The facade of a house is typically the front exterior side that faces the street. However, your facade is so much more than just a pretty face, providing the all-important first impression to visitors and passers-by. Your house facade impacts functionality, energy efficiency, and the home's overall street appeal.
When designing a custom home build or renovation, the facade's style and materials should complement your interior style and reflect your personal taste. Common house facade materials like brick, stone, timber, render, and cladding can create a smooth or textured finish. Unlike all the other houses on the street, your house facade can stand out with the right design choices. Your carefully curated facade can improve market value, add depth to the design, and make your dream home come to life.
This guide will explore popular house facade styles, facade materials, costs, and tips to increase curb appeal. Follow along to learn how to create stunning house facades that align with your interior vision.
Making Great First Impressions with Curb Appeal
A home's curb appeal encompasses all exterior elements that create those all-important first impressions. For homeowners, investing in aesthetic appeal is essential to showcase your unique style and stand out in the neighbourhood. Curb appeal goes beyond using popular traditional materials like brick or stone to adorn your home's facade. Thoughtfully designed enhancements to lighting, colour, texture, greenery, hardscaping and more work together to boost your home's wow factor.
Strategically combining materials is an exciting way to add visual interest and depth. Mixing brick with clean-lined cladding or low-maintenance rendered walls blends classic charm and modern updates. Keeping material textures cohesive with the overall design avoids a disjointed look. Homeowners sharing design aesthetics with neighbours can still customise details like colour schemes to differentiate their new home.
The residential architecture and materials world is filled with inspiring options to increase aesthetic appeal. Homeowners have more choices than ever to create facades with personalised flair. Your home's first impression sets the stage for how visitors perceive interior spaces as well. Investing in expertly designed curb appeal showcases your signature style and pride of ownership for years to come.
House Facade Materials to Achieve Your Dream Look
The facade of a home makes a vital first impression. The materials used create an impression and tie into the overall aesthetic. When designing a custom facade, carefully weigh the options to complement your vision.
A traditional material such as a classic red brick delivers a timeless, inviting look. Available in diverse colours and patterns, brick adds warmth and interest to any facade. For a light and airy feel, white-rendered walls create a smooth, durable surface. Cladding in modern profiles makes a contemporary statement with texture and depth. Natural stone like sandstone and slate brings an elegant, upscale look in cool earthy tones. The charm of timber invokes cozy appeal through textured, rustic finishes.
Each material comes with pros and cons. Cost, maintenance, sustainability, and longevity factor into the decision process. Combining contrasting textures and colours produces dimension. Horizontal or vertical profiles add further visual appeal. The goal is cohesion with the interior design and overall home style.
A thoughtful material selection allows a custom home's facade to represent the homeowner truly. Whether you prefer a rustic, elegant, or sleek look, the possibilities are endless. Carefully weigh the facade options to find your dream aesthetic.
Key Facade Design Elements to Consider
The external walls of your home's ground floor serve as the facade that faces the street. As the most visually appealing part of your dream home, the facade design requires thoughtful planning and innovative materials to create impressive curb appeal. When customising your facade, consider the following key elements:
Personal Style
Your facade should complement your home's overall aesthetic and reflect your personal tastes. Create a cohesive look if you prefer traditional, modern, coastal, or other design styles.
First Impressions
As the exterior most people see first, your home's facade makes a vital first impression. Facade details like materials, colours, lighting, landscaping, and more work together to increase curb appeal.
Functionality
Beyond aesthetics, ensure your facade design considers functional elements like entries, windows, drainage, and weather resistance.
Energy Efficiency
Strategic facade materials and fixtures can reduce energy costs through insulation, solar properties, and other sustainable features.
Budget
Carefully balance your budget across the entire home build. Allocate funds for top facade priorities that increase home value.
With careful planning and strategic design choices, your home's facade can stand out from all the other houses on the street. Consider these critical considerations when customising your dream home's exterior walls.
Most Popular Architectural Home Styles in Sydney
A home's facade is an essential element that impacts design inspiration, curb appeal, and market value. When building a custom home in Sydney, the front facade should align with your lifestyle while meeting building codes. Consider these most popular architectural styles when designing the perfect facade and selecting traditional materials:
Contemporary
Featuring simple lines, lots of glass and steel for natural light, and minimalist details. Popular facades include brick, timber, and cladding.
Hamptons
Characterised by white and pastel facades with Victorian influences like wrap-around porches, shutters, and cedar shake roofs. Often uses stone or brick.
Modern Farmhouse
Blends modern and rustic charm with sloped rooflines, wood or stone accents, and black framed windows and doors on white facades.
Coastal
Evokes breezy waterfront vibes with light blues, sunny yellows, and beachy materials like clapboard and shingles. Whitewashed brick is a popular facade material.
Federation
Distinguished by warm red brick house façades, terracotta tile roofs, verandahs, and decorative woodwork. A traditional Australian architectural style.
Choosing the right facade to match your custom home's style provides exciting design inspiration. Consider popular architectural styles and materials to create the perfect first impression.
Kerb Appeal Tips for a Striking First Impression
Your new home's exterior and facade create that all-important first impression on the neighbourhood. A striking facade with strong curb appeal can increase home value and make your house stand out from neighbouring homes. Consider these tips when designing your modern home’s personality:
- Prioritise the entry - A charming front door and walkway create an inviting facade. Consider double doors, archways, porches, and paver or concrete paths.
- Strategic landscaping - Gardens, trees, and greenery boost aesthetics and functionality. Place trees to frame the home without blocking windows and views.
- Statement roof - Eye-catching roofs in materials like tile, slate, or metal contribute bold personality on top.
- Cohesive style - Ensure all exterior elements like materials, windows, lighting, and colour schemes work in unison.
- Lighting - Ambient, task, and accent lighting adds drama and security—and illuminates paths and entries.
- Pops of colour - Front doors, shutters, and other accents in bold hues make your home stand out day or night.
- Texture - Mix textured and smooth exterior finishes. Consider brick, stone, render, timber, and concrete surfaces.
Your home’s facade and exterior create that pivotal first impression for everyone passing by. Use these home design tips to boost kerb appeal with a striking and cohesive look.
Partner with Buildrite for Your Custom Facade
A home’s facade encompasses style, texture, doors, cladding, landscaping, and more to create a stunning exterior. With experience building over 500 unique custom homes, Buildrite can help you design the perfect facade for your vision and lifestyle.
Our award-winning builders and architects are experts in materials, architectural styles, and the latest facade trends. We incorporate cladding, brick, stone, timber, and other textures tailored to your tastes.
Buildrite prioritises quality craftsmanship and attention to detail, from your front door toyour backyard. Our customised design process makes building your dream home facade a rewarding living experience.
Whether you seek a modern, coastal, or Hamptons-inspired exterior, Buildrite delivers. Contact us today to start planning your custom facade and home build. Our team looks forward to bringing your vision to life with a beautiful, functional facade you’ll enjoy for years to come.