Thanks, any color suggestions?

Yes. The color you like best.

And ranch - which just means 1 story and elongated footprint.

In other words, don't paint it all one color or install good landscaping.

That's exactly what I meant, Miles. Or was it?

To post them here obviously, because it seems (as is mostly the case with these kinds of requests) to be a realtor asking for blurbs to put in their marketing brochure. I can snap tons of pictures of my home and put them online in a jiffy, but if it is a far away longtime unsold property in your portfolio and you sit behind your desk at a real estate agency, different story.

Realtors make a lot of money for all that hard work, yo!

It's in a high desert farming community. The house is on 15 acres, just natural vegetation (sage) except for a 1/4ac lavender field we just put in. I just got the place and felt the exterior needed some help. Any ideas?

If it's hot and dry and you don't need more square footage, you could make the front porch a white stuccoed arcade, giving it a bit of mission style. Or as many said, paint it one color and bring out the mid century modern look with more glass and a funky porch redo, something do-woop maybe.

Tell me about it. Seems like the last owner was a prepper, so my best guess is that it's a muster point for the local militia. Thanks for the comment.

Local militia? Fuck you guys down south are messed up.

Fire would be an improvement.

Looks pretty ranchy to me. Three bedrooms, 1 free standing bath, one bath attached to the master all on one end; living room, kitchen, dining on the other? Center hallway. It's a fine house. Paint it however you want. You can't really do much to harm it. You could add some real shutters for window shading and an aesthetic change. Fake shutters are the devil. Don't you dare use them.

I would not continue the trend of painting the foundation walls the same color as the house. (I wouldn't have painted them to start with)

"Nope, not a realtor."

:)

I personally love the look of raw concrete blocks.

Beautiful. My place does need siding but it will be a bit before it's in the budget so it's paint for now. Thanks

Yes to the black (or really dark gray-blue) for a cheap improvement. Paint the roof edge and trim a tone lighter.

Vantablack?

Painting it all dark was my first thought too, Second thought, clad the columns in wood, build the front porch with a nice warm clear stained cedar. Replace the garage doors with something that has translucent glass panels, more modern. Rework the driveway, give yourself a round about and plant a large tree in the center to help block the garage visually and give the house something to grasp with the off axis garage.

No snow to plow I assume.

Non, on my project or the OP's? Mine is in Maine but we needed to buy permeable lot coverage for a new pool. They have the driveway cleared with a snowblower. The courtyard has heat cables.

Oh desert, yeah you could achieve the same thing going white. WHITE ON WHITE. Think modern farm house style meets midcentury ranch.

Wood-Guy, thanks for the clarification. Yeah, I was referring to your example. That's dedication to maintain that nice drive lane in winter.

They really wanted the pool, and it's a tight coastal lot. They did not go into it uninformed. There may or may not have been talk about likely paving it someday in the future, once inspections were done. I just drove by recently and it's still there after 4+ years and in surprisingly good shape.

Could you do radiant heating under those permeable pavers? melt the two tracks? just curious, we did this a lot for homes in Colorado not sure how that would work with actually planting it.

Jonathan, I'm sure that could work, especially if there was a layer of foam below, and as I recall it was discussed but this was already an expensive renovation and toward the end they started putting the brakes on some extravagances. I'm honestly surprised they haven't paved over the permeable pavers yet.

Agreed. My yard is all xeriscaped but lush with succulents, no gravel. And painting the house a lighter color will help reduce solar heat gain. Pop some skylights in it if the interior is dark. Now we are being helpful.

A ranch is a ranch, and a colonial is a colonial. When you mix the two you like this you get a mess. There are a few improvements here compared to the "before" version but the columns and eyebrow dormer are gag-worthy. You should consider hiring an architect or professional designer.

Fair enough, can you point me to any examples of "painting it all black". I did a search but didn't come up with much that were a similar style home. And do you mean "all" as in doors and trim? Thanks.

If you redo the roof, do it with solar panels.

Not ALL black.

Painting a desert house black is not a great idea.

It's dark grey, so it's fine.

I had missed the fact that it's in the desert. Hot pink it is, then. (Though the SRI of hot pink is probably on the low side, and high desert isn't always hot...)

Thanks, I tried some of the "homeowner friendly" sites but didn'

Thanks, I tried some of the "homeowner friendly" sites but didn't get anything intelligent (that's where I got the referral on the before/after above). I've learned more here in a day than a week on google, Thanks guys!

I don't know... JLC's lipstick on a monkey kinda takes the prize here.

There was something refreshingly honest about the OP's post. No hidden agendas, no obvious end runs around someone he had already hired, no Fivver or craigslist, etc. I think it's such a relief to see that everyone here (well, almost everyone) is just happy to engage. 

He seems to realize that he's walked into a clubby bar and isn't taking it too seriously. Kudos to him, and a nice change for us.

You're right Miles. He seems chill. And no indignantly admonishing anyone for comments like "it looks like an abortion clinic" which IMO went a little far.

I'll admit fault to that one Donna... there is anti-abortion rally throughout downtown here all day today and it's a pretty big deal dumb deal all week.

LOL I didn't even notice that was you, NonSeq! But yes, anti-abortion rallies can make one cranky. Very, very cranky.

They empty the schools and run their parade of ignorance right down my office's street. I've been hiding (not really... deadline work) waiting for the crowds to disperse so I can go home.