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1365 Ottawa St.
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b r e a k i n g n e w s a t L EA D ER P O ST . C O M S ec t i o n D
S at u r day, A pr i l 5, 2014
First impressions are lasting impressions Front of the home sets the scene
Porches are easy to dress up. A runner is more beckoning than a simple mat. Chimes induce a sense of peace. A pot of annual flowers adds inexpensive, summer-long colour to even a plain porch.
Patrick Langston Postmedia News
Front door
A simple welcome mat and a mailbox bearing your name just won’t cut it. Making your home’s entryway both hospitable and a clear statement about who lives inside means starting at the walkway or even the curb, proceeding to the porch, carrying through the front door and continuing all the way into the foyer. This movement from public toward private space prepares visitors, albeit subconsciously, for who and what to expect inside. So, how do you manage those expectations?
Walkway and plantings W h e n p l a n n i n g yo u r front yard, start with the walkway, says Mary-Anne Schmitz of Gardening by Design in Ottawa. Making it wide enough to allow two people to walk side by side (approximately 4½ to 6 feet or 1.4 to 1.8 metres) makes visitors feel welcome. “If you have a small yard, remove some of the grass for a wider walkway and add more flower beds to soften the landscape,” says Schmitz. She suggests using an extension cord on the grass to design a walkway with an interesting shape. For plantings, Schmitz lets a home’s interior guide the exterior. “If I see a lot of decorations inside a client’s home, then I know they’ll like the cottage look outside: not too much pavement and lots of different coloured plants.” Have you recently moved into a new, leafless subdivision? Start by adding something permanent such as pe-
Leslie Schachter/Postmedia News
Renovations to a 1950s triplex created a landscaped, handicap-accessible path leading to a covered porch with climbing vine. Although highly functional, it’s also an appealing entrance. rennial flowers to the front yard: beautifying that semipublic space will increase your sense of rootedness in your new community. Good lighting adds nighttime drama to plantings and the house exterior while making it easier to navigate.
Porch Front porches let homeowners engage with the neighbourhood while re-
taining a sense of privacy. O t t aw a a r c h i t e c t J a n e Thompson has seen the popularity of porches spike for both custom-built and renovated homes. “A house looks very stark if there’s no transition between the street and the inside,” she says. Whether rambling and traditional or sleek and modern, a porch’s roofline helps draw the eye to the front door beneath it, says
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Thompson. “If you have a hip or a low roof, then you could have a gable roof for the porch with some nice detail on its front.” Making the columns that support that roof wider than they need to be makes the entire porch appear more substantial. Roofed front porches are showing up regularly in production homes, as well. That change from the flat-faced suburban homes
of the mid-20th century is partly just design evolution, says Catherine Shea, Minto Communities’ vicepresident of marketing and sales. “Today’s homes have more dimensions like peaks and rooflines. They’re designed with more attention to the streetscape.” Porches also respond to a homeowner’s wish to live more in their front yard, she says.
“Sometimes you walk up to a house and you don’t even have any idea where to enter,” says Chuck Mills of Chuck Mills Residential Design and Development in Ottawa. He once revamped a cottage with two front doors, one to the left and one to the right, with no indication of which was actually the entrance. It wound up high on his fix-it list Doors — traditional or modern; steel, fibreglass or wood; with frosted, stained or clear glass — not only signal a home’s entry point, but are also what a visitor looks at while waiting for you to answer the doorbell. They create an impression about who you are. So they merit attention. New homes usually have acceptable entry doors, certainly better than the nondescript slabs that buyers got in the 1950s and ’60s. If you want to replace a door with a new one in steel or fibreglass, expect to pay $800 to $1,000 including installation. Solid wood doors including high-end hardware run $3,000 and more. Steel and fibreglass doors, available in multiple styles, are about equal in durability and insulating value. Fibreglass doors often have an imitation-wood-grain pattern. Wood doors need maintenance, such as an occasional coat of sealer to protect them from moisture. They can dry and split if exposed to intense sunlight for long periods.
See Doors, D2
MARCH TOP PRODUCERS HARRY SHEPPARD 306-530-8035
BRENDA & BOB GANNE 306-535-7710 306-535-7177
ANGELO & JENNIFER COPPOLA 306-585-0444
ADAM & KRISTY HUNGLE 306-531-8854 306-531-8975
PAUL JARDINE 306-536-6576
BRIAN ALBERT 306-591-7653
DENNIS PETERSON 306-596-3582
GERI IVEY 306-737-1233
AARON HABICHT 306-535-4147
WILL AMICHAND 306-502-3939
What was old is new. Porchscape is a traditionally styled neighbourhood in Harbour Landing. The urban design includes, attractive street-trees, post-top street lights, and sidewalks separated from the street by boulevards. A warm and safe place to call home.
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3904 Gordon Road
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