15 Ranch-Style Homes With Curb Appeal Ideas to Steal

If you're looking for ways to enhance the curb appeal of your ranch home, look no further. The HGTV Magazine editors are here with their favorite one-story wonders from across the country, plus they're sharing all the design details. Read on to get inspired!

Location: Atlanta

Built in: 1960

Size: 4,500 sq. ft.

Paint colors: Black Forest Green (house) and Peach Sorbet (doors), Benjamin Moore

Homeowners Scott and Jessica Davis recently put an addition onto this ranch home in Georgia, but they took care to match the midcentury elements, like the extended jambs on the windows. "We love the beams that run from the interior to the exterior. You can see them under the roofline," Jessica says. The standout feature is the double front door, which the homeowners painted a soft orange. The oversized hardware is original to the house.

Lush landscaping, including lady ferns, helebores and variegated fatsia, makes this feel like a private oasis, the owners say. Cement planters with nasturtiums and heuchera flock the entry, and pair of faux boxwood wreaths on the doors provide a year-round pop of green.

Location: Raleigh, NC

Built in: 1959

Size: 4,483 sq. ft.

Paint colors: Try (siding) White and Black by Benjamin Moore for a similar look.

Cottagecore meets ranch style at this North Carolina home. The classic black-and-white palette has timeless appeal, while the vines along the roof and verdant landscaping invoke storybook charm.

Location: Englewood, CO

Built in: 1955

Size: 1,500 sq. ft.

Stain color: Dark Walnut (door), Varathane

This house is one of 140 midcentury modern homes in the neighborhood, but a few elements make it stand out like the custom, 6-foot-wide steel planters filled with feather reed grass to the left of the front door. Behind them is a built-in wood trellis original to the house. Homeowner Stacy Kosis made the fire pit on the right out of an old washing-machine drum and surrounded it with midcentury modern-inspired chairs. When the backyard gets too hot in the summer, the family hangs out in this cooler, north-facing spot.

Location: Savannah, GA

Built-in: 1980s

Size: 2,700 sq. ft.

Paint color: Piñata (door), Benjamin Moore

The outside of this Georgia ranch exhibits the homeowners' blend of styles. “He’s more straightlaced than I am,” says Emily McCarthy of her husband, Patrick's, style. The traditional white house and black shutters suit his taste, but the fiery front door is all her.

Location: Upper Saddle River, NJ

Built in: 1960s

Size: 1,526 sq. ft.

Paint colors: White and Black, Benjamin Moore

Designer/builder John Colaneri, who rose to fame on the HGTV's Kitchen Cousins, gave this New Jersey ranch new life with a sleek black and white color scheme and a natual wood door. Tidy boxwoods line the front garden beds; trimming them low allows for unobstructed views from the front porch.

Location: Los Angeles

Built in: 1926

Size: 1,850 sq. ft.

Paint colors: (house) Silver Marlin, Behr; (front door) Heritage Red, Benjamin Moore

When Sam and Navine Karim bought this California house, there was a giant hole in the roof and water damage. "We tore it down to the studs and built a contemporary home," they say. "Details like aluminum trim and a diagonal concrete path make it cool.”

The home’s neutral stucco lets the garden shine. The homeowners included feathery California native plants to soften the shape of the house, all drought-tolerant. Mystic spires blue salvia and lavender near the porch, plus clevelandii salvia in front of the cedar gate, bring in touches of purple. Kangaroo paw and yellow lantana next to the sidewalk add peppy pops. “It’s a magical spot,” says Sam.

Location: Kalamazoo, MI

Built in: 1957

Size: 4,050 sq. ft.

Paint colors: (front door) Mauve Bauhaus, Benjamin Moore; (trim) Gauntlet Gray, Sherwin-Williams

A midcentury update was the goal of Michigan homeowners Karen and Steve Hassevoort. The couple brought out the 1950s features by doing a new low-profile roof, replacing the double-hung windows with casement windows and installing a mod purple door.

Lush landscaping was also a priority for the couple to soften the boxy house shape. They worked with a local greenhouse to set up beds with a mix of sizes, textures and colors. There are fluffy hinoki cypress and golden mop cypress in front of the large window and spiky Siberian iris to the far right. Sunpatiens throughout the beds bring bursts of brightness.

Location: Newport Beach, CA

Built in: 1959

Paint colors: Try Wrought Iron (house) and Million Dollar Red (door) by Benjamin Moore for a similar look.

Not many home buyers would purchase a bland 1950s ranch house and reconceive it into an eclectic farmhouse, but designer Raili Clasen and her husband, Ryan, envisioned something ultracool. Teaming with architect Eric Olsen and landscape designer Bridget Skinner, they embarked upon a gut reno, preserving the footprint but changing everything else — even the pitch of the roof!

Location: Tulsa

Built in: 1943

Size: 2,462 sq. ft.

Paint colors: (house) Alabaster, (front door) Cayenne and (trim and shutters) Deep Forest Brown, Sherwin-Williams

Homeowners Susan and Russ Tunnell painted the front door bright orange, which immediately modernized the traditional house. “The color has just the right amount of funkiness,” says Susan. To the left of the door, the stack of protruding bricks that resemble stone blocks (called quoin, which means corner in French) are sometimes used as reinforcement. Here, they’re just for looks. Covering the dormer in shiplap-style cedar bumped up character, too.

Tall yellow trumpetbush in the back of the plant beds look wild in a good way. Rocks around the beds form a retaining wall for soil and complement the more casual landscaping.

Location: Jacksonville, FL

Built in: 1940

Size: 3,000 sq. ft.

Paint colors: (shutters) Yorktowne Green, (trim) Dunmore Cream and (porch floor) Country Redwood, Benjamin Moore

"Only two families owned this house before us, and its charm is still very much intact," says homeowner Teresa Wood. "The traditional red-brick façade and spacious front porch remind my husband, Joe, of his childhood home." By extending the walkway into a brick parking pad, the Woods created space for cars without compromising the house’s character.

A feathery Boston fern looks sweet suspended from the porch ceiling. Like the rest of the landscaping, this plant will keep its color all year in the warm climate. Copper-color planters complement the painted porch floor. Each one holds a Eugenia topiary surrounded by variegated English ivy.

Location: Woodland Hills, CA

Built in: 1959

Size: 2,227 sq. ft.

Paint colors: Raccoon Fur (house), Benjamin Moore; Japanese Koi (door), Behr

Homeowners Shida and Leandro Amaral opted not to make many changes to the exterior of their ranch home, built by famous architect Charles Du Bois. A new, custom door (which mimics a popular 1950s design) and fresh paint were the only updates they made to the façade. They also chose to plant pampas grass, cacti, lavender and other plants inspired by the desert landscapes of Palm Springs. "The grown children of the previous owners still live in the neighborhood," say Shida and Leandro, "and they said the work we’ve done on the house is amazing!"

Location: Malibu, CA

This all-white ranch house may seem like a typical Malibu, California, home, but a closer look uncovers its quirky details. Mismatched planters and a vintage rocking horse add personality to this otherwise simple exterior.

Instead of standard shrubs, homeowner Dana Schweiger opted for white rose bushes. The cement and grass patio adds even more charm.

Location: Jacksonville, FL

Built in: 1965

Size: 2,800 sq. ft.

Paint colors: Meeting House White (house) and Elegant Charcoal (door), Glidden

Although homeowners Erin and Sheldon Bryan loved the sprawling layout of their ranch home, they didn’t love its stuck-in-the-’60s look. A coat of bright white paint and a gray door gave this classic one-story house a more modern look.