Transforming your exterior: lessons from the professionals

With more and more homeowners choosing to stay in their current homes instead of selling, many are deciding to remodel.

If you are thinking about remodeling your home, consider projects that will add style, but will also offer the best return on investment when it comes time to sell. With return on vinyl siding and vinyl window replacement each above 70 percent, according to "Remodeling" magazine's 2010-11 Cost vs. Value Report, it's apparent that homeowners can gain considerable curb appeal and return on investment by upgrading the exterior.

"Updating your home with new windows or siding is a great way to instantly boost curb appeal and reduce the maintenance of your home," said John Stephenson, vice president of marketing for Ply Gem, a leading exterior building products company. "But many people are beginning to consider the possibilities of an entire exterior remodel, by combining multiple product categories such as windows, siding and stone veneer. Homeowners can take their home beyond a simple product replacement, and instead give it architectural style and a new color scheme."

Ply Gem and remodeling company Case/Design Remodeling, Inc. offer advice on how to achieve a complete, architecturally-styled exterior remodel based on a recent before and after project.

Envision your dream home
"Having a vision helps your remodeling contractor understand what style you're looking for," said Bruce Case, president of Case/Design Remodeling, Inc. "Keep in mind, it's also important to select a style that fits with the neighborhood. It may be more difficult to sell in the future if you make a too drastic change."

Your remodeler can make style suggestions, or you can drive around older neighborhoods in your area to gauge ideas for what styles might work best.

For this project, together with the homeowners who were nominated by the community to receive a free renovation from Case/Design Remodeling, the team decided to transform the exterior using architectural elements of a shingle home style. This style worked well with the home's more traditional suburban Washington, D.C. neighborhood, and also worked well for renovating the colonial two-story exterior without significant structural changes.

Mix and match texture and color
More often than not, homeowners stick with the basics when taking on an exterior renovation. However, today's exterior building products allow for infinite options that can take your home to the next level and go beyond simply replacing windows and siding.

When remodeling this particular home from a 1970s colonial to a modern interpretation of a shingle style, it was important to incorporate new textures and colors to completely transform the look.

"This home had a watered down style, but also had inherent architectural elements to work with," said Deryl Patterson, principal, BSB Design architecture firm. "By replacing the lap siding with shingle siding, the brick with stone veneer, the windows with a colonial grille pattern, and adding red shutters, we were able to give it character."

Mixing and matching texture and color does not have to be an overwhelming process. Stephenson recommends homeowners look to collections like the Designed Exterior Collection by Ply Gem, which help simplify selection by identifying color palettes and product combinations that work for specific architectural styles.

Consider architectural details
Beyond texture and color changes, adding minor architectural details can make a big difference. For this project, a portico and roof gable were added, but did not require any structural changes or interior work. To see more of the renovation described in this story visit www.facebook.com/plygem.