Best House Front Design Ideas For Your Curb Appeal

House front designs are just as important as the interior of your house, so designing the exterior of your house is crucial. This is for a few reasons. For one, the exterior of your house is the first thing people will notice about your home.

But also, when you drive home every day, you want to be able to walk into a home you can be proud of. So yes, if you have control over how the house front design of your house goes, then seize that opportunity.

Best House Front Designs

house front design
Image from INVision Design & Build

Designing the exterior of your house doesn’t have to be a chore either, it can be fun. It also doesn’t have to be a design from a list. You can create a gorgeous front house design that is as special as you are.

For example, here we see a marriage of rustic, contemporary, and Spanish colonial. This is what we call a unique house front design style that was made just for the homeowners. There isn’t another home like it.

That’s what makes a front home design special. However, you need to start somewhere. Unless you are an architect or designer, you need to come up with keywords and design styles to offer the designer working on your house. 

I mean, you can be vague but the more details you give the designer, the more they have to work with and the more likely it is that your dream home will come to life. To find out where to get started, take a look at a few house-front design styles.

Contemporary Normal Front House Elevation Design

normal house front elevation designs
Image from Rosewood Custom Builders

The contemporary house front design is a popular one. The word contemporary means, “up-to-date and trending,” so of course this style is popular. It combines everything that is hot at the time and turns into something beautiful. 

Words For Contemporary Designs

  • Simplicity – contemporary designs should be simple. They don’t need a lot of details to be special. You can create them with simple lines and a relaxing atmosphere. The world needs a little peace.
  • Sophistication – contemporary designs are often considered high-end just because those designing them have class. This just proves that you don’t need money to create a space that looks high-end.
  • Cleanliness – like a contemporary design should be simple, it should also be clean. You need to have clean lines in a contemporary design if you want it to look right. 
  • Boldness – although it is best to keep it simple, that doesn’t mean you can’t be bold. Add some contemporary art, buy that edgy statue you’ve had your eyes on, and use wallpaper on a feature wall. Be bold.
  • Polygonal – this is something that’s easy to follow along with. Contemrpaory designs love to focus on simple shapes. But they also love incorporating polygonal shapes, usually hexagons or octagons. 

Transitional House Front Design

Inspiration for a contemporary beige two story exterior home
Image from Christopher Jones Photography

A transitional house front designs are harder to pin down than most. That’s because it mixes multiple design styles to create something special. Those with this design style don’t like to be put into a box, despite this being a specific design style. 

Words For Transitional Design

  • Chrome – chrome doesn’t work well in all design styles, or at least it wasn’t made to go in all types of houses. But if there’s one design style that is made of it, then it’s the transitional design style.
  • Art-focused – another house front design style for those who love art is the transitional design style. that’s because this is all about self-expression in the modern world. Not just hopping on the next trending art wagon. 
  • Cultural – it’s important that those who love a transitional design can add something cultural to their home. In most cases, this includes pieces of their own ancestry and other times just cultures they appreciate. 
  • Old-world – along with the cultural aspect of a transitional design style, it can help to add an old-world feel. Not necessarily country, but something that looks old-world yet very high-end.

Eclectic Modern House Front Design

Inspiration for a contemporary beige two story exterior home
Image from Coats Homes

An eclectic design style is similar to a transitional design style but even more chaotic. An eclectic design style is primarily those who want their space to be a statement of their art and is almost always designed by the homeowner. 

Words For Eclectic Designs

  • Random – this is the first thing most people think of when imagining an eclectic design style. That’s because, to onlookers, the pieces used in an eclectic design style are quire random and mix-and-match. 
  • Periodical/Historical – this is important to most people who choose this design style. They want to add a bit of history to their design to keep it from being a simple display of likes and passions. 
  • Character – because they do love random items added to their homes, there is a lot of character in an eclectic home. You won’t find a single piece in their home that doesn’t have a story.
  • Harmony – while most people see a random display of items, those who design an eclectic home see harmony. They are usually spiritual and want to bring every piece together to create a vision. 

Mid-Century Modern House Front Designs

Inspiration for a contemporary beige two story exterior home
Iamge from Gelotte Hommas Drivdahl Architecture

People love the mid-century modern design which is why it is one of the most popular design styles. This style describes the design style that was popular throughout the 40s, 50s, and 60s, though this range is sometimes broadened.

Words For Mid-Century Design

  • Urban – a mid-century modern design usually has a more urban city-feel to it. As opposed to a country look that is. Imagine The Brady Bunch house, which was a split-level home as well.
  • Post-war – because mid-century modern was literally inspired by the time after the Second World War, most of the design was drawn from that era. 
  • Functionality – again, this was inspired by the post-war era. During this time, people were more focused on family rather than fortune. They needed everything in their house to have a purpose.

Rustic House Front Designs

Inspiration for a contemporary beige two story exterior home
Image from Living Stone Design + Build

A rustic design is something you’d find in cabins and cottages. One thing that usually connects all rustic house front designs is the use of natural materials. That and perhaps a fireplace somewhere in the house.

Words For Rustic Front Designs

  • Nature – nature is one of the first ones people think of when they imagine a rustic design. That’s because rustic designs are usually made of stone, wood, and other natural materials. 
  • Warm – due to their natural look and feel, rustic homes are usually very warm and inviting. They make people want to curl up by the fireplace that is usually present in the home. 
  • Distressed – not everything in this home is repurposed but it is often salvaged. When it isn’t, it is made to look distressed and worn. The reason for this brings us to our next point. 
  • Loved – yes. Those who love this rustic design are usually in love with the rustic design. Each piece is special to them and they love their home in a way others may not be able to understand. 

Glass House Front Designs

Inspiration for a contemporary beige two story exterior home
Image from Materials Marketing

Though a “glass house design” can fit into contemporary, modern, and eclectic, it deserves its own category. That’s because glass houses are very rare and very unique. Building one is no easy task and takes an elite team. 

Words For Glass Designs

  • Clean corners – this is important for the design and architectural integrity of the house. A glasshouse needs to be clean and balanced or else it won’t look right and the light will reflect oddly.
  • Asymmetry – not all glasshouses are asymmetrical, but having a glasshouse can inspire one. Glasshouses look amazing either way but they tend to make a bigger statement if they are asymmetrical. 
  • Open-concept – though any home can be open-concept, it’s important that a glass home is open-concepty. If it isn’t, then your house may look very small from the outside, which is never a good thing.

Farmhouse House Front Design

Inspiration for a contemporary beige two story exterior home
Image from M House Development

A farmhouse design hasn’t always been popular. It was primary used out of necessity not desire. But in recent years, with new HGTV stars coming to light, it has become almost as popular as mid-century modern.

Words For Farmhouse Design

  • Country – this is the most important part of a farmhouse design. A farmhouse design is a design that looks as if it belongs on a farm or ranch. It is not a city house but a country house instead. 
  • Pioneer – this is the general era of this type of home. A colonial-type design that is inspired by any and all of the design styles that were popular during the colonization of the United States.
  • Repurposed – it’s important that at least something looks repurposed in a farmhouse. This can be old mason jars, milk tins, or beams hung from the ceiling. Big or small, it doesn’t matter.

Scandinavian House Front Design 

Inspiration for a contemporary beige two story exterior home
Image from Vanguard Studio Inc.

A Scandinavian house design isn’t one of the more popular house designs, but it is popular enough to add to the list. Most Nordic designs are inspired by being ready for all four seasons and resting on green mountaintops. 

Words For Scandanavian House Front Designs

  • Cool – primarily cool, neutral colors should be used for a Scandanavian design. While it can be fun to add Bohemian vibes to this design to warm it up, stick to blacks, whites, and greys for the base. 
  • Minimalism – Scandanavian design works best if it is minimalized. If you want something detailed, fancy, and busy, then find something else because this design needs a bit of a minimalistic heart. 
  • Greenery – plants! Adding indoor plants is important if you want a proper Scandinavian home design. You can get indoor plants online or buy them from a local nursery. 

Industrial House Front Design 

Inspiration for a contemporary beige two story exterior home
Image from Axe Construction

An industrial design style is a fun one to play with. You can use it for small spaces like studio apartments but you will have more freedom if you get to design your own house front design as pictured here.

Words For Industrial Designs

  • Man-made – most industrial designs aren’t very natural-looking. They usually have metals and bricks as a background. Almost everything you find inside and outside will be man-made. 
  • Edison – we do mean Edison bulbs, indeed. But we also need that you can use this type of item to inspire you further. Start with something like an Edison bulb and work from there.
  • Futuristic – cement, copper, glass. Here are a few matierals that are common in industrial homes. That’s because these materials are the future of the designing world, which is the inspiration for much of industrial design. 

Storage Container House Front Design 

Inspiration for a contemporary beige two story exterior home
Image from Gleicher Associates, Inc.

Although storage container homes are rare, they make some of the most affordable types of homes you can imagine. Storage container homes can be faked or made using a real storage container bought for a low price. 

Words For Storage Container Design

  • Desert – though not all storage container homes are found in the desert, it can be a good place to start for inspiration. A desert landscape for your yard can be a really fun exterior design to accent the storage container. 
  • Downsize – storage container homes are generally considered tiny homes. They are part of the tiny house nation and are designed by people who want to downsize their life and live a simpler one. 
  • Family-focused – what usually comes with downsizing a home is focusing on the family. People want to be closer to their family and live out their days focusing on them instead of large homes or material things. 

Custom House Front Design

Inspiration for a contemporary beige two story exterior home
Image from KW Designs

The best design style that exists is a custom design style. You can create custom house front designs on your own too. Working with a contractor or designer you can create a gorgeous design that is all your own.

Draw inspiration from the designs we’ve mentioned and mix them together, using your favorite parts of each. That’s how they were all created in the first place. Maybe one day, your design will be on a list like this!