Updating your roof will transform your home’s facade more than anything else

If you asked a group of renovators what they thought was the best way to transform their home’s facade, chances are the range of responses would include repainting, re-cladding, rendering, fencing, landscaping, or updating driveways and pathways.

All of these are effective and will go a long way towards modernising a tired house exterior. However, there’s one key change that will improve your facade more than anything else.

It’s a change that often isn’t even considered, dismissed as being too costly or difficult – updating the roof.

This doesn’t have to be a roof replacement. Minor tweaks or additions to the existing roof and roofline will completely change the look and feel of a home’s facade.

Making clever changes gives a home visual interest by providing a better focal point and adding depth and contrast to the house. Unfortunately, it’s the one crucial element that’s missing from most DIY home renovations.

Take a look at the roofs on most 1960s, ’70s and ’80s homes. Now compare those roofs to newer ones. You’ll see that instead of a simple roofline without any other features, the more modern homes often have varying roof heights and directions.

If you can make even a small adjustment to your roofline, it will transform your home. This might be a portico roof or some sort of structure over the entry point. Just make sure that whatever you do links with the rest of your renovation so that everything has coherence and style.

After

Before

In the before and after photos above, a walkway was created to the entrance by adding a skillion roof to the new carport that will fly over to the older roof on the house. The end result will completely transform and modernise this facade.

Tweaking a home’s roof is one of the most effective ways to complete a renovation and if done well, always results in giving the house a far more striking and stylish presentation without massive costs.

Jane Eyles-Bennett is one of Australia’s top 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.