Garage Exterior Architectural Design Help

[KDXSR5]

My wife and I just bought our first house. It has an attached 22x26 garage as can be seen in the picture. Long term, we intend to put a detached garage on the half acre lot behind the house, but in the mean time we would like to improve the outside look of the house.

We both feel that the gap between the roofline and the garage door looks "awkward" for a lack of a better word. We are trying to come up with ideas to make it look less awkward. All we have come up with is putting some sort of large decoration up there, but I feel it still wouldn't improve the looks much. I suggested putting a taller garage door in, but my wife was not very receptive to that idea. Is there something we could do to make the area better match the windows? Any other ideas? We have no clue on how to tie architectural themes together, haha. Thank you!

 

[OCD]

I like the bigger door idea too if you have the ceiling height... Also a fake half moon window near the peak to match the others, and the number plate moved above the garage door in the center, and two lights on each side of the door might help...

 

[Cardboard Man]

My first thought when I looked at your picture was to darken the color of the garage door. This would reduce the contrast between the door and the color of the house. My second thought was to lighten the siding in the area directly above the door to look more like the color of the roof so as to fool the eye into thinking that space is smaller than it really is..

I have no formal education in these matters, nor am I a designer, so consider my suggestions with that in mind. I suppose it would be easy enough to try in Photoshop first. Good luck with whatever you decide.

 

[KDXSR5]

I like the bigger door idea too if you have the ceiling height... Also a fake half moon window near the peak to match the others, and the number plate moved above the garage door in the center, and two lights on each side of the door might help...

Yes, there is ceiling height inside to install a taller door. The ceilings are actually quite high in the garage, although I do not have an exact figure right now. We are still moving and I am currently not at the house.

My thought was similar to yours. Taller door, possibly with a rounded opening or rounded corners or something at the top so it doesn't look so square. Put in a couple nice lights and call it good.

Do you have a picture or an idea on how to build the fake half moon window? I am usually pretty crafty, but I am coming up empty on this one. I don't usually care how my projects look as long as they work well, lol. Definitely more of a "form follows function" kind of guy.

 

[KDXSR5]

My first thought when I looked at your picture was to darken the color of the garage door. This would reduce the contrast between the door and the color of the house. My second thought was to lighten the siding in the area directly above the door to look more like the color of the roof so as to fool the eye into thinking that space is smaller than it really is..

I have no formal education in these matters, nor am I a designer, so consider my suggestions with that in mind. I suppose it would be easy enough to try in Photoshop first. Good luck with whatever you decide.

I had not thought about simple color changes. Thank you for the idea, I will play around with it a bit.

 

[SammyNickels]

I would do 1 of 2 things:

A single / cedar shake siding:

or an arbor

 

[KDXSR5]

The shakes and the arbor are both good ideas, thank you! This site is awesome; you are all great for brainstorming!

 

[CombatNinja]

You just need a little false roof. Like this:

Also, consider adding some windows to the door. This need not involve changing the entire door if you can find out the manufacturer, just the top panel can often be switched out for a relatively low cost.

 

[AnthonyJ124]

If I had space like that, I'd go with transom lites/windows above the door.

 

[volleyball]

A changing in siding/color would be a good idea. I also agree with the color of the garage door. Either change that or the house color. Though I would vote for changing the house color and matching the garage and front doors in color.
A couple of fake shutters with a frame around them could be applied to the front area giving the illusion of a loft area.
The taller front doors is a bit complicated to execute but straight forward. You could easily sell it to the wife as increasing home value as a tall door for a regular or handicap type van will be useful and impress any future owner.

 

[KDXSR5]

All good ideas everyone. Thank you!

 

[xtremek]

I definitely agree with the taller door. And something carriage style? Like this, https://encrypted-tbn2.gstatic.com/...wOn_f4pmdI7V1LEjPpB7tqWH4IIrYB3myjj3rKtqCkIyw Also paint or stain it to match the front door.

 

[xtremek]

Or maybe a fake attic window near the peak? But I totally that the area is way to big.

 

[xtremek]

Let us know which direction you decide. And posts pics, please.

 

[KDXSR5]

A carriage style may look good with a rounded transom above. It is kind of a wide door for the carriage look though. We will see. At this point, my wife still wants to put some lame decoration up, whereas I am inclined to do something more permanent.

 

[volleyball]

Maybe a picture of the two of you looking out a fake window. Freak out the neighbors from the start.

 

[BeachBoy]

here what most people do is put a large window.

gives a lot more light inside the garage when door is closed

and looks much better from the outside.

 

[Kaizen]

roof extension and some detail along with carriage style doors.
https://s-media-cache-ak0.pinimg.com/236x/13/b4/63/13b463cd614cc8af9d655497a256e68f.jpg
for a window I'd say like this. you get the idea. however I believe they are big bucks. like said above you can make a fake one with Plexiglas if you have some wood working skills. trouble with fake ones is by the time you're done making it look real it might be the same as the real thing.
http://mediberian.com/wp-content/up...fee-table-gorgeous-images-of-home-interio.jpg
google half moon window pics and you'll get some ideas.
remember to tie in the house. so if you put brackets on garage add to house entry way. make sure half moon is proportionately correct to the ones over the house windows.

 

[chops101]

My previous home I had a similar layout as yours. I bought an octagonal window (non opening) from Lowes I think, and with a sawzall cut it/installed in an afternoon.
It looked awesome, was easy, and inexpensive.

 

[finn]

A taller door would look out of place on that style of house. You want to de-emphasize the fact that a large percentage of the front of your house facade is garage, not make it more prominent by putting in a larger door. The larger door will make it look like a service station.

Try some sort of decorative accent siding / shakes above the door, but I think that something similar would have to be added elsewere to balance the house.

 

[KDXSR5]

I agree with you finn, if we added an accent there it would have to be carried over somewhere else on the house to not look out of place. It is something we are struggling with.

The garage door is a 16x8 and the finished ceiling height in the garage is 11 foot, so we could add a taller door if we wanted, although that may not be the most visually appealing way to handle the situation. I still think a taller door with a rounded top garage opening would help, but again I do not have an eye for asthetically pleasing solutions. The idea is to make it look better though, so I will keep your comments in mind.

After talking with my wife, she actually wants to do a nice porcelain tile floor in the garage instead of messing with the outside first. I am not going to argue with her on that one, haha. We will see what happens for sure in the upcoming months. We are still in the process of moving.