(re-post)
Houses where the garage door(s) are the prominent feature are gradually being replaced, both in new construction and renovations, with something more pleasant to look at and which does not shout, "hey, we own a car(s)!"
Driveways are becoming part of the yard and/or garden.
Nature, human and otherwise, is benefiting.
Something as simple as making the garage doors blend with the rest of the house with a coat of matching paint can make a difference. Our first home in Georgetown, Ontario, a sprawling corner lot 1867 Craftsman house, had a double garage attached to the side of the house, one door still resembling a stable entrance (which it likely was!) and the other a 'modern' roll-up door (likely from the Fifties). When we painted the house both doors got the same colour as the main part of the house and the doors 'disappeared'. More than once, someone, seeing us open a door to put the car in or take it out, remarked, "Oh, I didn't realize those were garages." It helped that the space in front of the garages was packed cinders with things growing here and there in it and the area flowed nicely into the patio of flagstones we put beside it.
Paint is magic. We once painted a driveway in Toronto (this was the era of front yard parking giving a solution to finding a spot on the street) from the conventional blacktop to a pleasant brown - instant 'trompe- l'oeil' (as the French would say which I translate to 'sneaky cleverness').
Breaking slightly into the straight line edges of the 'driveway' and planting clumps of perennial flowers furthered the illusion. The car could still be parked there but when the car was absent (or found a space on the street) the spot became 'garden' and we added some comfy beach-combed stumps of wood where we (and frequently the mailman) could (and would) sit. It became like a veranda with a view of our world and encouraged communication from friendly nods to conversations with neighbours and passersby.
Here in Victoria (and I cannot remember where - darn! - or I would go and take a photo) I saw a garage door with a door and window and flowers painted on it to resemble an English cottage complete with garden. It was truly lovely.
Posted on April 02, 2008 at 04:01 AM | Permalink
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