'Disjointed and disappointing': How to avoid this problem when renovating your facade

One of the trickiest things about renovating your home’s facade is the sheer number of choices and decisions to be made.

You might find yourself falling in love with a certain type of material or finish you saw on a show home, while also having your heart set on a design you came across on Pinterest.

But how will your facade look when you combine all the elements you love? Will it be cohesive and contemporary, or disjointed and disappointing?

As a specialist facade designer, I often see renovators choose stunning features for their home without giving them the space they need to truly shine. Too many different features on a facade can look cluttered and unattractive, and the wrong combination or placement of colours and finishes can destroy the look of your facade entirely.

My tip for solving this problem is to choose one main feature to be the star of the show; the diva who takes centre stage with everything else complementing it, rather than competing against it.

Choose the star feature first and then design everything else around it. One or two “stars” are best. If there are too many standout items with varying textures, shades, colours, patterns, sizes or visual weights, the house begins to look confused and cobbled-together instead of cohesive and well-designed.

When updating your facade, often the focal point will be your entry and front door. You can make your entrance the star feature by adding some minor structural elements, putting in some new feature panelling, or installing a new portico or roof over the top of the entryway.

Then everything else works to visually support your star feature. In the above example, this would be the landscaping, lighting, driveway, paths, fences and the rest of the house exterior.

There are so many fabulous products out there, but you don’t need to use them all at once to make your home look spectacular. Like a beautiful piece of art, if the frame is too ornate it detracts from the picture, so make sure your chosen star feature is accentuated, not diminished by its surroundings.

A fantastic facade renovation need not rely on a big budget, either. The right combination of colours and materials and a clever arrangement of these can completely transform your facade without massive changes to the structure of your existing home.

Jane Eyles-Bennett is one of Australia’s top interior-exterior designers and owner of design firm Hotspace Consultants.

Join Jane in her Facebook group Home Renovators Network Australia for design and renovation inspiration and insider tips for your home improvement projects.