NEW SIDING, COLOURS HELP

St-Lazare home takes on stately look with well-defined planting arrangements

Designer Suzanne Rowe selects homes that could benefit from a little inexpensive help in increasing their curb appeal. After examining photographs, she then proceeds to sketch out an artist’s rendering of what they could look like with a few minor changes. We hope you enjoy the results.

In 1992, the owner purchased this early 1970s property in St-Lazare. The house sits on a lot that is almost an acre and is surrounded by mature evergreen hedges and mature trees. She loves her friendly and bilingual neighbourhood.

After renovating the indoors, she is now tackling the backyard and considering redoing the front at the same time. The walls are currently covered with large rectangular bricks making the house seem heavy and severe. The owner has already started removing all the bricks at the back and sides but I suggest leaving the front foundation intact by keeping four rows and adding a ledge on top. This ledge would have to mirror the base’s sandy colour. The foundation will wrap around the sides saving only the corner bricks.

From top to bottom, on the back and side walls as well as over the top section in front, engineered wood will be layered. To soften the facade, its colour will reveal a shade lighter than the bricks but in the same family of colours.

The garage that can fit six cars presents oversized old wooden doors concealed with tin sheets. The overwhelming size of the garage with its high roof and dark coloured doors provide an unbalanced feel with the left side of the facade. For a visual equilibrium, the garage doors and casings could be painted in the identical colour as the siding in a matte finish, but since their surfaces are distorted; I would budget for a future replacement.

The tired-looking roof will be changed soon for neutral dark brown shingles, free of any red nuance. This brown will dictate the colour of fascias, soffits, eaves, chimney base and all exterior components of windows in a matte finish.

The entryway doors and their casings should be painted also in this tint but in a slight sheen. Notice that I’ve incorporated a thick, flat frame around the main door to make it more substantial for an enhanced focal point. On the left side of the door, I propose installing additional wiring for a second sconce. Both brown lantern-style light fixtures should be understated and their top should be flush with the crown of the new door frame. If the owner doesn’t care about the fancy door window anymore, the pane only can be changed by a glass shop.

A new Y-shaped pathway is introduced. One is parallel to the house, connecting to a perpendicular way leading to the garage entrance on the left side, while the other is at an angle for visitors. The paving blocks or slabs and dividers along the beds and gravel driveway should replicate the foundation’s hue.

Three different sized boulders and red tipped ornamental grasses will stand inside the triangular bed and be accompanied by a white blossoming crab apple tree. Red, pink and white colours combined with touches of yellow bring a fresh and happy sense to the botanical composition. Evergreen and persistent shrubs anchor the landscaping and can be embellished with mini white lights in holiday season.

An over-scale planter, centred between the garage doors, offers visual interest with the gorgeous climber ascending onto a trellis. This annual will appreciate hibernating indoors during the winter months.

The owner’s backyard is her oasis, a place where friends regularly just drop by for a glass of wine. It is especially pleasant now with the new deck and recently installed hot tub. Chin chin.

VEGETATION (FROM LEFT):

Miscanthus Sarabande (tall ornamental grass, fine silver green foliage, left side of left Thuja)

Thuja Smaragd (pyramidal evergreens, outer corners of house)

Berberis Rose Glow (shrub, yellow blooms, burgundy foliage with pink tips, left corner of house)

Potentilla Abbotswood (shrubs, white blooms, plant hedge a bit retreated from basement windows to allow sunlight indoors)

Calibrachoa Superbells (annuals, mix white with pink, wall planters)

Coreopsis Moonbeam (perennials, yellow blooms, ethereal green foliage, front of Potentilla shrubs, mass planting in bed left of garage and alongside driveway)

Buxus Green Velvet (persistent shrubs, along outer edge of angular path)

Taxus Capitata (pyramidal evergreen, regular evergreen fertilizer, protect from winter winds for the first years, light yearly pruning, front left corner of bed at left of the garage)

Imperata Red Baron (3 to 5 ornamental grasses, green and red foliage, thick layer of mulch to keep humidity, winter protection, triangular bed)

Malus Sir Lancelot (miniature crab apple tree, red buds, white blooms, yellow fruits, centre in triangular bed)

Dipladenia sanderi (annual climber, white blooms, gold heart, indoors for winter, large planter with trellis, centre of garage)

Physocarpus Diabolo (shrub, deep burgundy foliage, right side of backyard path)

*Thick layer of dark brown cedar mulch over all exposed soil.

Designer Suzanne Rowe transforms this home replacing the large, above-foundation bricks with a lighter shade of engineered wood. The vegetation and pathways add a happy touch.

Before the suggested makeover, this St. Lazare home, with its six-car garage, was covered with large bricks, making it look heavy and severe.

ALEX SCHULDTZ/THE HOLMES GROUP Carbon monoxide (CO) alarms save lives. Replace batteries twice a year and test monthly.