To answer your question I would paint the body of the house blue, all trim white, and then the "fringe" which I think ties into your porch decking, I would paint it the gray. It is a good "grounding" color for your home. Sherwin Williams has a cool web tool. Take a pic of your house and load it onto their site. You can "color" away on your house. When I painted my house for the first time, I did not want the garage door to stick out, wanted it to blend into the house. Everyone said it would look weird, needed to be painted the same as the trim. Used the Sherwin Williams site and realized want I visioned looked good. I have neighbors of dubious design skills! Ha! Ha!

Hi pjfee2...thanks for your ideas. Have to admit I have not given the reno in MT much thought this summer, here!! Actually been finishing our beach house re-build down here and a bit 'reno'd out' to be honest. BUT we head back in just over a month so it’s time I did give it some serious thought, so your comments very much appreciated. Already got builders organized so that’s a start LOL I love the idea of adding stone on the outside to the turret part – but guessing that is as far as the budget would stretch. The siding is in good shape so need to stain it to work. Love the idea of pulling a color from the turret stone to do this. Will get a stone that has some of the log house gingery color in it and then stain the newer part of house a tone of this?? So far I’m sure we will · Rebuild the deck to run across the front of the house and form the roof over the front door entryway · Make the entry way wider and mud room inside bigger · Replace the small window to the bathroom with a door off the deck, matching the French doors. · Replace the tiny window in the turret with a longer one. · Cover turret with schist or stone cladding Not sure about replacing the windows under the deck. Added a picture of them from the inside. This living space is the hardest to figure out how to furnish in this house. It has quite a lot of light from a large window on the left wall - out of this shot - and across the back of the room through a wide door way to the room at the back. Thinking of opening up this wall? And from the inside they seem pretty well balance? Big problem in that room is that there is not a lot of places that we can use to create a sitting area. Need to get a couple of sofas in there and push them around to see what will work. It has 4 doors leading off and as you can see large log posts dotted about!! ANDd a stairwell going down to lower level and garages. Not a lot of space to play with. OK time for another coffee...its 7.30am down here!!

Hi, you have a number of questions I can answer a couple. As a starter, how do I find out 1) how much top soil I will need The amount of soil you need you can work out by multiplying the size of the area you are going to turf by the depth you want the soil. I think they put on around 2-3" of top soil on our lawn and levelled it off. The amount you need will also be determined by how bumpy your lawn is as they will need to remove lumps and bumps and then add the topsoil and level. I would advise getting a no obligation quote from a reputable landscaper. Ask them how much soil it involves. You can then make a decision whether you do it yourself or get in a pro. 2)Can I level out the top soil prior to building a deck - Or should I wait until the deck is finished before landscaping You should definitely build your deck prior to landscaping, it will also give you a better idea of what you are left to work with regards to lawn and garden beds. 3) for this amount of land should I be using the services of a bob cat person to level out the top soil I recently had my rear lawn re laid. It was a job we could have done ourselves as it is only tiny. It meant removing at least 4" off the top and then replacing with garden top soil (weed free) which was then levelled and packed down prior to ready lawn being laid over the top. The outcome is amazing but I don't have a photo yet. Word of warning, when working with garden soils, always wear a mask as my husband contracted Legionnaires disease from shoveling two trailer loads of soil into a retaining wall a few months ago. It is a very serious disease he was hospitalised for 8 days. They do have warnings on bags of compost etc at garden centres but never mentioned it to us at the landscape place where we purchased the soil. I noticed that our landscapers didn't take any precautions either. 4) do I need to destroy the lawn that is currently there before I add top soil on the lawn...Or can I buy soil and spread it on the existing lawn. You need to have the old lawn killed off as there will be weeds among it. I am anti sprays so we dug around 4" off the top of the garden, removing the weeds and roots, but there has been a few weeds coming up through the new grass now it is established so I would say for your large space to have it killed off in some way, then you need to remove the top layer and make it reasonably level for your top soil. With regards to ideas for your garden, you want to think about curb appeal, lead the eye up towards your entrance way. I know your entrance is off to the left so let your border follow the drive way on either side and up to your entrance. Make your entrance stand out with symmetrical pots I can't really advise a specific plant as I don't know your style. These are simply ideas to inspire you. You could fill the pots with white flowers that you change with the seasons or topiary to add some height. With regards to your fence boundary, it would be lovely to have some hedging although it can be high maintenance with trimming twice yearly. I am really into Ficus Tuffi (pleached) which is like topiary grown into each other forming a hedge. I am not familiar with what you can grow where you live but here are some border ideas. There are actually so many ideas, I could be looking for images all day for you, I suggest that with the great space you will have that you create a few garden rooms and focal points that lead the eye. I have added a link to my Landscaping ideas on Houzz. I am pretty sure they will inspire you. And although I am not a professional landscaper, I do have a passion for all design and when it comes to landscaping your garden you need to think about the style your house is inside. Also layering of planting is very important for example I have used box hedging then behind that a layer of star Jasmine and behind that an espaliered citrus tree which is against my studio. I don't have any photos yet but will try to get some up later this week. It is a brand new garden so you can see how a newly established garden looks like, not a five year old plus one as most of my saved images are. http://www.houzz.co.nz/ideabooks/63878109/thumbs/landscaping Layering.... Also think about height, plant some really lovely trees in areas you may want shade and something beautiful to look at. I love Magnolia Little Gem but there are some beautiful trees, I would use a mix of deciduous and evergreen so you get those beautiful autumn colours too. With regards to the front of your house you have some soil area in front of your fence. I would do some planting in front to soften the fence. Are you going to paint the fence? Plants will depend on the style you are looking to achieve in your garden, those above are more contemporary but you could go cottage but seems I cannot add any more photos so I suggest you look at my landscape Idea book (link above). Hope this helps and doesn't confuse you more :)

I am not sure you need to add a deck or raised paving, when there is a usable surface there already. You will have gained a closer connection to the living area, but you will be more exposed, both to neighbours and to the wind, for a significant cost. Raising the fence may break height restrictions, as mentioned, and will also really box you in visually, especially with overhead louvres. Those may feel too low over a raised area if at eave height, and if higher could look awkward against the house. The fence already shades the area alongside it, so I wouldn't extend any further shading right out to the fenceline. I would consider a shade sail before louvres, both for cost and for a lighter, less boxed in appearance. Is there access to bring in a large tree? A good sized deciduous tree positioned near the fence at the edge of the lawn may be a good way to get some attractive summer shade, autumn colour, added privacy and may be cheaper than a set of movable louvres! Below the new doors from the living area, create wide steps These could wrap around to meet the existing steps. Wide steps can become a casual seating area as well as create a connection to the existing paving, and they are less of a barrier visually than a small set of steps. They could incorporate a planter, which will help to soften an otherwise quite hard outdoor space. This would also allow the lawn to remain connected with the paved area, making it feel larger.