Fiancé and I are buying our first house! I want to redo the shrubs in front of the porch, but what else should be on our to do list? I don’t think I mind the color at all but wide open to any suggestions!

Yes, I know you can get specialty masonry paint, but let’s be honest, most people don’t.

I’ve always liked outdoor spaces that look comfortable and lived-in rather than perfectly styled. There’s something nice about an area that feels like people actually spend time there.

That’s the direction I’m trying to take with ours. Instead of adding lots of decorative pieces, I’m concentrating on a few things that genuinely improve how the space feels.

The seating was the first thing I changed. I wanted enough room for everyone to sit comfortably without pushing everything against the edges and making the middle feel empty.

Plants have helped too. A few carefully placed ones make the space feel softer without taking away from the clean layout.

I’m also trying to think about how everything looks at different times of day. Something that looks great in bright daylight can feel completely different in the evening, so lighting and positioning have become surprisingly important.

I eventually added a ByteFree outdoor TV to that open area. The placement worked better than expected because it stays fairly subtle when it isn’t being used.

There’s still one area I’m deciding how to use, and I’d like to add something functional without making it visually dominant.

How do you usually balance functionality with keeping an outdoor space looking clean and uncluttered?

We are getting new siding and roof, but struggling with the garage door. We have settled on Norandex Myrtle siding and Owen’s Corning TruDefinition Duration Onyx Black shingles. I think a wood toned door would like nice, but unsure of the tone. We’ll replacing the front door a little later.

The 2nd picture is from Gemini but it doesn’t do a great job with garage doors.

For me, it is the door. What's yours?

The link (replace the $$$$$ with 'https', otherwise it doesn't work):

$$$$$://mega.nz/folder/6MEEzQpI#3_9NV_79IZpT5QtJohq_fw

I’m hosting an event tomorrow and need something to cover these two poles or at least make them look better. Please help & thank you.

I'm trying to copy the design of a sears catalog home I found. The porch is weird and hard to design around.

LLMs in regulated markets, marketplace ops in frontier economies, growth for non-digital-native users — whatever’s on your mind.

Daniola https://daniolacorp.com

This photo is before the roof replacement. The new roof is installed which is black. I have fascia board painted black and black gutters scheduled to be installed next week. I am debating repainting the house white? I don't have the budget for new garage doors. Eventually I will get rid of those two shrubs. I have wooden window shutters already built stained special walnut. What's your guys thoughts on the entry area (3 sides) painted something dark like charcoal grey. Any other suggestions?

What architecture style(s) is my townhouse? I live in Southern California if that helps.

Looking for an AI or similar to work through various exterior redesign ideas, rather than outsourcing to a company. Any recommendations that people have used? Would prefer free, but that’s not always realistic. Thanks in advance.

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Note: This post is a work in progress. Definitions and pictures coming soon. I welcome anyone who is able to fill in what's missing or can share their knowledge on a certain topic to come forward. Thank you!

This glossary of architectural terminology related to exterior design was compiled to help you in your discussions on /r/ExteriorDesign.

General Terms

• Awning: A roof-like cover, usually of canvas, extended over or before any place as a shelter from the sun, rain, or wind.
• Baluster: A short column used in a group to support a rail, as commonly found on the side of a stairway; a banister.
• Balustrade: A row of balusters topped by a rail, serving as an open parapet, as along the edge of a balcony, terrace, bridge, staircase, or the eaves of a building.
• Base: The lowermost part of a column, between the shaft and the pedestal or pavement.
• Chimney:
• Column: A solid upright structure designed usually to support a larger structure above it, such as a roof or horizontal beam, but sometimes for decoration.
• Cresting: An ornamental finish on the top of a wall or ridge of a roof.
• Cupola: A dome-shaped ornamental structure located on top of a larger roof or dome.
• Dormer: A structural element of a building that protrudes from the plane of a sloping roof surface. Dormers are used, either in original construction or as later additions, to create usable space in the roof of a building by adding headroom and usually also by enabling addition of windows.
  • Eyebrow
  • Gabled
  • Hipped
  • Segmental
  • Shed
• Downspout: A vertical pipe or conduit that carries rainwater from the scupper, guttering of a building to a lower roof level, drain, ground or storm water runoff system.
• Eave: The underside of a roof that extends beyond the external walls of a building.
• Facade: The face of a building, especially the front view or elevation.
• Fascia: A wide band of material covering the ends of roof rafters, sometimes supporting a gutter in steep-slope roofing, but typically it is a border or trim in low-slope roofing.
  • Hidden
  • Exposed
• Gable: The triangular area at the peak of an external wall adjacent to, and terminating, two sloped roof surfaces (pitches).
• Gutter: A duct or channel beneath the eaves of a building to carry rain water; eavestrough.
• Louver: A series of sloping overlapping slats or boards which admit air and light but exclude rain, etc.
• Pitch: The angle at which an object sits (usually in reference to a roof).
• Porch: A covered and enclosed entrance to a building, whether taken from the interior, and forming a sort of vestibule within the main wall, or projecting without and with a separate roof.
• Roof vent
• Shutters: Protective panels, usually wooden, placed over windows to block out the light.
• Soffit: The visible underside of an arch, balcony, beam, cornice, staircase, vault or any other architectural element.
• Storey, floor, level: A floor or level of a building.
• Veranda: A gallery, platform, or balcony, usually roofed and often partly enclosed, extending along the outside of a building.

Windows

An opening, usually covered by one or more panes of clear glass, to allow light and air from outside to enter a building.

​

• Awning: A window that is hung horizontally, hinged on top, so that it swings outward.
• Bay: A window space projecting outward from the main walls of a building and forming a bay in a room.
• Bow: A curved, bow-shaped window space projecting outward from the main walls of a building, similar to a bay window.
• Casement: A window that has frames hinged on the side and that opens outward or inward.
• Double hung: Having both sashes hung with weights and cords, so as to move either upward or downward.
• Fanlight: A semicircular or semioval window over a door or other window, normally having a fan-like structure of ribs; sometimes hinged to the transom
• Fixed
• French: An outside door with glass panes, serving as a window and a door
• Garden
• Gothic
• Hopper: A window with hinges at the bottom, opened by tilting vertically.
• Horizontal pivot
• Jalousie/Louvre: Upward sloping window slats which form a blind or shutter, allowing light and air in but excluding rain and direct sun.
• Palladian: A window consisting of a central light with a semicircular arch over it, carried on an impost consisting of a small entablature, under which, and enclosing two other lights, one on each side, are pilasters.
• Picture: A large fixed window in a wall, with few or no glazing bars, providing an unimpeded view.
• Rose: Any circular window, especially one of those found in churches of the Gothic architectural style and divided into segments by stone mullions and tracery.
• Sash: A window consisting of two sliding panels (sashes).
• Single hung
• Transom: A window above a door or another window.
• Vertical pivot
• Wheel: A circular window having radiating mullions arranged like the spokes of a wheel.

Siding / Cladding

• Brick A hardened rectangular block of mud, clay etc., used for building
• Clapboard: A narrow board, usually thicker at one edge than the other, used as siding for houses and similar structures of frame construction.
• Cement board: A building material made of cement and glass fibers formed into sheets, used as tile backing board.
• Metal
• Stone
• Stucco: A plaster that is used to coat (interior or) exterior walls, or used for mouldings.
• Vertical / horizontal vinyl A building material (made of vinyl) which covers and protects the sides of a house or other building.
• Wood

Roof Shapes

• Gable: A single-ridge roof that terminates at gable ends.
• Mansard: A roof having two slopes on each side, the lower one having a steeper pitch than the upper; this increases the volume of the enclosed space.
• Gambrel: A roof design having two slopes on the sides and gables in the ends.
• Pyramid: A pyramid-shaped roof.
• Hip: A roof formed from inclined, planar ends and sides, joined at their edges to form hips, the longer sides forming a ridge at the top.
• Shed: A roof having only one sloping plane and no hips, ridges or valleys.

Roof Materials

• Asphalt rolled/flat
• Asphalt shingles
• Clay / Spanish tile
• Concrete tile
• Metal / aluminum shake
• Metal standing seam
• Plastic polymer
• Slate tile
• Wood shake

Trim / Molding

Trim or molding refers to decorative elements that define edges, joints or surfaces through the use of a continuous profile.

• Arch surround
• Rake / barge board: A board fastened to the projecting gables of a roof to protect and hide other timbers.
• Bracket / knee brace: Any intermediate object that connects a smaller part to a larger part, the smaller part typically projecting sideways from the larger part.
• Cornice: A horizontal architectural element of a building, projecting forward from the main walls, originally used as a means of directing rainwater away from the building's walls.
• Door surround
• Drip cap
• Entablature: All that part of a classical temple above the capitals of the columns; includes the architrave, frieze, and cornice but not the roof.
• Frieze: That part of the entablature of an order which is between the architrave and cornice. It is a flat member or face, either uniform or broken by triglyphs, and often enriched with figures and other ornaments of sculpture.
• Keystone: The top stone of an arch.
• Lintel: A horizontal structural beam spanning an opening, such as between the uprights of a door or a window, and which supports the wall above.
• Pilaster: A rectangular column that projects partially from the wall to which it attached; it gives the appearance of a support, but is only for decoration.

Landscaping

Landscaping refers to any activity that modifies the visible features of an area of land.

[...]

^{Sources: All definitions are sourced from Wiktionary and Wikipedia.}