Expert: Stephen Major - 6/22/2007

Question
Hello! Love your site. We have a 1960's small lake home/cottage that we are purchasing as an investment. It is in Georgia.It is one of those homes that has the brick 3/4 of the way up, then it has aluminum siding the rest of the way (it is a one story home) and the windows are small and narrow, due to the brick being up so high on the home.

Door into the home is on the side.  
We are trying to figure out how to change the look of the front. If the concrete block foundation goes under this brick, how hard would it be to remove the brick so that we could make those windows longer and larger and have it be 3/4 siding and 1/4 brick?

Can you think of anything that would change this look on the front. Also the brick is a salmon color, what would be a good accent and trim color for this brick. We want to stay away from painting the  brick itself which is actually in pretty good shape.

Thanks so much.

Answer
Mary,

To answer your other question, lowering the brick is a fairly straightforward procedure.  Salvage some of the bricks to re-build the sloping sill, and align the window sills to it.  This house would look better if you retain the horizontal/rectangular aspect of the windows, so if you lower the brick, I would install fewer, wider windows, probably mulled units.  Just elongating the existing openings may look less than desirable.

Unfortunately the electrical entrance/meter is in a terrible location.  It would be well worth relocating this if it's in the budget.

--Steve Major



Mary,

Thanks for the photos!  A few items:  The cupola on the top of the house would make sense if it provided ventilation.  However it looks mainly decorative, therefore unnecessary on this particular house.

The porch on the left side would be a nice addition.  I would step it down 2-3 steps from the side door so it sits better on the landscape, and continue the roof down and around the chimney to provide shade to all or part of it.  It's a tricky area, but could look great if done well.

Lastly,  I posted 2 slides of color combinations on our website.  The first is similar to what you currently have (which, by the way, is a classic combination of colors for this brick).  The second (which I like better) goes a little darker and browner on the body color.  

Go to: http://www.stephenmajor.com/brickcolorsII.html

Best of luck, and let me know if you have additional questions.

--Steve Major






Mary,

Thanks for your comments (website).  I have some ideas for you, but are you possibly able to e-mail any color photos of the house?  

Our address is info@majordesigngroup.com

If not that's OK.  Just let me know.

--Steve Major