A remarkable exterior starts with treating your garage and your home as one cohesive design.
From rooflines and materials to lighting and architectural details, every garage design decision should enhance your property’s overall character while improving the way you use the space. When every decision is made with the whole home in mind, the end result feels cohesive, timeless, and distinctly yours.
Whether you’re building a custom garage or updating your exterior, here are four design decisions worth considering to elevate your home’s curb appeal and transform the look and feel of your property.
1. Design the Garage Around the Home’s Architecture
A garage should feel like a natural extension of your home. The roofline, materials, proportions, and finishes all should be considered in relation to the existing home, or the result will feel disconnected no matter how well each element is executed on its own.
In our Parkview exterior and custom garage project, we replaced a small, outdated garage with a custom-designed large garage that was recessed three feet into the ground and designed with a shed roof that mirrored the existing bungalow’s roofline while keeping the overall height low enough to preserve natural light and views from the primary bedroom.
The exterior of the garage was finished with LUX wood-grain steel siding to complement the mid-century modern aesthetic of the home, tying into the Hardie board and batten on the front elevation and the black fascia and gutters that pull the colour palette together.
The garage is fully insulated and finished inside, providing practical storage for vehicles and outdoor supplies without compromising the property’s curb appeal. Watch the video below to see how these design details came together.
2. Prioritize Materials that are Beautiful, Durable, and Low-Maintenance
A garage renovation is a great opportunity to rethink your home’s curb appeal. The impact can be remarkable when the whole exterior is considered together rather than one element at a time.
In our Ritchie transformation, the 1980s bi-level home had dated brick arches that were giving the home a heavy, closed-in feel. We removed them entirely and replaced them with clean beam and purlin details, finished with LUX metal cladding on the posts that looks remarkably similar to wood, but requires zero maintenance. The remaining brick was retained and updated with a fresh coat of black paint, tying the existing and new together in a way that’s modern, but cohesive with the home’s original character.
One detail worth planning carefully is your house numbers. They’re easy to overlook, but when they’re done right, they add a refined, elevated quality to your garage and the entire exterior.
In this project, we mounted the house numbers onto a large boulder using a horizontal Longboard grid, which is a metal product that looks like wood but requires no ongoing maintenance. The colour of the Longboard was coordinated with the siding on the gable of the home to anchor it to the overall design.
In the summer, landscape lighting illuminates the numbers and turns a practical necessity into a beautiful feature.
3. Don’t Be Afraid to Make a Bold Design Statement
Your garage doesn’t have to blend into the background, and this Ottewell project is proof of that.
The homeowner chose a bold blue exterior finished in James Hardie siding to match the home, immediately setting the garage apart as a standout feature in the backyard. It’s a confident design decision that reflects the client’s personality and gives the property a distinctive, memorable presence. We paired the bold colour with a double shed roof design, clean lines, and modern finishes.
One of the most remarkable features of this garage is the covered outdoor workspace, a generous entertaining and BBQ area with a large access opening that connects the garage to the patio seamlessly. This feature transforms how the client uses their backyard year-round.
4. Choose a Garage Door That Brings in Natural Light
The garage door is one of the largest visual elements on the front of your home.
Modern doors with integrated windows can dramatically improve the appearance of a home while bringing significantly more natural light into both the garage and the front entry. It’s a simple design decision that enhances curb appeal and makes the interior brighter and more welcoming.
In Edmonton’s climate, a well-insulated premium door also makes a meaningful difference to how comfortable and functional the garage is year-round. When the door is chosen as part of a cohesive exterior design, considered alongside the cladding, the entry door, and the overall colour palette, the result is a remarkable front elevation.
Watch the video below to see how the right doors transformed the Ritchie garage.
Need a little professional advice as you plan your dream renovation?
We have much more to share! Send us an email at info@contactrenovations.ca – we’d love to help you make your dream Edmonton (& surrounding area) home a reality.
Don’t miss out on more advice from Paul and his fellow industry experts. Subscribe to our YouTube channel where you’ll find a deep dive into the process behind our remarkable renovations through our weekly videos.
Sign up to our monthly newsletter to receive high quality renovation content straight to your inbox, crafted to help you make confident, informed decisions for your home.
