The power of a well-designed façade is something that should never be underestimated.
It’s the façade that first greets you when you arrive home after a long day at work. It’s the thing that welcomes guests to your home, helping them develop their first impressions of the home. It plays an important role creating street appeal, and also sets the tone for what’s going to reveal itself once you walk through the front door.
But how do you create a façade that speaks volumes of your unique personality and style? Here are a few things to consider to help you design the perfect façade for your home.
Define what’s possible
The first step to creating the perfect façade starts with understanding what you can and can’t do. Some properties have covenants in place which will set requirements relating to things like size, colours or materials used. If there are any covenants on your property, you should be able to find them in the contract of sale or land’s certificate of title.
It’s also good to consider what the rest of the streetscape looks like to get an idea for how your design will blend into the neighbourhood. While you don’t want to create a cookie-cutter home that’s identical to your neighbours, getting a feel for the type of architecture that is popular throughout the area can help you design something that will compliment it’s surrounds, while still offering a point of difference and some unique personality.
Form
Next you should think about what shape or silhouette you want your home to adopt, paying particular attention to your chosen roof line.
If you’re a fan of minimalist modern design, you may prefer a design that adopts a flat roof line, complimented by clean, straight lines. If you’re wanting to create some drama or a point of architectural interest, an angled or cantilever roof could do the trick. Or if you love federation style homes, you can channel the style by using a traditional pitched roof.
Features
A show stopping façade will also incorporate some features that make the home stand out from the crowd.
It could be anything from a custom-designed hand crafted timber feature panel, an area of expansive glazing or a bold oversized front door, to a stack stone wall, some grand pillars like what’s commonly seen in classical design, or a dramatic pop of colour that creates a point of interest.
Ultimately, you can be as creative as you like, but try not to overdo it by sticking to one or two key features so they don’t detract from each other. It’s also important to ensure you maintain balance between the various elements used and that they also remain in proportion.
Finish
You’ll also need to pay some consideration to your chosen finishes, starting with your colour scheme.
As a starting point, cool or neutral colours could help you create a coastal look, shades of grey, white and black are good if you prefer a contemporary industrial look, bold contrasting colours are great if you love the post-modern look, or darker shades of grey or navy can create a moody tone for the home.
Once you’ve chosen your colour palette, add some interest, detail and texture by layering a combination of materials like some exposed stone or brickwork, concrete rendering, timber panelling, traditional weatherboards or metallic cladding.
When selecting your finishes, you should also think about their durability and the level of maintenance required. While it’s unlikely brickwork will require a lot of attention, exposed timber panelling will need regular maintenance to ensure it can stand up to the elements.
It’s also important to pay some thought to what you plan to do with your landscaping to ensure it compliments the home along with the smaller details like what window furnishings you plan to use, as these will also impact the overall façade of the home.
Anything’s possible when you build with Glenvill
When you opt for a luxury custom home builder like Glenvill, anything is possible.
Because we’re not bound by the constraints of cookie-cutter design, we can help you create your ideal one-of-a-kind home complete with the perfect façade, while providing you with expert advice and guidance at every stage of the process.
With nearly 60 years’ experience designing and building homes throughout Melbourne, we have the know-how to turn your dream into a reality. Contact us or visit our design centre to find out more.