Readers, put on your thinking caps and ready your fingers for your keyboards: Today we’re looking for reader suggestions to help Jordan add curb appeal to her 1955 suburban ranch home in Houston, Texas. Jordan writes:
I love your website and have combed through almost every article! I’m having a problem with our 1955 built ranch house. We live in a small neighborhood in Houston, TX and most of the houses were built in the 50’s and 60’s with a few odd new builds in the mix. My husband and I love the house and really want to be here for quite a long time, but I just can’t stand the exterior of our house. I bought the house because the floor plan was great, the price was good and a fair amount of updates had already been done… but I knew I didn’t like the exterior.
She continues:
My main bone of contention are the glass blocks in the front of the house. They are there to cover up a old wood burning stove (fireplace) but they are so ugly… also, the bay window on the left is in the dining room and that looks a little off to me as well. We are planning to re-pave the driveway and walk way this upcoming spring and want to tackle the rest of the exterior at the same time.
I have racked my brain and don’t have any good ideas yet… if you have some suggestions, I would LOVE to hear them… thanks for your help!!
Jordan
Jordan – your house looks lovely, but I have to agree with you, those floor-to-ceiling windows all along the front of the house are new to me. Yes, readers, look closely — those are floor-to-ceiling window / nooks to the right and left of the fireplace, which has the floor-to-ceiling glass block behind it. And in the dining room, that’s a bumped out bay with floor-to-ceiling glass. Someone sure wanted to add light!
What do you think, readers? Let’s assume Jordan says we can get rid of the wood-burning fireplace. I’ll let you run with this one, and my pipe in at some point after noodling the question myself….
Kate says
The giant nook windows remind me of Amsterdam with the, ahem, “adult workers” in the windows offering their services. http://www.flickr.com/photos/99837963@N00/676064829/
Don’t worry, it’s family and work safe.
Hmmm. The dining room window definitely looks like a late edition add on. The casement (casing?) doesn’t match the rest of the house or the period. I lived in Oklahoma and Texas for several years and saw a lot of these great mid cent homes “re-imagined” during the late 70’s and 80’s during the oil booms.
I’m not sure if the living room area was once a porch or not. The brick is painted so it’s hard to tell if that brick is original or not. The change in flooring and ceiling material makes me think it’s not original. I think the glass block window could have been a bay window with a seat. I don’t understand the nooks though. One has a little cut out and the other doesn’t. Hmmm again. If both nook walls were load bearing could it have the little cut out?
I owned a house in Collin County for several years and the county tax assessor should have a digitized copy of your original floor plan on file along with any construction permits that were filed for any changes. It may be online as well. If that was a porch they would have needed a permit for that kind of change since it would have changed the square footage of the house thus changing the property taxes.
Does anyone else in your neighborhood have one of those stoves? It feels like a early 80’s country kitsch add on. Can you find out when the stove was manufactured? If it was after your house was built then you know for sure that it was an after thought.
Other than my random musings, the only other thoughts I can add to the exterior landscaping is to lose the wall of hedges on the right hand side. Move the taller ornamental tree behind the shorter shrubs. I’m toddler wrangling so I’m sure my thoughts are slightly convoluted right now.
Oh, maybe turn the nook closest to the front door into a planter? Could there have been double doors there at one time?
I love the curved walkway to the front door. I think if you opened up the front door area with either a raised built in planter or double doors the exterior would feel more open and welcoming.
Can you add some pictures of other houses in the neighborhood that were built around the same time to give us (me) more of a feel for the architecture?
Joe says
My $0.02:
The glass blocks are “period enough” and do the job they’re meant to do. The bay window really should be removed and replaced w/a double casement window that matches those on the other end of the front elevation.
Also: Remove the hedges and palm; replace with low-profile landscaping appropriate to the Houston climate that has some color in it. Plant a yard tree in the larger section of the front yard.
Color is subjective but they may want to consider an accent color for the front door/entry.
The house overall is great. Houston has many nice MCM neighnorhoods SW of downtown!
Nina462 says
boy after reading the comments I had to go back & look at the photos. budget permitting, I would get rid of that stove/stove pipe and yes, it looks like they bumped out the DR during a renovation.
I like the idea of making a million copies of the photo & then marking them all up with ideas. Also see if you can find the original blueprints (are they stuck in a closet, attic, basement somewhere?) I found my original blueprints in the basement above some storage shelves.
As for the front of the house, I see little potted plants on the steps. Instead of green plants, put in a few pots of cheerfuly colored flowers (red, pink, yellow, blue).
those are just my suggestions. (pretty much what Frank said above).
I also have that curvy sidewalk and always wanted to plant red & yellow tulips along the border for the spring.
Frank says
1. Get rid of the stove.
2. Restore the original porch.
3. Put in a bank of single pane french doors that would open up onto your restored porch.
4. Loose the hedge on the right side of the house and replace it with a decorative mid century cement block wall painted to match the exisisting color of the house. The bricks will let in light, let the air circulate, give the bedroom privacy, and carry out the horizontal lines of the house. Blocks like these:
http://veryvintagevegas.com/wp-content/uploads/2008/08/img-66311.jpg
5. You live in Texas, so consider doing some drought-tolerant landscaping to make your house stand out.
6. Replace the dining room window with a simple picture window.
Jane (aka Elvis) says
This house has fabulous basic lines. It just needs some taking back to its roots. Simplifying and unifying the windows is a great idea, though expensive, as many have suggested. I agree the many nooks seem to indicate a porch or loggia in the house’s infancy and it would be wonderful to reclaim that.
Regardless of any structural and window changes, I’d suggest landscaping that enhances the MCM lines of the house: Perhaps a low hedge on both sides of the front door, and a small tree (maybe a Japanese maple, snowbell, dogwood or styrax japonica) within a free-standing planting bed further forward on the right side where the bedrooms are probably located. This would privatize and suggest a screen for the less public part of the house. Lose the curving planting beds that hug the walkway- you want straight beds near the structure.
If you decide to re-claim the porch, you could even build a planter along the front of it on the left side of the door and plant a low hedge in it (maybe sweet box, Japanese holly or boxwood.) Then you could plant a similar hedge along the right side, but allow it to grow higher.
But if I lived in your climate, I would be planting wonderful structural rows of agaves, aloes and other sculptural, drough-tolerant plants, instead of a traditional hedge. The look would be current (and sustainable!) but also perfect for the age of your home.
I’d love to have your dilemmas…have fun with your lovely ranch!
Keith Grubb says
The house has such great overall lines. I would like to see the dining room window projecting less, so that it stays under the eaves and doesn’t interrupt the shadow line. Perhaps the box-out could be made shallower, with solid sides, and the center could be that common 1950s/60s window arrangement with a lower operable pane with a larger fixed pane on top.
I would replace the glass block with another typical 50s/60s window layout, something like this: http://activerain.com/image_store/uploads/9/0/4/4/8/ar125148246784409.jpg or this (behind the grill in the picture) http://starcraftcustombuilders.com/images/Architecture/RanchStyleHouse2.jpg.
Depending on your budget, the large fixed panes on either side of the glass block could remain as is or be changed to match the upper-over-lower style in the links above, which would make a nice horizontal line across the front of the house.
It looks like there’s some kind of diagonal detail going on along the sides of the glass block; I’d try to make those support walls as straight out as possible to minimize their visual thickness on the front.
If you ever re-roof, I’d consider getting rid of the chimney and stove.
My two cents.
drex says
I agree with Missouri Michael: the extension in the living room area used to be a porch. Here’s my 2 cents: after removing the wood stove (because it really doesn’t go with the style of house, sell it, and invest the money into your project), I would get rid of the glass bricks (mainly because I’ve never liked them as window replacements) and continue the floor to ceiling windows in that space as well. I like the spacers between each set of windows because I think it does make for an interesting interior focal wall. Outside, I would build a privacy screen in front of this area, set back enough to create a small patio area. Personally, I would want a basket weave privacy screen (painted to match the chosen exterior colors) but there are many options to choose from. Now you would have the benefit of sunlight and a pleasing view from your living room. Concerning the dining room window, it doesn’t bother me so much, in fact, I think it is interesting, Maybe another closer view would reveal otherwise. There is a house in my neighborhood (I’m in H-town too), a modest 50’s ranch, that placed privacy screens in front and landscaped around it. I think it looks fantastic.
LBC says
I don’t mind the glass blocks but the bay window is weird-ish. Seventies, maybe? I thought middle-class Fifties houses tended to have picture windows, but not so many full-height windows. I suspect the blocks might look better if there weren’t so many other tall rectangles across the front, which sort of make the roof look detached.
I don’t think it’s that bad, though, and I’ve always felt that if you didn’t want to live in a house that looked (1950’s, or whatever era), don’t buy one. I know it was a good price, but extensive remodeling almost always ends up looking more awkward than it would have to leave the house in something resembling its original format. Some of that may already have happened here, but don’t make it worse by trying to modernize much more.
Are you plant people? Maybe some azaleas to perk up the yard?
Our house is a Seventies faux-Tudor with a spacious but rather awkward and quite dark layout, and old-fashioned trim. One might be tempted to something to make it seem less medieval, but it would be a mistake. The house is what it is, and there’s little to be gained by fighting it.
Gavin Hastings says
Upon further reflection-
1. Elaine is correct about the height of the right hedge and a dogwood.
2. Brick? Is it brick? well forget what I said about color.
3. The only real change needed here is the DR window and landscaping. Save yourself thousands.
4. It really does boil down to need vs want.
5. Relax and “Love the House You’re In”.
Rufus Valentine says
Two things —
1. Lose the hedges. Doing so will get rid of a a redundant horizontal line that masks the sillhouette of your place. The hedge also hides the vertical windows that create pattern and rhythm.
2. Landscape with small groups in an asymetrical planting. If possible, use native, non-invasive species. And USE COLOR as much as you can. Your house is an excellent background for bright spots that will create depth and interest.
The glass blocks: I’m not sure. If they’re original, I would try to find out what purpose they served. If they’re 80s updates….. uh, get rid of them and replace them with a window similar to the original.
Get rid of the wood stove if you don’t love it. There are many more environmentally friendly and efficient ways to supplement heat.
Best of luck!