When your garage does face front

16 years ago

Since my last post about walkway design and possible driveway change, I have read many great threads. I too have the "Welcome to my garage door" syndrome, and the builder's special, "the foreboding front step" syndrome.

At this point, since we have to rebuild our front porch as it is cracked and sinking, I am changing hardscape to probably bluestone (can't match the brick), re-designing the walkway using curves etc., and maybe, if I can convince my husband, re-designing the driveway that has always bothered me. The porch and walk is a definite. The drive if cost isn't to crazy. I hate our two cars consuming the front of our house. The boat is new this year and that's adds to the cluttered look. That, I think we'll store at a boat yard off-season and on the right side of garage during the the season.

Our garage does not have a door leading into the house so people do use our front door but to get there, they have to squeeze by our cars. All of this bothers me but again my family is fine with the present driveway situation.

Please look at the photo's and if you could share any suggestions, I would really appreciate your input. I took pic's with car in drive and then put my car on the lawn where it would go if driveway is changed.

Also, the step at the door into the house, do you think I could raise the front porch foundation thus eliminating that stupid step? If so, we might need to add another step onto the porch unless re-grading would work.

Thanks in advance,

Ally

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Comments (5)

maro
16 years ago
Ally - you have to fix Photobucket so we can see the pics.

Maro
ally_ld
Original Author
16 years ago
Maro - I am confused, my pics showed up on my preview, when I did a test and I can see them now. Do you have any suggestions?
Thanks,
Ally
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maro
16 years ago
Sorry -- I wrote without thinking. When I tried to enlarge the small pictures I couldn't enter PhotoB. I can see all the pics. Duh!

Maro
isabella__MA
16 years ago
Ally, your proposed new driveway layout, with the turnout, and curves looks very functional and a good use of space. Your walk to the front door should meet near this layout to direct guest to your front door.

Your garage like millions of others faces the front, but don't worry about it. There are more extreme cases of "Welcome to my garage", like my house and other recent posts.

From the photos the garage is very noticeable, only because of it's large white expanse in contrast to the rest of the house or the shadows of the porch. Your front door is hidden in the shadows of the porch overhang, which because of the post spacing doesn't call out the door either.

If the driveway is a hard sell with DH, then consider changing the garage door color and style to blend it in with the arches and shadows of the front porch, and change the front door color to bring it out of the shadows.

Also for the front step up into the house, don't forget about how much having some freeboard between the outside and inside protects against flooding.
Frankie_in_zone_7
16 years ago
I'm with isabella--the garage door should not be white. Even the gray siding above attracts attention. Might use a color on the garage door like either the window trim or the darkest brick. A darker gray might also work, unless it introduces too many different colors. If you could play with Photoshop and experiment with colors, you might see what works best.