Can You help Me fix this Ugly 4-Unit Building.

Question

Hi BP,

I need to make this building look as nice outside as the inside. 4 total units, all two story "Luxury Townhomes"

My first step will be to clean and restain the 100% Cedar deck. It's still going to look really plain, what do You think? The roofing is green.

Constructive comments welcome.

Thanks, John

Colleen F. · Answer

It is oh so creepy to have someone be able to look in your front window like that.  Have a landscape guy in to recommend some low maintenance planters and add some color.  Increasing the front porch privacy would do a lot for you.

Chris Adams · Answer

My first thought its to make all of the railings/spindles white. The problem with paint is white pant never looks good on wood unless the wood is smooth, which never happens on exterior grade wood.

So I would look into a white PVC material for the railings. The post can be wrapped with a similar material. And I would break up the railing run so I could add a post in the middle between each tall support post.

I would add solar cap lights on each of the new, short post. This will add a nice soft light sours for the balcony.

Patrick McGowen · Answer

I am having a hard time visualizing this property.  It looks like 8 units, are there two doors to the same unit??  I agree about color.  If you need the pavement, how about removing the railing on the ground level, and remove the sidewalk behind where the railing was, replace with some landscaping.  This sidewalk is not usable anyhow because of the barriers.  If you do this, you might even cut at least a few inches of the blacktop out to give a little curved bulb-out of this area to break up the straight line.

Bill S. · Answer

Color - it's screaming for color. In the spring hanging plants or planters attached to the outside of the rail with lots of colorful flowers.

Maybe shutters but not sure if they would "fit".

Perhaps something to hang on the exterior wall that would create a theme with colors. In the southwest they have lots of metal cutouts for decoration.

Benches or planters under the front windows where the rails are not.

Maybe a porch swing in front of the windows on the no-used portion of the deck.

The inside staging looks nice, have the person who did that give you some thoughts on the outside.

Jean Bolger · Answer

I'd say the main obstacle here is the way the pavement runs straight up to the porch (as @David Campos pointed out). It does, unfortunately, give it a bit of that "cheap motel" look. If you've got the budget (& space), I'd at least consider cutting out some of that concrete and bringing in some topsoil and foundation plantings. Large scale planters might work but they're expensive would be more maintenance in the long run (much harder to keep container plants healthy)

Dawn Anastasi · Answer

Can you post a picture of what the inside looks like?

David Campos · Answer

Those are huge units!  I would use two alternating tones of a darker brown or green base color.  Use a common accent pain tone.  Add some potted plants to separate the parking lot from the patios and get rentin'

Account Closed · Answer

@John Adamkewitz

Since this thread has been bumped, it would be cool to see what you came up with.

Joseph S. · Answer

Pull bottom rails and replace with long planter boxes. Add concrete/ceramic boxes with conical evergreens at each of the columns. Change door colors. @Bill S. is on target. This place needs color and interesting distractions.

John Adamkewitz · Answer

Each unit is 2 story, with the master bed having the upper deck access door.

Front porch privacy was the reason I added the lower cedar railings and dividers, just before winter set in last year. This Spring I want to finish the project to make it look better.

The garages are parallel to the building facing each other, the asphalt is complete between the two. The lot is only accessible from one end, ie; unit #4 only sees traffic to and from his garage. The "canyon" as I call it, is private except for any of the 4 tenants.

I like the idea of the pvc white railings.

I'm going to try a few sets of green shutters this week, and some green framed better quality storm doors. I also like the flower box idea.

I will keep the thread updated with the shutters in place, deck cleaned and stained, pic's.

Please keep the comments coming, Thanks, John

Can You help Me fix this Ugly 4-Unit Building.

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