Real Life Rooms: Neutral Southwest Desert Curb Appeal
Hey there Remodelaholic readers! Dawn here, from AD Aesthetic, and I’m back this month with another reader question mockup to hopefully inspire some creative ideas for your outdoor space. If you’ve missed any of my previous reader question mockups, you can always see all my posts here.
If you follow Remodelaholic on Facebook, you’ve probably seen several of the reader questions that are submitted every month. Well each month here on Remodelaholic, I choose one reader submitted photo to offer my two cents on, and I create a Photoshop mock up of what I would do if I were in your shoes! (Pssssst— you can submit your reader questions by messaging Remodelaholic on Facebook!)
First though, my disclaimer: While I can recommend ideas that I think look nice, I have never seen this house in real life and don’t have accurate measurements. I am also not an architect or landscaper and do not know the planting recommendations for your area- I just like to make things look nice. I can’t guarantee that any of the items I put in my ‘virtual’ design will actually work in real life (or that they’ll fit your design style for that matter), and this is not intended to be a professional design consultation. So think of this as a just-for-fun rendering that hopefully gets your wheels turning and provides some inspiration!
On to the fun!
READER QUESTION from Janessa —My husband and I just purchased a lovely ranch style home. We’ve updated the inside, and are now looking to move to the exterior. We’re desperate to get rid of the orange color scheme and want to replace it with something more neutral, which won’t stick out like a sore thumb.. But isn’t plain tan. We’d like to go two-tone to accent the slump stone/stucco combo, but are in need of suggestions! Help please!!
Neutral Desert Curb Appeal Inspiration
Don’t you just love a good stucco home? Neutral colors work really well on this type of home as long as there is enough color around the house so that it doesn’t blend in to the surroundings. With that in mind, here’s what I came up with:
Desert Curb Appeal Updates
Exterior Colors
Janessa had asked for a two tone yet neutral color scheme, as opposed to everything being bright orange, and I was happy to make that happen. I chose a mid-toned greige for the lower stone, combined with a creamy white for the upper stucco portion. Once the colors were on the house though, I could tell something was missing. To provide a bit more drama and contrast, I added in a third color on the window and door trim, as well as the detailing under the roof line. I went with a very deep brown tone, and that one change made all the difference. Like putting eye-liner on… the whole house suddenly looked more awake and alert!
With the orange gone and the neutral colors on the house, I wanted to make the entry stand out more. The asymmetrical front steps are one of the most interesting features of this house to me, so to emphasize them, I added blue glazed tile to the risers and brought the accent color up onto the house with a bold, bright cobalt blue on the door that was inspired by the images above.
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Landscaping
The last step was landscaping. The paths to the house were a bit hidden, so I drew them out by trimming them in a light limestone that coordinates nicely with the new house colors. Then I filled the pathways in with black mulch, bringing the deep trim color from the home down into the landscaping and providing some much needed contrast. A few more substantial plantings up next to the house, combined with smaller accent plants for color along the walkways, and this home was done!
So what do you think? What would you do if this were your home?
As always, thank you to Cassity and the Remodelaholic team for having me back each month. If you like this post, and have a design dilemma you’d like me to mock up some ideas for, you can ask your questions by sending Remodelaholic a message over on Facebook, or checkout my mockup design services over on my site adaesthetic.com. And be sure to follow me on Facebook, Pinterest, or Instagram and say hello! Have a great day, friends!
-Dawn
More curb appeal updates:
Dawn is one half of the team behind the creative blog, AD Aesthetic. By day she works as the VP of Creative for a design and marketing company (getting paid to make things look good!), while by night she renovates her Midwest home, refinishes thrift-store furniture for fun, and works with her husband on raising two tiny humans. Dawn believes in the potential to design your surroundings and your life one day at a time, and lives by the motto, 'Make everything beautiful.' Get to know her better by visiting her blog, ADaesthetic.com, or following along on Facebook and Instagram.
love the colors on the exterior and the tiles on the stairs!
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I also have a cobaltesque front door, Behr Tanzanite, to balance a less appealing muted gold with green grey undertones, so I am partial and biased for the door.
As for the path, it’s an excellent visual extension of the risers and paint colors. I am smitten with the deep brown contrast at the edges. I have an idea, adding blue landscaping glass, or a DIY sub, to surround the stepping stones and creating the look of a stream.
The door and blue and white tiles remind of a little waterfall oasis emerging from greige and chocolate rock formations. With the glass stream, you can find the ultimate curb appeal of walking the stepping stones just above the “water” and walk the waterfall steps in and out of the cobalt oasis “mouth” of the cascading stream (otherwise known as the front door.)
I hope you can visualize that. I’m ready to move in!
Your posts are my absolute favourites on Remodelaholic. I admire your talent and am going to submit a photo of my house and keep my fingers crossed that you’ll choose it for a mock up.
We can’t wait to see it, Val! Dawn does amazing work — and she does take on additional mockups (if her workload allows it) for a small fee. You can see more of the details here: https://adaesthetic.com/design-services/
Thank you so much, Val! You made my day. 🙂
Love that you point out the neutral colors of Adobe style homes… this is a great example of how geography (American Southwest) influences architecture and color palettes! (I stumbled upon this while doing research about Southwest Style for my own blog!)
And those stairs with Mexican tile… adore! Cheers!