ispeakwhale This is a cute house! A red door will certainly liven things up. Landscape. I like the carport trellis as well. Maybe repeat the round shapes in the lanscaping? Topiaries, looking balls, and the like, but still keep it simple.

libradesigneye Mid-century wowsa -

Since your roofline is white and your masonry block screen is, and even some of the aluminum windows reflect light, I'm going to suggest a two tone look. Most of the house will be a deep charcoal gray for the plane that starts with the vertical element left of the entry, and a mid-tone gray behind the screen to the end on the right / wrap deep charcoal for the rest of the house. Paint the posts between your screen wall in the palest shade of the gray tone you pick so it visually blends the wall as a monolith but barely contrasts with the white screen blocks. I recommend a cool classic gray rather than the warmer earthy taupe grays due to the white accents and roofline.

Your front door appears to be a std french w/ divided lights on top - consider a style appropriate mid-century door see - (they have do it yourself light kits too) http://www.crestviewdoors.com/order/crestview-doors-and-entry-systems.html.

See http://www.crestviewdoors.com/order/crestview-doors-and-entry-systems/pasadena-a-door.html this one is most complementary to your screen / see examples of brightly painted doors against a mid century house from the curb look. Browse the site for screen panels that you can use indoors or out to complement same. I've got a mid-century screen wall and found this site years ago -

More modern solution is a cheerful bright yellow door or if you go red, pick an orangey cherry red. It would look great in bright turquoise or cobalt blue too. Think about your interior color scheme and see if you can find something that coordinates, then spray the screen door to match from the street.

Consider this entry door color when you select flowering plants - most locales have flowering shrubs that could echo all these colors to plant under windows / dark charcoal area on left where foundation planting would be good. (Native daisy is nearly everywhere - very drought tolerant once established)

Then so you can pull out most of the hedge hiding that great wall. For landscape, pick sculptural elements to replace the yew hedge in front of the wall - keep it off to the right and let it get a bit higher there over time for privacy - I'd use one big sculptural green (not bronze) flax to right / between entry door / tetch nearer to end of wall to accent "here is the entry" and screen carport, and put in a rangey varigated green low 2' max high groundcover in the bed all in front of wall - trim the small tree/shrub down into a lollipop round so long as its roots won't impact your wall, and keep it trimmed shorter than the wall always - around 3/4 wall height. Use some natural rounded river rock stone in the light / white family in all the beds.

I'd paint out all my existing exterior light fixtures in a silver tone or buy new very modern ones in chrome to echo aluminum windows / splurge / cut out & silver extra large modern font chrome house numbers and march them down wall top to bottom to right of entry door below light fixture to bring more attention here. Add a thick modern gray painted 6 x 6 post support to a squarish galvinized mailbox with modern chrome numbers at the street with a few green succulents with great architecture - agave etc. at the base. Put some dwarf agave in the bed in front of the wall and in tall squarish zinc planters flanking the front door.

Bargain Backer You need lots of landscaping. We have a great selection of tools and supplies. BEST thing...we have GREAT PRICES!
http://www.bargainbacker.com/Garden_c_7.html

libradesigneye one more thing - since your house has actual strong mid-century lines - best to let that be the solution on the outside, then go to your cottage eclectic indoors, with just a few strong mirrored, silver / mercury glass, chrome, silver toned accents and one gray / french linen chalk painted item - it will seem completely planned. You can carry your entry door pop of color through your entire public space when you select art and throw pillows and it will all tie together even if your interiors are more traditional than the exterior of the house. Cottage-y = white painted furnishings, white trim and pale blue-gray walls inside would make it all feel planned for those pops of color and that eclectic spring yellow front door!

Tracy Penner, Landscape Architect Love that simple modern aesthetic. You are right, it needs a little bit of makeup to emphasize the architectural detail. You can play it up by using a block of colour against the more neutral base tones, as previously suggested. I actually like the existing taupe walls with the white trim. Charcoal, grey or khaki would work as well.

Consider a bold green for the front door, like this photo:
[houzz=Cloud Street Residence]

I am trying to insert another photo that shows a great celadon green garage door, also a good colour choice with neutrals. (hope it works!)

For landscaping, again a bold form of planting will balance the strong horizontal roofline and large sweep of driveway. I would start with removing all the scattered shrubs in front of the feature screen wall. An agave and yucca garden would work great here, but not sure about the climate in Florida for those. If you like the meadow/daisy idea, there are many examples of this. Use ornamental grasses -- just one species, but many plants, and two perennials, again, one species, multiple plants. Make the planting strip at least 8' wide parallel to the screen. Daisies would work though, too!

This photo shows pennisetum and echinacea, in a mass planting: [houzz=SchappacherWhite Ltd.]

The bed left of the driveway should be all thick and taller than the lawn -- a mass planting of lirope (lilyturf) or small shrubs (azaleas or spirea 'lime mound') would work. Then the right side of the driveway is kept low and green, either by having the lawn restored, or planting a ground cover. (This last idea is nice but very expensive to install in a large area).

Finally, at the front corner on the right of the driveway, an address marker on a rectangular concrete or cut stone slab wall with aluminum modern numbers to finish the look:

Tracy Penner, Landscape Architect Here is that concrete address wall photo again.

patinthehat @ispeakwhale I like the rounded theme..... may have to use that, THANKS!

and @libradesigneye, you really should think this over more before you comment..... (BIG laugh with that one, haha) - WOW... your ideas are incredible! Need to digest them and visualize what you are painting for me, but REALLY LIKE the picture I'm getting. I've been trying to figure out how to play up the long low rectangle-look that is so great about mid-century. My last house was a 1921 Craftsman bungalow.... so this style is a big gear-change, but I really fell for it!!

I fell in love with a really different color palette (for me), and some gorgeous succulents. Turquoise blues and bright silvery greens & persimmony accents, like these - Senecio Blue Chalk Sticks, and Kalanchoe Flapjacks, to name a couple. GREAT picture here:


Do you think these colors/shapes/accents would work in with your ideas, and the cool greys for the exterior paint? LOVE the bright yellow front door, .... maybe even a bright turquoise, or would that be overkill with too much of that?? Bright orange/tangerine/persimmon door???? Am I gettin' too out there to the point of garish??

ALL thoughts, ideas, critiques, comments welcome, thank you :)

Urban Oasis I would paint the house a charcoal grey or deep brown and the door a bright color like lime or orange. Keep the fretwork white so that it will really pop. For the landscape, start by removing all the old shrubs and do mass plantings of grasses etc. Check out this picture


Add a few small trees in there as well.

libradesigneye Succulents would be fabulous - and photos above of massing like objects are good examples of how to use combinations to make them architecture like. tracy's right that planting to left of drive would ideally be higher than lawn on right . . .start way back at the property line with the tallest shrubs then fill with rows of fab succulents. I did sort of get carried away ha ha

Interiors International, Inc. Please erase "Cottage" from your mind and stay true to the MCM look of the house. There are so many great things you will find to do that will keep it a MCM.

patinthehat Tracy Penner, i LOVE the Cloud Street green door, WOW. Wish I had a 2nd story with those gorgeous horizontals on it, like the photo. Grey,especially a cool or charcoal grey had NOT been in my thoughts for exterior OR interior, but the more I look & think over your and libradesigneye's ideas........... I may have to put cottage to rest and embrace a more contemporary style. not sure if i am ready for the minimalist stark beauty of Modern, yet!

The big tall palmetto in front of the accent wall wouldn't break my heart if/when it leaves. The only thing i'm hesitant to get rid of there is the VERY mature Sago palm (now about 1/2 the height of the carport wall). If i could work him into the design or maybe move him (without killing him...??) . Central Florida is GREAT for yuccas/succulents, etc, especially with the slope of the front yard. It is elevated by about 3 feet from street level (a medium sized mountain for Florida, haha), so low water plants make good sense there. I would LOVE to do some sort of groundcover in the center front "lawn" and eliminate the grass completely, but the $$$ fairy may need to bless me first. The driveway actually completes the half circle it starts when it exits the carport on the other side, so the carport accent wall is the center of the yard.

AMN I love this color scheme for your house!
http://www.flickr.com/photos/88017382@N00/4361038827/

This one is fun too. http://www.flickr.com/photos/9588695@N05/3714364916/

http://www.flickr.com/photos/9588695@N05/3713804395/

http://www.flickr.com/photos/9588695@N05/3713804601/

Natural colors would be good too
http://www.flickr.com/photos/9588695@N05/3713804601/

patinthehat I hear & obey, Interiors International. You're RIGHT! i am becoming a changed person......

@Urban Oasis, these are lovely! Is that Liriope in the middle layer of the 2nd photo?? What are the smaller silvery green puffs in the foreground, also Liriope, or....?? If I could keep a lawn that lush in C Florida, i'd love it, but i could support a family of 6 on the water bill alone, unfortunately.

libradesigneye, PLEASE don't stop the wonderful commentary & idea flow..... i was delightedly overwhelmed by the feast of ideas, and love them. Thanks! I sincerely did NOT mean to dampen you, your ideas are clearly well thought out and have a great point of view. MANY thanks !! :)

onthefence This is already a neat house. When your changes are implemented it's going to be an absolute showpiece!

patinthehat Just got to look at the Crestview Doors link, LOVE the look! Would the 5 horizontal slices door be too much emphasis on the low-rectangle MCM ?? i just looked thru & saw the Crestview 'Pasadena' ......... want it want it.

http://www.crestviewdoors.com/catalog/product/gallery/id/655/image/2216/

patinthehat AMN, the straw and dusty blue is gorgeous.... totally different yet again! decisions, decisions...... love it! And the website is a goldmine. This is MCM heaven. BIG smile

patinthehat oops, wrong door. Is this the one?? i love it

Urban Oasis The small blue grass at the front is blue fescue, the taller ones in the back are blue oat grass. I think I see fountain and meuhli grasses in the background. The yellow-green shrubs seem to be pittosporum but its hard to tell. Another way to get that color is with acorus (-see picture).The spiky purple things are New Zealand flax. Of course, you have to research what plants will thrive in your area.

patinthehat thanks, thanks thanks......i feel like rolling in catnip, in a very 'modern' way!! :)

rinqreation Wouldn't change too much, it's really charming as it is now.. Make the door pop with a bright color. Landscaping and decorating should do the rest. Maybe some trellis on the left, between the windows? Seems to me this is not the type of home to go cottage.

rinqreation ^ spam spam spam

allib926 Is the house brick? If so, I love the look of sandblasted brick.

finowolf Houses like this in phx have been sandblasted to take all the paint off and the pebbly texture of the block shows. You may have to have the block sealed since you get more rain than us. They also put slat panels about three feet in front of the windows, horizontal wood like a natural sealed redwood. Paint the door a really bright color like orange or turquoise. Get some really architectural plants. Check website. Www.moderphoenix.com. Great collection of mid century looks

finowolf Ooops, moderphoenix.net

Carolyn Hennes Your new place is AMAZING! Keep the trim and screen white to appeal to your cottage style, but paint the body of the house a gray that is the shade of concrete before it dries. If you paint the front door chromium yellow you can replace the shrubs with a series of identical concrete planters, and plant masses of yellow flowers (melampodium or marigold in the summer, mums in the fall, yellow pansies in the winter) If you don't like that idea, definitely replace or enhance the existing shrubs with spiky shaped succulents - agave or yucca. Whatever you do, repeat it several times across the front, and keep it simple. This is the best way to marry the mid century and the cottage styles.

studio | FORMA A few color schemes. Is this house in Florida or?

studio | FORMA oops just read the post, sorry. Yes on the red door!!! Orange or Yellow would look good too!!

parsleycarrots Being Florida, I think a bold color would look fabulous. Think of all those candy colored cars from the '50's--cotton candy pink, turquoise blue, sunny yellow. Any of those with white trim and a contrasting door would look appropriate for your location and architecture. For the landscaping, I think you need some large mass--big, bodacious tropicals, lots of textured leaves, maybe a flowering vine or two to offset the boxiness of the house.

ikwewe What are the colors on houses on your block? Does anyone have a pastel house? Pastels were very popular mid-century. I would go pastel with the entry area, leave the rest taupe for now and keep the white trim and decorative block. Which pastel? Peach or another soft pink, or sea green or blue. Not yellow or anything bright. Then the front door could be a vibrant touch of the same shade. I really love the look of your house and wish we had been able to find one like that. Mine is a little block ranch with a humongous attached garage. We went with a full house pale aqua with coral door and grey trim. There are a few other pastels around, yellow, green, pink...

I agree with those who suggest you keep cottage on the inside. You could have a cottage flower garden in the back yard off your patio, for a pretty little spot to enjoy with your iced tea. West facing but with good shade on the south end lets you have things like roses, snapdragons, zinnias, maybe even lilies. Watch out for those darn lubbers, though, they really munch lilies right down to the ground. Amaryllis is their favorite. (Giant yellow grasshoppers).

aniluap2 Love, love, love libradesigneye ideas. Go with it your house will immediately go from drab to showpiece . The plantings with succulents and grasses is right on target. Blue fescue and most of the grasses are drought tolerant so you should be fine. Palms have small root balls so the sago palm could be moved to another location where it might have more impact.

EasyTurf EasyTurf can definitely help with your landscape. Presently FieldTurf leads the artificial grass industry in manufacturing excellence and product innovation. EasyTurf, the landscape arm of FieldTurf, supplies turf to commercial and residential clients throughout North America. It will provide you with a lush, year-round green lawn - requiring no watering and very little maintenance - giving you more time and resources to focus on the rest of your home.

Alternascapes Get thee to your county extension agent to connect you with your local master gardener association. You'll get lots of guidance on what your soils & climate are like. And make sure to ask if anyone can talk to you about native plants - there's always at least one of us in each group. Natives and plants from similar climates are the way to go for beauty and longevity. There are some fabulous hot-colored tropicals out there I wish I could grow. Oh, and visit local botanical gardens too for ideas. They often have greenhouses/nurseries that sell the plants they feature. Have fun - that's a great home!

PaintColorHelp.com Dallas Pat, what a fabulous little home! When possible, I like to factor in landscaping colors with paint colors. Strange as that may sound. But just as the right contrasting scarf or tie can set off an outfit, so can an aqua plant add spark to an orange wall or door. So I like your thoughts above on the landscaping. Two other considerations: look at your immediate neighbors, and whatever colors they have, use something different to set yourself apart. Also, I've found you can get away with doses of almost any colors in a tropic setting, as long as they aren't too harsh. Red for some reason never feels right to me in hot climates, probably because it's too "hot."

aniluap2 Although AMN straw and dusty blue looks very appealing the thing that makes it so striking is the copper circle partition which your house lacks so my vote is still for libradesigneye's choices

putter2 What about painting the house a bright terra cotta, with the white trim. I'd paint the vertical posts on the car port white, along with the vertical lines on the house. Whatever greenery you use will pop against this backdrop.....and the whole property will look like the climate. A few more palm trees, along with blue/green foliage and some colorful hibiscus shrubs will make this a stand-out! Low shrubbery lining the driveway would be wonderful, too....

putter2 ....and for the front door, dark green white, or even turquoise......

ikwewe I have a blue and silver desert planting area in front of my massive garage. The yard is sandy, south facing, 70% sunny. Silver Bismarckia palm, agave, aloe and a prickly pear. The thing about these is, they can get huge. If you can find dwarf varieties for in front of your carport, that would be good, otherwise, they are really too big for that area. Yucca will work as you can keep that down. Striped liriope, flax lilies, blue fescue are all good size for that area. For my part, I picked big things to scake down and mask that huge garage, especially its front door, so people won't go there instead of the real front door.

Cortada Landscape Design What part of Florida is the house? You have a lot of landscape work ahead of you if want the yard looking great. Check out my page for some ideas. www.landscapingofmiami.com Go to the gallery and the blogs also have lots of pics.

Cheryl Levin Notice how the white lattice shows up so nice against the green lawn. Use this as a guide to add more white paint to your house. The three large panels would look great white. Choose a beige or gray for the rest of the house. I would paint the door a Turquoise with beige, or yellow door with a gray house. Landscape the front of the trellis by taking out the existing shrubs, and put in a water fountain, and new plants. You could make that into a lovely sitting area in the front of your home. have fun.

mugsy1703 Funny that you say you like "cottage". This house is as far from "cottage" as you can get. That said, you either need to tone down the white of the lattice, or balance it on the other side of the house. Not sure how you would do that, as shutters would look ridiculous. I would go for toning down the white ...

Michelline Toulouse I just moved into a similar home and am having the same problem :/ Keep me posted!!

studio | FORMA Hello Patinthehat, From reading a lot of the suggestions here seems like charcoal is the concesus for the house color. I think that is a great idea. Specialy like the comment someone made about a red door feeling to Hot for Florida. That is great point. Perhaps a yellow door or a citron door would work best. I included two photos below with charcoal grey combinations.

Another issue what you liking the "cottage" look. I included a photo that incorporates a modern mid century look however, materials reminescents of "cottage" are used. I thought it would be a good contrast. Nothing sais "cottage" as much as bead board and used correctly it could look very modern. See top right image.

211laketerrace I agree as a Mid Century Lover and Designer the current front door is all wrong. I believe that a clean line modern door like the ones posted above me are good one. Check out all the sources in DWELL Magazine too there are good ones in there. A TEAL door maybe a good one too.

Congrats on a great find... I hope you keep the uniqueness of this dwelling true to the period and character of the home and upgrade with your modern needs. It is a great looking place and embrace the quality of construction of the time

Vicki D Have you researched your home's history? You might want to consider returning it to its original color and go from there with respect to the landscaping.

patinthehat sorry to be so long responding, working the weekend. YES, I AM CONVERTED !! Gone will be my cottage-ways, as we sell the 1921 Bungalow. i am IN LOVE with MidCenturyModern ...... (but i AM intrigued with @studio/FORMA 's ideas of bead board within the modern/contemporary look !) .

THANKS!! WONDERFUL ideas, and generous thoughts.
more later.... got work to do/ $$ to make to flesh out this sweetheart house !!

patinthehat LOVING the charcoal grey, with white accents and either TURQUOISE or CITRON door. succulents and spiky landscape, here I come... :)

sclawson Being as it's Florida and a mid-century modern house, I'd go for some turquoise trim.

aniluap2 I vote for citron - its so much more unexpected and is definitely a WOW color!

EVERYTHING BEAUTIFUL HOME DESIGNS LLC Hope this helps some.

EVERYTHING BEAUTIFUL HOME DESIGNS LLC Gray option

chimay I found this link because some of my photos were used as examples in the postings above. I haven't felt the need to sign up for an account and contribute (until now) because most of the advice you were getting was very sound.

However, after seeing "Everything Beautiful Home Landscape"'s posts, I had to jump in. I'm sure they mean very well, but they clearly don't understand or appreciate mid-century modern architecture because those renderings are completely inappropriate for that beautiful modernist house you've just bought.

4resas Here are some MCM palettes.

chimay I haven't figured out how to embed photos into my posts without uploading them on this site (I've tried BB Code and HTML - please help if you can, thanks!), but I have hundreds of example images on my flickr account if you're interested in seeing them. Check out the Eichler homes, in particular: Here's the link:

http://www.flickr.com/photos/88017382@N00/sets/72157632745341435/

studio | FORMA Agree with Chimay!!! "Everything Beautiful Homes Landscapes" that was very generous of you to render those images. However, this house has a particular historical reference that would be a shame to ignore (decorative blocks). Elements like the window panes and the palladium window above the front door as rendered are also historical references but from another architectural style all together.

chimay As a rule, houses will always look and feel MUCH better when you embrace their original style, design, architecture, and historical reference. If it's a mid-century modern house, go mid-century through and through! If it's a craftsman cottage, go for that! But when you try to make something into something else, the results usually end up looking confused and silly. Like putting greek columns and a portico on a ranch home.

Also, as you may have noticed from just about every TV series, film, and television commercial on the air these days (from pizza to dish soap to automobiles), authentic mid-century modern homes are really gaining in appreciation and will likely retain much more value than a mid-century modern home that somebody has tried to convert into something else.

tallship You live in Florida and you need some Florida colors for your home. One idea is salmon for the house with the white trim. Also, some shutters, window boxes and a front door with a darker color to offset the salmon. Also, some native plants that grow no taller than 18-24 inches. Make beds both in front of the home and carport and use mulch to combat weeds and give the beds a professional look.
I am a real estate broker in Florida and bright colors are what are most favorable. I would not use grays or browns in Florida anymore than I would use salmon in New England.

ikwewe I agree about the colors. Charcoal is so dark for Florida and it will really heat up when the sun hits it. Who needs extra cooling costs? I love the pallettes posted by 4resas above. My house is close to the aqua on the lower right with the pale gray trim shown top right. The accent color is coral. Your decorative blocks should stay white, so that would be your trim color.

patinthehat THANK YOU, all, so very much for the input!! I have come to a very appropriate revision to embrace "The Modern" ! we lived in our 1921 Craftsman Bungalow for 18 years, and i enjoyed its' history and style, but this new (to me) Mid Century Modern cutie is my new love. YES, one has to stay with the style of the bones. @tallship, while i appreciate your expertise and suggestions, i"m not sure shutters & window boxes are the right direction for me. Coral/salmon is intriguing, tho, and white trim is STAYING. !

alwaysdesigning Try going into Sherwin Williams website color visualizer; choose the Historic Collection and choose the Suburban Modern exterior for colors; click on any color to get to the visualizer.

Go to the exterior collections box and choose HIstoric, then scroll through and click the Suburban Modern for the color choices. and choose a ranch style home and try out the selected colors, just drag over and drop to the specific place (door, trim or wall).

I chose Westchester Grey for the walls, Holiday Turquoise for the trim, and Peace Yellow for the door. It looks really good. Try out other combinations. I think you will be really excited to get started painting. Good luck.
https://www.sherwin-williams.com/visualizer/#

patinthehat @chimay, THANK YOU, THANK you for the link to Eichler images! that is the direction i've been wanting, and i have enjoyed your work where i have seen it on the net. i FULLY agree, and i am embracing MCM. Eichler "seems right" for this home.
I had difficulty with embedding images on this site as well, and ended up saving whatever i wanted to share on my desktop, then when i click on the "Attach Images" link below this dialog box, I was able to "choose File" from desktop & was successful. i am admittedly a dinosaur, but it worked for me.
thanks for helping 'grow me up' into modern. enjoying it....

patinthehat This is where i am headed, http://www.flickr.com/photos/88017382@N00/5772917798/

thanks chimay and libradesigneye and studio / FORMA and all other Houzzers. Diversity IS beauty, and i greatly appreciate the comments & suggestions!

EVERYTHING BEAUTIFUL HOME DESIGNS LLC This is more in line with MCM vlues with a splash of clolor howerver some homes incorporate brick , stone and other none traditional materials and still look good .I do agree with the groups comments on keeping the homes traditional / historic value . When ever possible restore.

chimay Glad to help! Look forward to seeing the results!

chimay Oh, and thanks for the tip on the photos... I was just hoping I could post them without uploading- guess not. Thanks!

studio | FORMA Please do post progress pictures!! Glad you are inspired.

Crestview Doors Patinthehat, your home looks absolutely gorgeous. if you do decide to go with a Crestview Door in the future please, please, please send us photos!

Showcase Gardens I'm in love with your breeze block carport. (It's the one thing missing from my MCM "California-style" Florida home.) And while I like charcoal, it's TERRIBLE idea in Florida. Think of your A/C bill!

We're in South Florida, and our back yard is mostly aloes, agaves and yucca. They'll do just fine in Central Florida, save you a fortune on your water bill, and the aloe flowers have a very "Sputnik" MCM feel.

Showcase Gardens Not sure if you want to go with the "authentic" original Florida MCM colors... They were probably white house with pink or turquoise trim!

nstrong Maybe I'm the only one to say paint the open brick work the color of the house. It's beautiful but my opinion is to blend it to the house and not have it stand out so much. It would certainly update it more. Also, you'll never have money better spent than professional landscaping. You can have help with a long term plan if you don't have the $$ to do it all at once. It makes all the difference.

Victoria Loucks One more vote to embrace the MCM style of your house!! If charcoal is too dark maybe a light grey? Then do a fun bright color on the door like others have suggested. Check out Atomic Ranch magazine for more inspiration.

ovalle I would advice, have your two front windos opened a little lower, that would give your house a contemporary look and plant some bush plants, different sizes and colors, bellow them,that will help make your front wall more interesting. And paint the brick wall the same color as the house.

hparks74 Wow so jealous!!!

hparks74 Maybe adding some cedar wood elements could add drama.

The Color People Why go to such great lengths and expense to make the house look great. Paint woks wonders. The main problem beyond the color is that the block screens divides the house. You have the house and then you have the screen. paint the block the same color as the house or a couple of value steps lighter so the whole house make a statement. The color really is up to you. A lot of different colors would look great. And a fun door color would give the house a central focus. Again color is up to you.

EVERYTHING BEAUTIFUL HOME DESIGNS LLC Food for throught .

bprince300 If you wade thru this far - consider allowing your carport to be the central focal point and background 'art' for a native garden, eliminating the need for a mower and using the HUGE front yard space for a nice walking entry garden with a number of 'stopping points' within, some hidden, some open - including a great place to sit and enjoy the morning sun.

patinthehat bprince300, i absolutely LOVE the fretwork carport screen!! having it as the focus, to me, makes sense, and white or libradesigneye's concept of pale pale shade of the dominant wall color are at the top of the list. Your idea of mower-less lawn , as well as ispeakwhale's idea of echoing & repeating the circles throughout the landscape & hardscape speak to me. I am focusing on xeriscape & succulents & at least SOME non-grass groundcover for the front yard. MCM seems to CELEBRATE the low horizontal planes & lines, and that is part of what makes this house so attractive to me. Grey for main house color, be it charcoal or a lighter version, is still the top contender,with a Turquoise or Citron or Yellow or Orange frt door . I lived in a PeptoBismal Pink house for 5 years.....i'm OVER that as the dominant wall color.
WHEN I CAN AFFORD it, Crestview Doors (Pasadena door) is a definite!

No more Cottage for me!

patinthehat and THANK YOU, any and ALL who were so generous & helpful with the suggestions! Even if they are not all to my taste, i am DELIGHTED & SO HAPPY to have all of these creative thoughts aimed at me. We live in an amazing world and I am blessed to be the recipient of all these gifts of suggestions.
**** THANK YOU *****

Karen Johnson Landscape Design Hi 'patinthehat', I'm feeling your excitement and just wanted to share our MCM dream with you! We're in heaven in this 1954 house on the north coast of Tasmania, Australia. Having the same conundrums re: colour. Think this has been the colour for some years, but need to research original colours. Only structural change will be replacing the concrete verandah (the house was so run down, verandah's about to fall away) with a larger deck.
Big plans for the garden...local coastal plants (banksias, wattles) for structure, and lots of grasses, strappy leaves (poa, lomandra, pennisetum, dipplorena, agave), greys, grey-blue, yellow-green (stachys, euphorbia) maybe some succulents in concrete pots sitting high in metal frames. It'll be all about architectural, drought tolerant planting.
Hope you're having as much fun with your project as we are with ours! Enjoy!!

EasyTurf @patinthehat - you're welcome! houzz provides a great venue for idea exchange - i'm constantly impressed by the ingenuity and creativity found in houzz members.

mdamron61 Go with a light gray color on everything even the trims at the carport. Paint a darker gray accent color below the 2 front windows on the left. Then a red front door would awesome! Install some landscaping.

ikwewe Gray is certainly the color this year. What colors are the other houses in the neighborhood? If there is a lot of gray, I would lean another way.

@Karen Johnson, your house is the same color as mine is now. I would change it somewhat if it has been that color a long time and needs refreshing., even though I love that color. New paint always looks better.

EVERYTHING BEAUTIFUL HOME DESIGNS LLC Would you like to see what the crestview door looks like on the drawing? Whitch one

alwaysdesigning I always love grey for an exterior color; try a light to medium grey. Also, plug in Eichler into the Houzz browser bar for Photos and you will see more pics there. Good luck

patinthehat LOVING the Crestview Doors "Pasadena", Thanks, Everything Beautiful Home Landscape. This charcoal & green color scheme wants me to have it..... i can hear it crying for me ;)

@Karen Johnson, i love your roofline feature/pergola thingey! the turquoise looks fun, but fresh paint is a magical thing. we are aiming the same direction for our gardens.... i can't wait to put in the front.....I have a LOT of crepe myrtles needing a new home, and masses of Kalanchoe for the front. a fire pit & hopefully some squared, long low terraced patios in the back. Breaking my old need for curvey organic shapes is TUFF! but the more I sketch rectilinear & visualize it, the more i love it. I've been a slave to my lawn for eons....would love to do chamomile or some kind of ground cover between most of the stepping stones in the back. I understand pebbles and gravel are wonderful with MCM, but theres something about the soft green of turf that is so cooling in the Florida Summer.

@ikwewe, We are 1 of abt 6 houses on our little cul-de-sac, the rest are lite yellows, white, beige, pretty low key. the Neighbor house 3 blks away is similar to what I want (see picture), but don't want to copy him TOO much - different style, tho, thank goodness. We seem to be one of VERY few MCM's with a flat roof, and NO other fretwork homes around.
Can't WAIT to get at the front yard & landscape. THANKS again, Houzzers!! :)

patinthehat Oooh, @alwaysdesigning, THX for the Eichler que!! found some goodies on there!!

aniluap2 If you want a green cover between your stepping stones that is drought tolerant and likes poor soil try wooly thyme or some other low ground cover types of thyme.They have the added advantage of smelling good when stepped on!

EVERYTHING BEAUTIFUL HOME DESIGNS LLC I Think your going to have the best house on the block . Enjoy your project.

Stardust Modern Design Mid-century modern wall lights should be a nice touch without a big investment! http://www.nova68.com/Merchant2/merchant.mvc?Screen=PROD&Store_Code=nova68&Product_Code=MCMS

patinthehat @Stardust Modern Design - LIKE LIKE LOVE those outdoor lights! this is becoming THE most fun house i've played with in years!
And @Everything Beautiful Home Landscape, the 2nd rendering (top Right) with the staggered blocks HAS to be used somewhere on this lot - really like it!
@Analuap2 - I've been looking into wooley Thyme & others for back OR possibly front area between the stepping stones. Great minds, and great idea. Thanks for the suggestions :)

hazeldazel @patinthehat - Thank you soooo much for posting the link to Crestview doors! Just what I was looking for! My midcentury work in progress has a contemporary country door from a box store, that doesn't fit at all, and these doors are GREAT!

To the OP, here are some links I found for some color palettes (I have painting in my future too):

http://retrorenovation.com/2009/03/14/original-eichler-paint-colors-for-your-ranch-or-contemporary-home/

http://www.sherwin-williams.com/homeowners/color/find-and-explore-colors/paint-colors-by-collection/historic-collection/suburban-modern-exterior/

http://dunnedwards.com/Homeowners/ExploreColor/ColorIdeasInspiration/DesignStyles.aspx

patinthehat hazel, You're Welcome! but thank @libradesigneye, for the Crestview Doors idea - aren't they gorgeous!? Libra is my new crush.....i'm so lovin' the ideas and designs! Tracy Penner, Landscape Architect and Studio / FORMA also have my heart with these door photo beauties. LOVE your RetroRenevation.com site with the Eichler colors ..... Post some pix of your MCM, before and after??? I'd love to see what you're doing!!

patinthehat @hazeldazel, good site : http://dunnedwards.com/Homeowners/ExploreColor/ColorIdeasInspiration/DesignStyles.aspx

Thanks!!!

hazeldazel I'm thinking of doing the Sherwin Williams Powder Blue for the body, the Sycamore Tan for accents, and I would love to do the door in the Pipestone Red from the Eichler page. Our house has a lot of rectangle elements (for example on the original wood roll up garage door), so I'd love to get the Ledgestone or the Romeria. That will take some time though, right now I'm still getting rid of all the 80's renovation crap. Tacky brass & glass mixed with country honey oak as far as the eye can see! Gak.

Tracy Penner, Landscape Architect Glad to hear you have embraced the modern, horizontal lines and simple detail of your new home.

Definitely like the idea of emphasizing the fretwork wall....it is bold, as is the circular driveway and centre bed. Your landscaping will need big gestures to balance this. Mass plantings of 6 - 9 shrubs, or two dozen yuccas/grasses in staggered rows.

If the budget is tight, start with just one area. I would likely start with a long rectangular bed under the the two bedroom windows -- planting this will balance the boldness of the fretwork wall, as others have mentioned. This is also a good area for shrubs as the shade will be your ally, so I would plant fragrant evergreens like Mexican mock orange or jasmine in groups until you get a massing that balances with the fretwork.

Save the drought tolerant yuccas and agaves for the fully sun-exposed desert-like areas next to the driveway to minimize irrigation and maintenance. This will also give greater impact from the street view and will delight you every time you drive up!

Finally, the rectangular slab ideas would be best in the back yard. That front curved driveway is plenty bold and provides enough paving for the scale of the house. Any more will give a strip mall effect. Leave the garden areas created by the driveway for soft landscaping of one kind or another. Lawn is better than concrete, definitely lowers urban heat island effect and will cool the air at night.

Please post some pics when you get going. And have fun! (sounds like you will)...