal trim pieces?…at the entry way, they’ve used vertical siding… and of course the stone makes a nice horizontal statement then rising to create a flower box.

15. In fact, it’s important to pause and underscore the use of materials that running horizontally along ranch-style homes. Ranch homes are long and low to the ground…they have a horizontal profile. Adding “footwalls” or “kneewalls” of brick or stone are a great way to emphasize the horizontal profile. In addition, you often see siding that runs half-way up the sides of a ranch home – this also can split it in two horizontally. In addition, these techniques add visual interest by introducing another material to differentiate a ranch-box. I will add, though, in thinking about doing these kinds of changes, scale becomes very important – and is a while ‘nother discussion altogether.

16. Of course, the entry way structure itself makes a welcoming statement. Notice how it’s roofline extends around the right-hand side of the house, almost like an awning.

17. Finally, I like how the chimney is painted white like the siding of the house. Nice!

Related posts:

1. Let’s help Jordan add curb appeal to her 1955 Houston suburban ranch home Readers, put on your thinking caps and ready your fingers...
2. Improve your home’s curb appeal with shutters: How to choose the right size & more tips from landscape architect Ted Cleary Are you interested in adding shutters to your windows in...
3. Shopping for a midcentury home — and what to do about postwar homes lacking curb appeal In this RetroRenovation classic re-run from April 2008, Madison Sarah...

“Shutter dogs” — do you know what those are? Well, if you have, or want, shutters on the exterior of your ranch, colonial or Cape … you need to know about these! Shutter dogs are the decorative hardware used to hold the shutters back against the house, usually just decoratively. And like a classic pearl necklace – they are “house jewelry” that makes all the difference.

The real go-to place for shutter dogs — along with all kinds of other early American, wrought iron hardware including cabinet pulls, is Acorn Manufacturing. I like this company a lot a lot!

Nice stuff. My brick, ranch-style home has a colonial feel, especially on the exterior. I am dressing it up with black-iron hardware and lighting — and it looks terrific.

For the most complete listing of Acorn products, you can go to the website, acornmfg.com. Over the past year and a half since I originally ran this post – they seem to have dramatically improved their website. It also includes a link to online retailers.

A Retro Renovation re-run updated from the original post published Sept. 30, 2007