When you look at America’s most popular living style, which is ranch style homes, the biggest complaint is that it’s boring.
Ranch-style houses are simple: four walls and a roof and not a lot of frills.
Even ranches on two levels only offer an additional half story, which isn’t a lot. If you are thinking about remodeling a ranch style home, the first thing you need to try is to make it stand out.
Think either big or little
Whether you’re looking to radically remodel your ranch-style home or just do some inexpensive renovation, here are some things that can transform your boring home into one of these modern ranch-style homes.
Ranch Home Exterior
Landscaping: This is a big problem when we talk about remodeling. Landscaping is often as boring as the structure, but when you replace the odd lawn with rock gardens, flower gardens, and some new shrubs and trees, this extraordinary landscape will take away some attention from your extraordinary home.
Image source: John Lively & Associates
You can also visualize your new style by finding a ranch house that is being built and seeing it before the landscaping is installed. This gives you a good palette when imagining your new beginnings.
Siding: When you think of a ranch-style home, the image of a house covered in drab, inexpensive vinyl siding simply pops up on your mind. Changing that single thing can make a world of difference.
Both aluminum and concrete fiberboard give you the option to spice things up with bold exterior colors for ranch-style homes, and cedar shingles will make your house look like a brand new home. Even small brick or stone accents for chimneys can add this texture which leads a person’s mind not to notice the floor plan.
Porches, Patios, and Patios: There are many porch ideas for ranch-style homes, but often these additions are neglected for budget reasons. Even if there is an outside area, it is just as unimaginative as the house.
Image source: Brasada Ranch Style Homes
Get a contractor who specializes in these type of additions if you want to add character to your landscape and home. Whether it’s a stone deck, screened porch, or new redwood deck, you will undoubtedly enjoy it.
Windows. Many homeowners don’t appreciate the difference that new windows can make in a home. Bigger is usually better, and big windows give you more light and a better view. And if you can, use bay windows where you can.
You can use them to add texture to the uniform exterior, but you can also use picture windows, Palladian windows, or even colonial windows if you want to do the same. These window styles add a whole new feel to your home, both outside and inside.
Imagine your home from scratch
Have you saved a few more pennies? Some major construction work can mess things up, such as: B. adding a second floor or raising the roofline if you want your home to stand out from those around you.
Use gable dormers for the upstairs bedrooms and add more of the exterior texture mentioned above. Covered entrances can also add a little more to your front entrance.
Image source: Cornerstone architects
With this type of home, your house will usually sit in a neighborhood full of others, just like it. Walk past your house across the street. You want to know how your house is on the block. Is it the matteest color or the lightest?
Does it have more or less external texture? Compare it to the other houses. If you want your home to stand out from the crowd, consider changing the way it connects with the environment, not just in a vacuum.
You can also remodel a small kitchen by removing the wall to the living area. This extends it without losing the original character of the house. You can use modern details like custom-made cabinets, halogen lighting, hidden sockets or a built-in bench.
Problem: Your kitchen is small and locked
These type of homes usually offer many features to attract a modern day home buyer. They are usually mechanically and structurally sound, and have a low roof with wide overhangs that protect both the windows and siding, and keep outside maintenance to a minimum.
The paneling is easy to combine and reproduce and goes well with many modern furniture and furniture options. However, the floor plan usually includes a lot of small, enclosed spaces that are not really up to date with today’s lifestyle and prefer open spaces and informality.
Image source: Chad Jones Photography
A good idea for remodeling would be to open up the kitchen so that the areas of cooking and socializing are combined without destroying the features that make the house unique.
Solution 1: Open the kitchen to the living area
Instead of isolating the project, you can reconfigure the entrance, dining room, living room and kitchen and remove the wall between the kitchen and your living room. This gives you a breathtaking view of your garden through the glass in the living room and provides a wide open space so that guests and family members can chat with the chef without shouting through the walls.
Solution 2: honor the 50s ranch style
The beauty of the old wood is breathtaking. However, dull, neutral surfaces surrounding it can be a little bland. You can redesign this to look like a 1950s aesthetic kitchen. Go for black lacquered cabinets at the end of each closet and give the island a modern flair that balances the design.
Keeping the tongue and groove trim and moldings away from tearing out, wrap them around the opening and into the kitchen. That way, things look like the rooms are always like that.
Image source: Beck Builders, Inc.
Solution 3: modernize with custom functionality
Soft and warm underfoot, cork floors are a great solution for a kitchen, even if they represent a big throwback to the 50s and 60s. However, standing water can cause the edges to swell. You can get it in different grain patterns depending on the cut, and there are also a few stain colors to choose from.
Benefits of a ranch style home
Open floor plans
Sure, you can get this on a colonial house, but the different floors mean you can’t avoid the divide. With a house like this, you get everything on one floor and a more open feeling with only the bedrooms closed.
Large spaces combine the dining room, living room and family room into one space and are becoming increasingly popular. There is often an open view of the kitchen and no one is ever partitioned off in an entirely different room.
Better land use
While a multi-story house can mean a smaller foundation, which in turn means a lower cost, such a house makes much better use of the land on which it was built. The whole house is on one level and you can spread it around the lot it was built on, which means less space is wasted.
Image source: Hamilton developer
In addition, you can opt for a square or rectangular foundation, while many modern houses require foundations of unusual shapes and more than four corners, which affects the total cost of both the foundation and the house.
Space efficiency
The problem with the so-called McMansion explosion that occurred before the property market crashed in 2008 was that we now have a lot more space than we need, and in return, we end up buying more things than we need.
Sure, you can build a big ranch-style home, but smaller ones tend to be interested in them. This is great for people who want to get rid of things in their life that they don’t really use.
Elderly and disabled people
For people with disabilities who have an impact on mobility, this type of home can mean the difference between independence and regular care. This way, you no longer have to worry about going up and down stairs when you want to have access to all rooms in your home and consequently you have to use wheelchairs, walking frames or other aids.
Image source: Hamilton developer
Summary
Sure, when you think of a single story ranch style home, the Midwest and the age communities come to mind. Both things are valid and true, but there are many other benefits to this type of home. Above, just a short list of ways you can make your home stand out from the rest in your neighborhood.
You can always speak to a contractor or other professional about projects you are thinking of. You can also suggest something new that you may not have thought of yet. Regardless of the type of professional, they can share ideas and information that you simply cannot use.
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