A lot of new builds are popping up all over Nashville, but the mid-century, brick ranches we all know and love are still aplenty. Because it’s hard to compete on the real estate market with an older home, a lot of Nashvillians are finding creative ways to update these classic homes to meet the competition. Even folks with intentions to stay put for years to come are making similar updates just to give the home they love a more contemporary look. So whether you want to give your mid-century homestead a facelift, or you’re looking for a way to boost your home’s resale value, here are some suggestions for making a brick ranch stand out.
- Painted brick. A brick home’s exterior can be completely transformed with one simple step—changing the color. And while some folks are crazy about a solid color finish, others love the character a “white wash” finish gives painted brick homes. Painting brick isn’t for everyone, but have no fear, there are plenty of other things you can do to get a coveted look!
- It’s all about the wood. Mid-century homes tend to have a lot of wrought iron support beams and handrails, dark, painted shutters, and vinyl siding. But wood is dominating art and design in 2015, and homes are no exception to the trend. Today’s homeowners are updating their mid-century gems with various elements of design using wood. Replacing wrought iron support beams with a nice, solid wood beam really changes the character of a brick ranch, while upgrading dark, painted shutters to lightly stained wooden shutters brings a warmer, more earthy look and feel to a home. Finally, families across Nashville are getting rid of the vinyl siding on their brick homes and replacing it with the very popular shaker siding seen below.
- Entrance upgrades. Whether you decide to close off a superfluous front entrance, replace an antiquated front door with something a little more current, refurbish an old deck, or get rid of that faux grass carpeting and opt for a beautiful, stone porch instead, entrance upgrades have a significant impact on the value of mid-century homes.
Here are some photos for inspiration. Though not a ranch home, we updated the exterior of this brick mansion with a couple coats of paint and a new front door.
This home was our fun flip on Preston Drive in East Nashville. We did pretty much everything mentioned above, including eliminating an unnecessary entrance and electing for the shaker siding to replace the vinyl.
For this home, rather than doing a solid coat of paint, we went with the “white washed” look. The exterior got an updated look, but some of the original red brick still shows through.
Finally, the homeowners of the house below went all out to upgrade their brick ranch. They painted the brick, replaced the wrought iron with wood beams, updated the shutters, and changed the entrance with a renovated front deck.
If you’re looking to upgrade your mid-century brick home, contact us today so we can help you with your renovations! You can call us at (615) 750-2148 or e-mail us at office@strattonexteriors.com.
