Up your home’s curb appeal

A 1946 California bungalow stays true to its historic origins.

When you live in a historic bungalow,

renovating the exterior just may not be an option. Homeowners Dennis and Laura Marchese had searched for the right home for almost two years when they decided to downsize after becoming empty nesters. What they found was a 1946 bungalow in the historic district of Orange, California. “Old Towne Orange is on the national historic registry,” Laura says. “We’re in the historic district. It was a post-war development.”

But with the perks of cute houses in the historic district comes the downside of not being able to change much about the exterior. “Because we’re in the historic district, we’re limited on renovations,” Laura says. The home’s minimal traditionalist architecture hasn’t been changed in the 75 years since it was built; Laura believes the home has only changed hands three or four times.

Yet the exterior needed some TLC to look good again. “There wasn’t landscaping when we moved in, just dead plants,” she says. “We did a lot of research and then purchased and planted everything. We basically just enhanced the façade, which was flat, with landscaping. We used different heights of bushes and flowers to give it depth in the front.”

They also repainted the exterior. “We tried so many colors on the side of the house in little swatches, and we ended up with the green that was similar to what it originally was,” Laura says. “We softened it up a little bit, and then we used a crisp white to highlight the simple trim and front door to make the soft green pop.”They kept the front door, which was there when they moved in, but may not be original to the home.

Without changing much besides the landscaping and paint color, Dennis and Laura managed to add a little pep to their historic bungalow and give it great curb appeal for their historic neighborhood.