8 Exterior Home Makeover Ideas for Budgets of Any Size

The concrete patio furniture that we used for this sitting area is very sturdy and won’t be knocked over in inclement weather. We chose aqua as the color for the gingham cushions and the garden stools because it complements the patio floor and the interior color scheme.

Whether you are selling your Dallas home or plan on enjoying it for years to come, it’s important to make the exterior just as inviting as the interior. Making a good first impression is especially crucial for home sales. If you look at listings online, you’ll notice that the vast majority of home listings feature the exterior as the main photo. However, many homeowners are daunted by the costs and decision-making involved in a renovation, especially if they haven’t made any updates since they first moved in. Below, you’ll find my top designer tips for getting your home looking its best this summer.

1. Start by Making a Budget

Any successful renovation project starts with making a budget and a checklist. After you’ve made a list of your most wanted upgrades, do research on how much each of them will cost, making a note of which you can do yourself and which you would need to hire a specialist for. You’ll also want to make sure you don’t overbuild for your neighborhood or create a design that will clash with adjacent homes.

The projects that tend to drive up costs the most include repainting the whole exterior, adding an outdoor living area, replacing the roof, replacing the garage doors, or redoing the landscaping. However, these upgrades also tend to have the biggest return on investment. Some less expensive ways to freshen up your home’s exterior include:

• Removing fallen branches and dead plants, then planting new flowers

• Washing the exteriors of your windows

• Sweeping and decluttering your porch

• Weeding the driveway

• Replacing hardware with new fixtures in matching metal colors

2. Get Your Front Façade Sparkling Clean Again

Power washing is not recommended for homes with vinyl siding, shingles, or weathered brick. Shingles and weathered brick can be easily damaged, while vinyl siding is pliable, allowing water to possibly get trapped behind it. You can save money on a pressure washer by renting one from your local appliance store instead of buying one. To clean your windows, use a microfiber cloth with water and a few drops of dishwashing detergent on a pole.

3. Consider New Paint Colors

Just because the paint on your house hasn’t begun to peel doesn’t mean that it couldn’t benefit from a fresh coat, especially if the color has become dull over time. Although repainting a home can cost between $6000-$12,000, you can also give your home a more affordable facelift by only repainting the trim or shutters and front door.

Test any new paint colors by painting a small swatch. I generally recommend doing paint swatches in the back instead of in the front, unless you plan on repainting the whole house soon. You don’t want those paint swatches to be visible from the street, especially if you’re not going to commit to painting the house for another six months to a year.

If you own a brick home and the brick is starting to look tired, you can consider painting it a new color. That said, I prefer to leave the brick unpainted, as long as it’s an attractive color. The problem with repainting brick is that once you paint it, you have to repaint every 10 to 15 years to maintain it. When I do paint brick, I like to use paint with an eggshell finish, which stays fresh-looking for longer and helps dirt to wash off.

Repainting your front door in a bold color, like the red paint seen on the front door of this Preston Hollow home, is an easy way to make your front porch more eye-catching.

4. Take a Look at Your Front PorcH

One of the most impactful ways you can update your front porch is by either repainting or replacing the front door. Before replacing the door entirely, consider choosing a new design that will let in more light, have more or less architectural detail, or will be made of a different material. Whether you are repainting or replacing, make sure that the door still complements your home. If you’re replacing your hardware such as your house numbers, doorknocker, or doorknobs, try to match the fixtures to the style of your house — simple, modern fixtures for a modern house, or ornate fixtures for a traditional house.

Some types of home, such as ranch homes, have small entry areas. A popular renovation trend right now is visually enlarging these front door areas by widening the front steps or adding glass inserts on either side of the front door.

5. Have Your Roof Inspected

It’s generally recommended to have your roof inspected twice a year, especially after a big storm. The average lifespan for a roof in Texas is 15-20 years, but the actual lifespan of your roof depends on a number of factors, such as the material and the amount of damage it has taken. If your roof needs to be replaced, you may want to update it with architectural shingles instead of traditional asphalt shingles. Architectural roof shingles have more dimension and reflect UV rays, which helps to keep the house cooler. Nowadays, roof tiles can also be made of concrete, which is more durable than clay tiles.

This landscaping for a University Park home is beautifully manicured and full of variety, between the trimmed bushes, the ivy on the balustrades and the house, the pansies on the left and right, and the Japanese maple.

6. Freshen Your Landscaping

Fences aren’t just for security — they define your property and are another opportunity to add style to your landscape. Adding a gate to the fence gives your home even more presence. Before putting in new landscaping, try to choose plants that are suitable for your climate in all seasons. Shrubs can help hide less attractive features of your home, but make sure not to cover up any windows or other light sources.

Take a look at your hardscape to see if there are ways you can give it more charm and style. Exposed aggregate, colored concrete, or textured concrete are finishes that are becoming more popular for stone walkways. You can also use ground pavers and bricks to add a decorative finishing touch to your driveway. Another trend is retaining walls that are multipurpose and serve as planters.

7. Upgrade the Garage Doors

Although replacing the garage doors is an expensive project, it may be worthwhile if you’ve been having issues with your garage doors anyway, such as them getting noisier over time. Carriage style doors, carved doors, and contemporary style doors all have more personality and visual appeal than flat garage doors.

8. Brighten the Home with New Windows and Shutters

Many newly built homes in Dallas have nonfunctional, fixed shutters that are less attractive than traditional shutters. Consider updating your shutters with country or midcentury modern style shutters, depending on what kind of architecture you have. You may even want to enlarge the windows themselves. Enlarging windows allows more light to filter in while adding dimension to your front façade.

There are plenty of ways you can update your house’s exterior, no matter your budget. If you’re planning on making a serious overhaul, consulting an interior designer is not a bad idea. As the owner of a full-service interior design firm, I’m often involved with both the outside and inside of a house design. An interior designer like myself can keep your project on track and help you create a new look that stands the test of time. To schedule a free consultation with us, call our Dallas office at 214-651-7665 or send us an email at info@chambersinteriors.com.

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• 6-Step Checklist for Making Your Next Outdoor Party a Success

6-Step Checklist for Making Your Next Outdoor Party a Success

We mixed wrought iron and concrete faux bois furniture in this Kessler Park outdoor seating area to create a more interesting look.

An outdoor party takes a little more planning than an indoor one. Here are some of my personal tips for making sure everyone has a great time at your next barbecue, cocktail hour, or pool party.

1. Seating:

For this North Dallas project, it worked out better to have two small tables with umbrellas instead of one large table.

Once you’ve figured out how many guests you’ll be having, you can determine what your seating arrangements will be. Will your guests be seated at a long table? Or will you create a variety of seating arrangements for individual conversation groups? If there will be kids present, do you want a kids’ table?

You may want to rent additional tables, table cloths, linens, and chairs. In the past, I’ve ordered bamboo tables that seat four people and pushed them together to seat six people.

2. Table Settings:

I recommend decorative melamine plates because they are shatterproof and dishwasher safe. With melamine, you can hardly tell that it’s not real porcelain. Acrylic stemware is a sturdy alternative to glassware—after all, you don’t want glass near the pool.

3. Food:

It’s very important that the food you serve won’t melt or wilt in the heat. Some tried-and-true choices for outdoor parties include nuts, crudités and hummus dips, puff pastries, charcuterie boards, and dried fruit.

4. Drinks:

Self-service drink areas encourage guests to circulate the space and possibly cross paths with someone new to talk to. Stock your drink station with glasses, cups, straws, lemons and limes, club soda, and a cocktail shaker. Also consider including your own cocktail mix or punch (serve ice separately so that you don’t water down the mixture).

5. Games:

Food and drinks are not the only ingredients for a successful outdoor party: don’t forget to include games so that your guests never get bored. Good outdoor party games include horseshoes, croquet, giant Jenga, and badminton.

Cheese, olives, crackers, and cold cuts are all good snack choices for an outdoor party, even on a hot day.

6. Weather:

Here in Dallas, the window of opportunity for perfect weather is pretty small. If chill is a concern, provide throw blankets, outdoor heaters, or use a fire pit to keep guests warm. During the hot summer, guests will appreciate access to cold nonalcoholic drinks, misters, plenty of ice, fans, and shade.

Even if you’ve never entertained outdoors before, if you keep these tips in mind, you can plan with confidence. My firm also has a lot of experience with decorating both indoor and outdoor spaces, so if your outdoor living space could use an update, consider giving us a call, too. You can reach us by calling our Dallas office at 214-651-7665 or emailing us at info@chambersinteriors.com.

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Get Ready for Pool Season With These 7 Pool Design Tips

We used matching fabrics for the chairs and umbrellas to give this poolside outdoor living area a consistent look.

Over the years, I’ve had the opportunity to watch pool trends come and go and help choose pool shapes, finishes, and pool furniture for my Dallas clients. Here are some of the things I’ve learned about pools during my career as an interior designer.

1. Determine How You’ll Use Your Pool

First, if you’re thinking of building a pool, you need to list the different ways you plan on enjoying it. Do you want your pool to be for family recreation, personal fitness, entertaining, or a combination of all of these?

Families with children might want their pool to have a continuous underwater shelf or a pool bench. A lap pool needs to be rectangular and very large. If you are primarily using your pool as a party setting, you should ask yourself: will you want a fire pit or fireplace nearby? What about an outdoor kitchen, bar, or cabana?

2. Take a Look at Your Site

It’s important to ask a pool design expert to do a site analysis based on your property. This can help prevent your project from running into snags later. Big leafy trees and pools are a bad combination: you’ll constantly be cleaning out leaves. Pecan trees are prone to a disease call pecan scab in which the leaves develop black spots. When the leaves come in contact with other surfaces, like your pool deck, they leave behind a black film that is very difficult to get rid of.

3. Choose Your Pool Type and Shape

Vinyl and fiberglass pools are not commonly built in Texas because of soil conditions, so if you live in Texas, concrete is likely your best choice. The shape of the pool should also complement the architecture of your house. For example, for a modern house, I would design a sleek and simple pool. Be careful about “trendy” pool designs. A pool that is trendy now can date the house later.

4. Select Water and Deck Color

As far as color goes, I think that a pretty blue or aqua is the best pool color. Light-colored decks reflect light, while dark pool decks absorb heat. One of the concerns with light-colored decks is that they stain easily, but a good sealer can prevent this. Choose a durable tile that is easy to clean for the inside edge of your pool.

5. Plan for Pool Extras

This pool on a University Park home that we designed features an integrated hot tub with matching tile.

A spa or hot tub can be either integrated into a pool or built separately. I think it’s better to integrate the two as long as the spa will blend with the pool’s design. When it comes to water features, I personally love deck jets that arc and crisscross each other.

6. Add Outdoor Furniture

Pool furniture needs to have complementary colors to the home’s exterior. Although I often mix and match different kinds of furniture in my interior design, with outdoor furniture I almost always use all matching sets, with the same metal finishes and same fabric on the large cushions and umbrella. I introduce variety with contrasting decorative pillows or accent tables (like faux bois accent tables or garden stools), but that’s about it.

7. Do Your Research

It’s easy to get excited looking at brochures of beautiful pools, but think carefully before you take the plunge. Although a pool can help sell your house, homes with poorly made pools are harder to sell than homes without them. Look for pool companies in your area that have been in the business for a minimum of fifteen to twenty years and have a good reputation.

If adding a pool to your home is just one part of your home building or home renovation project, you can also bring in an interior designer for their input. An interior designer usually has a lot to say about pools: after all, they want to make sure that your pool not only looks beautiful, but is the perfect match for your house. To schedule a free consultation with us, send an email to info@chambersinteriors.com or call our Dallas office at 214-651-7665.

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Make Your Home Inviting Day or Night with the Right Exterior Lighting

Using a variety of lights creates a balanced and professionally-lit exterior, like this Dallas home we helped to design.

I’ve discussed interior lighting design in previous articles, but today I want to address exterior lighting because it’s really important for accenting your home and landscape. Exterior lighting helps you get the most out of your outdoor living spaces, even during short winter days. It’s also crucial for personal safety: a well-lit property gives intruders fewer places to hide. Below, I’ll go over some of the things I’ve learned about exterior lighting as a design professional.

Just like indoor lighting, outdoor lighting should be layered with different types of coverage. To light the front of your house, use bullet lights with bulbs that have a narrow (12°) spread, and aim them at the corners of your house or on architectural details. Fill in the gaps with soft wash lights. Generally, spotlights should be placed about one-and-a-half feet from whatever they’re shining on. When lighting the upper areas of your house, use smaller fixtures that won’t stick out as much.

For front porches, I recommend hanging a light fixture over the doorway and lights on either side of the door. I like to make sure loggias have hanging lights and fans. You can also put sconces on the columns, and add extra lighting with upward and downward lights. Steps will need lights — such as risers or lit treads – so that people don’t stumble.

One way to light a front or back door is by putting a sconce on either side.

Many people will put a series of lights in a straight line along a pathway, but this can make the path feel like an airplane runway. A more attractive alternative would be to stagger the lights on either side. As far as landscaping goes, there should be at least a little bit of lighting in the flowerbeds. If you have a large yard, you can light it by putting lights on posts at the corners.

Pool lighting is also important, and water features like fountains should always be lit. It’s also a good idea to think about where your Christmas lights will plug in. Add them to the backyard too if you’re planning on having backyard Christmas parties.

Solar lights are not recommended for exterior lighting because they are not as bright as electric lights. If you do use solar lights, you’ll need to choose larger fixtures to compensate. Although LED lights are more expensive upfront, they are a wise investment over time: they are more energy efficient and usually last twenty-five times longer than standard bulbs. When in doubt, use warm temperature bulbs. 3000K is a great standard color, one that is suitable to be used for your entire landscaping system.

It’s important to consider the scale of your home when choosing fixture sizes. For example, a two-story house will need larger lanterns than a one-story house will. If your house is under construction, go ahead and start purchasing fixtures now. You can compare different sizes, holding them up to your house to see which will be more proportional.

When you can, match the style of your outdoor lighting fixtures with the style of your home’s architecture. A traditional home should be lit with traditional wall sconces or an outdoor lantern, for example, while modern homes should use light fixtures with simple silhouettes. If you have a historic house, you may want to have the original exterior light fixtures rewired and refinished instead of replacing them.

When we updated this 1927 home in Kessler Park, we kept the original exterior light fixtures and rewired them.

Getting that “professionally lit” look for your house can be daunting. Between fixture placement, fixture style, voltage, wattage, color temperature, and beam spread, there are a lot of factors to consider for each and every light that you choose. These tips will help you get started, but if you’re pressed for time or feeling unsure, you can always bring in a professional.

As an interior designer, I’m often involved with choosing the exterior lighting for my projects. A full-service interior design firm such as mine can help make sure that your home is well lit inside and out. You can reach out to us by calling our Dallas office at 214-651-7665 or emailing us at info@chambersinteriors.com.

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Design a Balcony, Patio, or Porch that You’ll Love to Use

We decorated this front porch on a Dallas home with faux bois benches by Currey & Company.

Balconies, porches, and patios are enviable design features for a home. But designing an outdoor space comes with its own challenges. You'll need to ask yourself: do you want to design around a view? Create privacy? How will you provide shelter from the elements?

Balconies, especially, are often small. Some people just put out lawn chairs and aren’t sure what else to include. If your Dallas home has an outdoor space that’s a little underutilized, here are some ideas on how to get the most out of it.

General Outdoor Space Guidelines:

A good first step to designing an outdoor space is to research outdoor-friendly furniture materials. Wrought iron, teak, and resin wicker are all common in outdoor decorating. You should also look for cushions that dry quickly and can stand up to the sun's rays.

A lantern chandelier helps to illuminate this outdoor area we designed for a University Park chateau.

Lighting is very important for these spaces, especially if you like to enjoy your balcony, patio or porch as the sun is setting or in the evenings. Look into pendants, sconces, string lights, or lanterns, and remember that bulbs with a warm color are preferable here to bright white.

An easy way to add color to outdoor spaces is to decorate with vases, potted plants, and pillows. Don’t forget to dress up the floor too. A patterned area rug adds comfort underfoot, but graphic floor tiles can introduce a lot of flair too. If privacy is a concern, you may need to add a screen lattice with climbing plants, a tall potted plant, or a shrub.

Tips for Balconies:

Space is premium on balconies, so think about how you’ll be using yours and plan accordingly. If you like to eat dinner out on the balcony, then obviously you’ll need a table; if you’re only going to be reading or enjoying an occasional cocktail, you can get away with just a comfortable chair and a small ottoman or drink table.

Take the opportunity to install built-in seating if your balcony is still under construction. This way, you won’t have to worry about furniture being knocked over by the wind.

Tips for Porches and Patios:

The brown-and-white-striped cushions seen here complement the earth tones in the stone exterior of the house.

As with balconies, consider how you’ve used your porch or patio so far. This is especially important for front porches. Is yours a living space? Or is it a transitional space into your foyer? Either way, it’s important that your outdoor furnishings blend with your interiors and also complement the paint colors on the outside of your home.

An outdoor area, such as this one we designed in Kessler Park, should have a variety of seating options that are all equally comfortable.

Most people who have porches feel like they don’t use them enough. Make sure to buy seating that is comfortable for you and your guests, or else you’ll rarely use it. Porch swings with cozy pillows, deep-seated Adirondack chairs, and rocking chairs give you a variety of options that are both relaxing and durable. Your largest piece of furniture should face outwards, while the rest of your seating in a conversation group should face towards it.

The red painted door brightens this shaded porch and makes it feel more inviting.

A small front porch is still an important opportunity to make a good first impression. If your porch is shadowy, brighten things up by painting the door a lighter color than the rest of the home, then add a new door-knocker. The door should ideally be the focal point of the porch or patio, so flank it with symmetrical plants or furniture on either side. If your door is on the right or left rather than in the center, lead a visitor’s eye to your door with a lineup of potted plants.

A ceiling fan will help the residents of this Dallas home enjoy their outdoor seating area even during hot summers.

Swapping accessories out with the seasons adds a lot of charm to your porch or patio. Include throw blankets on the outdoor furniture so you can enjoy the cooler months outside, too. A ceiling fan is also a smart investment for making your porch comfortable in hot summers.

If you have trouble getting your outdoor space to harmonize with the rest of your home, consider hiring a designer. Despite being called ‘interior designers,’ many of us consult with our clients about their outdoor areas too. A professional will know the best way to take advantage of your space and create a porch, patio or balcony you'll enjoy in all seasons. You can reach out to us by calling our Dallas office at 214-232-9501 or sending an email to info@chambersinteriors.com.

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How to Decorate with Faux Bois, the Classic That’s Making a Comeback

This garden bench by Currey & Company resembles wood branches, but is actually made of concrete. For more information on where to buy Currey & Company pieces, please contact us.

Even if you’ve never heard the term, “faux bois,” you’ve almost certainly seen it used in interior design. Faux bois means “false wood” in French. It can be any kind of decorative item, but when people talk about “faux bois,” they usually mean the cement, stone, or cast iron furniture that is shaped and patterned like wood. Though faux bois fell out of favor for a few decades, interior designers here in Dallas and elsewhere are seeing it make a comeback.

The first example of faux bois was a garden bridge created by Joseph Monier, a Frenchman, in 1875. Monier layered concrete and sand over metal rods and sculpted them to look like wood branches. In recent years, faux bois has remained an important tool for interior designers as certain woods have become more rare and expensive.  

Examples of Faux Bois

We decorated this outdoor patio with faux bois benches by Currey & Company.

Faux bois furniture is traditionally used for the outdoors. For example, faux bois is a great choice for patio furniture, bird fountains, gardening tables, planters, and more.

The latest trend in Dallas and elsewhere is bringing faux bois inside to pull a touch of nature into the home. A popular accessory is the faux bois mirror, which is bordered by interlocking imitation tree branches.

Other examples of faux bois can include dinnerware, wallpaper, lampshades, and fabrics with a painted or printed wood grain pattern. Even glass can be crafted to have a distinctive wood grain look.

Faux bois cement pieces are much more durable than real wood, and can last over 100 years. Unfortunately, newly produced cement faux bois is becoming rarer and rarer. If you want to buy antiques, you can start by looking at the differences between European and North American faux bois and decide which style you like best.

Faux Bois Furniture Traditions in America

The frame of this mirror is surrounded by faux bois branches and leaves, which resemble carved wood.

In the 1920’s, Mexican-born artist Dionisio Rodriguez developed his own take on faux bois. The Mexican style of faux bois is called “El Trabajo Rustico,” or ‘the rustic work.’ Trabajo rustico furniture were usually tinted and given highly naturalistic details such as lichen, peeled bark, and knotholes.

Today, Rodriguez’s largest pieces are kept in the Brackenridge Park in San Antonio. Carlos Cortes, Rodriguez’s great-nephew, continues the tradition using steel-reinforced concrete in his studio in San Antonio.

Another designer who made faux bois a hit in America was John Dickinson. In the 1970s, Dickinson’s design collection included faux bois lamps and mirrors with cast concrete “twigs.” He used a distinctive chalk white finish for many of these pieces. John Dickinson’s furniture and accessories command high prices from collectors today.

Now that it’s the twenty-tens, faux bois is probably enjoying another resurgence in popularity because of Martha Stewart, who fell in love with Rodriguez’s pieces in Brackenridge Park and released her own line of faux bois bath items.

Faux Bois Design Tips

Because faux bois has been around for such a long time, you don’t need to worry about it being a passing fad. It also has the advantage of blending with either rustic, shabby chic, or upscale contemporary rooms.

This accent table by Currey & Company is well-suited for the indoors, too.

If you want your faux bois pieces to have their maximum impact, limit them to one or two per room. Visitors will enjoy the surprise of seeing tree stumps as low tables, or wood branches as hanging rods. You can mix these pieces easily with real wood and other organic textures, such as a sisal rug.

Introducing a bold graphic wood-grain print is one example of how faux bois should be used in modern interior design. Faux bois wallpaper can come in playful colors, and there are a variety of options for the scale, texture, or subtlety of the pattern too. One smart way to update your kitchen cabinetry is to find a painter who’s experienced with a faux wood painting finish.

Our design team at Chambers Interiors in Dallas has personal experience decorating with faux bois. Whether you already own faux bois and could use some creative ideas for decorating with it, or you’re interested in buying faux bois furniture for the first time, Chambers Interiors can help you bridge the gap between your vision and your next home.

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