Doors might look like this.

You can update the garage and make your whole house look more retro by changing the garages to a more sleek glass/frosted garage door which would flow with the awesome spiral staircase. Then I would paint the house a creamy off white or even a soft sage green color and re-landscape changing the plants on the corner of the garage, maybe doing some faux stonework on the huge driveway to save some money instead of redoing the whole driveway.

M Lee hofer

Interesting idea. The place is in charleston SC so things are a bit more traditional but this house is not going to fit the mold regardless. May as well embrace it.

hmmmm, it would help a lot if one knew how to get into your house? is that the main entrance up above?

Haha - good question. The front door is on the left side of the house. You can see the stairs in the first pic. it's an elevated house so it is just garage space bellow.

Appreciate the ideas strawberryjij!

Is it possible to move the spiral, all the way around the corner. You can plant so plants in front of it, or a tree. Make it a little more private and not the main attraction.

Now lets work on the garage doors. You have no choice but to make them the main attraction. You could go darker and unify with that porch above. I think that you should use more significant lighting there. Then you wish to have maybe some potted spiral plants , something more significant. You also want to lead people to the front door stair case, so you want to do plantings and maybe edge out the color of that sidewalk. Hmmm, i will go and think some more.

I think the staircase can be incorporated were it is. Soften the look with warmer colours and stone.

1. paint the lower part of the house green

2. add thin stone border over the green paint. About 2.5 feet

3. make garage doors greyed off white

4. paint top part of house with a grey beige paint that will not overwhelm the green. It must soften the dark patio railings.

5. add an off white or silver outdoor light at the far end of each garage door. None needed in center because the staircase is there.

6. Finally to highlight your front entrance, add a light stained wooden trellis or arch to the edge of your walkway to the front door. Align it with the edge of the garage. Include plant, decor of your choice.

I think it is good to move the staircase to the right side and change the garage door as well to darker wood.

Great ideas. Not having a front door is certainly a design delema. I previously added some pavers and a redbud to make it more apparent. A trellis would help.

Appreciate all the thoughts!

Quite a mix of styles. I would go modern and get rid of, or change, anything that is not. ( a-frame over door, porch light, post on upper deck, round top window, shutters, fan) whew! Could be done over time.

Painting the house ( new colored green) add some honey colored horizontal wood and get rid of spiral staircase because It looks like the front entrance and does not really belong on the front of any house.

Eventually a new driveway with lights.

I have now spent your children's education money, if you have any children.

Look at a darker mixed stone veneer façade around the garage doors; along with moving the spiral staircase to the side and changing out the garage doors. You can very well keep the brown trim [above] that way and the blend in colors will allow for a smooth transition as the eye travels from ground level upward.

Hi there. Not liking the brown myself either. I would keep the costs reasonable by repainting the house an off white/bone colour and then pick out all the existing brown wood, trellis work and garage doors in a dark grey for maximum impact. I would also update outside lighting with stainless steel wall washers on each side corner pillar and echo the same or similar on the upper floor balcony and wall. I would also add stainless covered lamps along the driveway edge. Lastly I would look at maybe swapping the low shrubs you have along the driveway area and replace them with a few pencil conifers that you can keep to a suitable height - maybe 2 metres max (the low shrubs exaggerate the height more than necessary and it maybe needs more balance closeby)

An inexpensive fix would be to paint all your doors a nice bright bold glossy color. Your lovely house just has way too much beige.

The expensive things about the exterior are too traditional to head modern here. You have shutters, gables over doors, spindles with accents, and so forth. I think the original instinct to upgrade the garage doors to a wood look (and I like the simple arch style you posted above) is the right first step. Don't move the staircase - it has its own charm. Since your windows are white, and we are introducing more natural brown (you have quite a bit with the trellis on the sides already), let's consider what updating we can do with paint. The beige and brown are what date the house . . not the brown screen porch alone. It being sort of a natural wood shade make make even more sense with wood look garage doors.

Let me look at color and bring you back some ideas.

Without knowing what color your roof is, can't comment on appropriate trim color. A little help, please, johnviet2......

Here's a great historic tone: Ben Moore Nantucket gray http://www.benjaminmoore.com/en-us/paint-color/nantucketgray

not gray at all - a sort of muted olive shade that will be terrific with the brown / dark wood and iron AND the white windows / doors. Leave the stained wood trellis underneath to help ground the house.

I am going to suggest that you lose the shutters with the arch window - that window is shaped so it has its own charm but the shutters start to fight with the other shutters. It might want a "window box" with fake ivy and geraniums instead.

Because there are so many doors on the house (though up above) I wouldn't paint any on the front elevation a color unless I painted all of them to match. At the front door - consider a deeper blue green - great against olive and very southern coastal - bm hemlock http://www.benjaminmoore.com/en-us/paint-color/hemlock

The visual impact of your house is linear modern lines. Most of it is square or rectangular. I agree with others on keeping that spiral staircase. It's rather special.

If you insist on new doors, your second pic is a good direction to head. Be careful you go modern instead of oriental. I tend to advise toward cost-saving alternatives. You could make a big impact by simply painting the raised panels in the doors themselves. Match the shutters to blend them into the overall composition of the house. Once you get everything boxy and coherent, then soften with plants. Planters that will allow streaming green stuff over the corners especially. I'd be prone to putting something living and green behind the spiral as well.

Moving the spiral staircase would put it in front of the walkway to your front door, or way off on the opposite side, a little forlorn. I like it where it is, and besides, it's awesome. Your porch has character, at least, with all the (what appears to be) wrought iron. Painting and then maintaining paint on that could be quite the chore? You might do better to paint the house a lighter neutral color to set it off, then add accents of color. For example, there is room in front of and behind the staircase for some big colorful pots that you could fill with annuals or perennials. Consider a dwarf Japanese Maple.

I like the suggestion above of carriage doors, but the glass doors would truly update the home.

Maybe to accentuate your main entrance door, build a beautiful arbor with an open gate to welcome people. Put your house number on it so they know where to go. Diminish the staircase entrance with tall big potted plants on each side.

Maybe match the peak of your arbor to the peak of your second floor entrance cover. Architecturally - they would look more balanced. Stain or paint the same nice color - that dark charcoal grey, or match your sun room's color for the arbor and fence stain.

I think we've lost the OP......

hi

my name is Lukasz. I do renderings and I think I can help you.

Johnviet...., johnviet....., still digesting, did we scare you?

Don't put the spiral in the garage. It would come up right between the screened porch and the open-air porch. That would be incredibly awkward. Keep it. It's charming!

Appreciate all the feedback. I'm still taking it all in. The roof/shingles are black with a green flake.

This is a great site! I've been stuck on this delema for some time and your ideas are helping greatly.

I'll keep you posted as I start moving forward.

They probably need the spiral for code egress in a fire sk. Good luck - we look forward to you coming back after you test some colors and ideas to see what works for you.

Don't forget about the lighting around the new garage doors. I like lights above the doors instead of on the sides. Add some light and airy fabric inside the screened porch at each panel section to soften the dark screens on the inside and out. I do not mind shutter, but I would remove the shutter on the arched stout window, but be sure to add trim around the entire window so it doesn't look unfinished...this is true for your new garage doors too. I would also pain the lower garage portion a different color than the upper portion to add weight under the dark porch.

Screened in porch looks like an out of place brown box, so I would paint it beige like rest of house. I would completely remove the spiral staircase. Then pick a third color you and your family like and take a picture of your house and draw the third color on as trim. See if that perks things up. I like the suggestion of the garden gate type entrance to designate the from door entrance. draw attention there.

A few more quick questions then before I start getting quotes:

1) should I save my money and have the porch rebuilt in a way that adds dimension/ architectural detail?

2) would you keep the spiral style supports in the railings?

3) should I remove the roof over the door on deck?

Thanks again!

Yes, keep the spiral style supports in the railings because you have many traditional details - lanterns, roof over deck, shutters, etc. Keep the roof over the door on the deck if only because it makes the "front" of your home look better. Item 1 is kind of funny - "should I save my money and have the porch rebuilt"

You can add details to the existing porch that will save $ - it depends on your overall goal. May I suggest that you start with paint and you will be surprised at how much that investment does for what you have.

yes, this is definitely a project you should do one step at a time. kinda go least expensive on. though, i think you should go more modern with accents, but you can always worry about that later.

If you have problems with people mistaking the spiral staircase for your front door, you could use one of havingfun's suggestions to screen the base of it without blocking access to it or the garage doors.

I don't think there's a problem with the black and beige combo. I think the perception is off because there's no black at ground level other than the spiral stairs. Have you considered something decorative beside the garage doors, on the wall? Perhaps a life-size shadow cutout. I've seen them done in metal and painted black for yard art.

Another option is to hang old-style carriage lanterns beside each garage door. They wouldn't even have to be hooked up since they're primarily for decoration.

I agree some landscaping changes could highlight the path to the front door stairway. If you decide to paint something in a bright color, I'd target that side of the house.

And here's my funny-bone suggestions:

Paint a mural on the garage doors. Depending on where you live, perhaps a woodsy scene, or a beach, or a dock on a lake (dock on one door, lake on the other). It doesn't have to be artist-perfect. Because it'd be large scale, you wouldn't have to worry about the fine details and spray paint is not a big expense.

Or - get some unusual yard art or wood signs to hang beside the garage and from the rail at the front door entrance. A sign could be an oversized hand pointing to the side entrance, another at the top saying "Up Here". One mounted on the garage wall at the base of the spiral stairs could be a fireman, or the words, "Fire Escape".