Curb Appeal for Sarah in Maine
Thursday, April 15, 2010 at 5:33PM 
Our house is a colonial but the "ugly" side faces the street because of sun exposure in the rooms, etc. Because we have a deck on the side and daylight basement with lots of lawn in the back we wouldn't use a large front porch, plus it would be in the way of plowing. I'm thinking a portico that will shelter the entrance, large enough for a family of four to fit on, provide wide steps and somehow fill the space above the door and to the right where there are no windows due to our master bath being there. 
I was thinking some window boxes and maybe even a trellis type strip going across between the upper and lower windows may dress things up. We clearly have white trim and currently have a pressure-treated deck on the side that we need to stain for protection. I'm also wondering what we'll do about wood-tones and white trim that will make sense. 
For example, if I did add wood trellis, window boxes, portico columns etc I don't want to repaint them white every year. (We live in Maine.) Our family room patio door opens to the side deck and I would prefer that the railings fade into the trees rather than stand out against the view. You might also notice we don't have an attached garage and at some point we'll be adding a garage, although there is currently no great plan to attach it. I don't want to build a portico and then have to tear it down for a garage. (We are fine with having a detached garage.) We need some vision so I can commit already to a plan!
I have five ideas for you:
- breezeway
- porch
- shutters
- stone
- larger front door
First of all- I would use a breezeway to connect your future garage from your home. They not only give you shelter- but also add charm and character.
Secondly- do you see the large mass of no windows or anything on your house? I would want your portico to be large enough to cover a lot of that- and visually minimize it. I would take your porch area all the way to the right- as there is no architectural interest over there at all. This will not be a large porch- but large enough to help your house work better visually- and you can perhaps fit a bistro table and two chairs.
Third- shutters. The photo second from the bottom of the post has some shutters- I thought even giving your picture some shutters with my sharpie marker made a big difference. Use a style consistent with your new Craftsman detailing.
Fourth- Stone. I would use some stone at the base of the columns. Notice that in every picture in the post there is stone at the base of the columns. It really adds a richness. Notice the home at the very bottom of the post only has stone at the base of the columns- not on the rest of the house- this would be the case with your place- as you can see- it looks great.
Fifth- a larger door. Your door is screaming, "I am not a front door, I am just a back door!" Take it out and frame in a larger Craftsman style front door- like I added at the top of the post.
You don't have to use white- although I do see how it is the most obvious selection- Introduce a practical wood- so long as you repeat the same material on the shutters and the portico- and then later on the breezeway- and garage- it will look great. 