So, you’ve got a ranch. It’s long. It’s low. It probably has that classic 1950s or 60s "sprawl" that felt like the height of luxury when Eisenhower was in office but now just looks... tired. Honestly, most homeowners approach remodeling ranch style home exterior projects with a "fix the symptoms" mindset. They swap a window, they paint the shutters, and they wonder why the house still looks like a shoebox.
The truth is, the ranch is a misunderstood beast.
Architect Cliff May, often credited as the father of the California Ranch, didn't design these houses to be boring. He designed them to be "informal" and connected to the earth. When we mess up the exterior, it’s usually because we’re trying to turn a ranch into something it isn't—like a Craftsman or a Colonial. Stop that. You can’t make a long, horizontal plane look like a vertical farmhouse without it looking like a weird architectural Frankenstein.
The Pitfalls of Modernizing the Long Silhouette
Horizontal lines are your best friend and your worst enemy.
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If you use the wrong siding, you accentuate the "squat" nature of the house in a way that feels oppressive. Most people default to standard vinyl siding with a 4-inch lap. It's cheap. It's easy. It's also incredibly boring on a ranch. Instead, think about scale. I’ve seen incredible results when people switch to vertical board and batten on specific sections of the house to break up that endless horizontal run. It’s about visual "pauses."
Look at the work of Joseph Eichler. His mid-century modern ranches used floor-to-ceiling glass and vertical wood siding to create rhythm. You don't need a million-dollar budget to steal his ideas. Sometimes, just changing the texture of one "bump out" section of your home from brick to a dark, thermally modified wood (like Thermory) changes the entire vibe.
Stop Ignoring the Roofline
Ranch roofs are usually low-slope. This is a massive design constraint. You can’t just throw a massive portico on the front and call it a day. The scale will be off.
If your roof needs replacing anyway, consider an architectural shingle with high contrast, or if the budget allows, a standing seam metal roof. Metal roofs on ranches are a total game-changer. They lean into that industrial, mid-century vibe and make the house look intentional rather than "economical."
Remodeling Ranch Style Home Exterior: The Entryway Dilemma
The front door on a ranch is often tucked away or looks like an afterthought. It’s "just another opening" in the wall. This is a mistake.
You need a focal point.
One of the most effective ways to fix this is by creating a "defined" entry. This doesn't mean a grand two-story columns setup—please, don't do that. It means using a different material around the door. Maybe you build a small, modern timber-frame porch. Or perhaps you use a bold, oversized door with a side-lite.
Think about the "path of travel." Ranches often have a driveway that leads straight to the garage, and the front door gets lost in the shuffle. By using hardscaping—like oversized concrete pavers with Mexican beach pebbles in between—you can pull the eye toward the entrance. It's a psychological trick. You're telling the visitor's brain: "This is where you go."
Lighting is Your Secret Weapon
Most ranch exteriors have a single, sad "boob light" by the door and maybe a floodlight on the corner.
Awful.
Ranches thrive with uplighting. Because they are low to the ground, casting light upward onto the eaves or against a textured brick wall creates drama that you just can't get with a taller house. Use 2700K (warm white) LED fixtures. Anything cooler than that and your house will look like a gas station at 2:00 AM.
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Material Science: Beyond Basic Siding
Let's talk about brick. A lot of ranches have that "dated" orange or speckled brown brick.
You have three options here:
- Leave it. (If it’s high-quality and you can work around it with trim colors).
- Paint it. (Controversial, but can look great if you use a breathable mineral paint like Romabio).
- Lime wash it.
Never, ever use standard latex paint on exterior brick. It traps moisture. The brick needs to breathe. If you trap that water, the face of the brick will eventually pop off (spalling), and you’ll have a structural nightmare on your hands. Mineral paints or lime washes bond with the masonry chemically. It won’t peel.
I’m also a huge fan of mixed media. Why does the whole house have to be one material?
Try a combination of:
- Smooth-finish stucco (for a clean, MCM look).
- Natural cedar accents (to add warmth).
- Fiber cement panels with exposed fasteners (for a modern/industrial edge).
Mixing these elements breaks up the "long" look of the ranch and gives it a custom, architect-designed feel. It’s basically like contouring for your house.
Windows: The Eyes of the Home
If you’re still rocking those white vinyl double-hung windows with the tiny grids (muntins), you’re killing the ranch vibe. Ranches were designed for "indoor-outdoor living."
Think big. Think black frames.
Black window frames on a white or light gray ranch is a trend that actually has legs because it honors the original minimalist intent. If you can, switch out a group of three small windows for one large picture window. The impact on the exterior is massive, but the impact on the interior is even better. You suddenly have a view.
Casement windows—the ones that crank out—are also much more "ranch-appropriate" than double-hung windows. They offer a cleaner glass surface without that horizontal bar across the middle of your line of sight.
Landscaping and the "Five-Foot Rule"
You can spend $50k on remodeling ranch style home exterior surfaces, but if your landscaping is just a row of overgrown "meatball" shrubs (you know the ones—boxwoods trimmed into perfect circles), it’ll still look like 1984.
Ranches need layers.
Because the house is low, you need plants of varying heights to create depth. Start with the "Five-Foot Rule": nothing within five feet of the house should be taller than the bottom of the window sills. This keeps the house from feeling "smothered."
Use ornamental grasses like Pennisetum or Miscanthus. They add movement. Ranches are very static, linear buildings; you need something that moves when the wind blows to soften those hard edges.
Also, consider a "courtyard" feel. Many ranch owners are reclaiming their front yards. Instead of just a sea of grass, build a low wall out of stacked stone or Cor-Ten steel and create a private seating area. It extends the footprint of the house and makes the whole property feel larger.
The Garage Door Factor
In many ranch designs, the garage occupies 30% to 50% of the front facade. This means your garage door is actually a primary design element.
Don't buy the cheapest white door at the big-box store.
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A carriage-style door usually looks "off" on a ranch because it’s too traditional. Go for something with horizontal windows or a "full-view" glass door if you’re going for a modern look. Even a simple wood-look steel door can add a huge amount of "kerb appeal" without the maintenance of real wood.
Practical Steps for Your Remodel
If you're feeling overwhelmed, don't try to do everything at once. Remodeling is a marathon, especially with the current lead times on materials like windows and specialized siding.
- Audit your "lines": Stand at the street. Is there anything that breaks the horizontal flow in a bad way? (Like a tall, skinny chimney that’s the wrong color).
- Pick a palette: Stick to three main colors. One for the primary body, one for accents (like wood or stone), and one for the trim/windows.
- Focus on the "Touch Points": Spend more money on the things people touch or see up close—the front door, the hardware, and the lighting.
- Consult a pro for a "Color Render": Before you buy 50 gallons of paint, hire a designer to do a digital mockup. It costs a few hundred bucks but can save you a $10,000 mistake.
Modernizing a ranch isn't about erasing its history. It’s about taking those mid-century bones and stripping away the decades of "cheap" fixes. When you embrace the low, lean nature of the home and emphasize it with the right materials, you don't just have a renovated house—you have a design statement.
Start with the lighting and the front door. Those two changes alone can shift the entire energy of the property before you even touch the siding or the roof. Look for ways to bring the "outside in," whether that’s through larger glass spans or just a more cohesive landscaping plan that leads the eye toward the entrance. It's about intentionality, not just updates.