How To Match Your Detached Garage to Your House

A detached garage can be a beautiful thing. It provides extra storage and/or work space – and being separate from the house, there's a nice noise buffer for any power-tool activities you engage in.

But one thing can ruin this beautiful scene: a detached garage that doesn't match the aesthetic of your home. That just makes for a big, glaring eyesore.

In this article, we'll explore the steps you can take to make sure your detached garage and your home are a match made in heaven.

Match the Architectural Style and Layout

If your detached garage is already built, this is going to be a challenging – probably impossible – element to change without committing to a massive renovation.

However, if you're still working on the initial build of your detached garage, the structural layout is a massively important element to get right.

It's vital that your detached garage matches the overall architectural features of your home. If you have a classic farmhouse-style home, then your garage needs to be designed to mirror and reflect those distinctive features. The same goes for Cape Cod-style homes, Victorian homes, or any other overarching design.

Pay Attention to Rooflines and Angles

Be careful to ensure that the ridge-lines, lines, and angles of your detached garage are consistent with those on your home itself. This will go a long way toward giving you that ideal match.

Match Your Siding

Your home's siding is one of the most prominent curb-appeal features it has. Whether you have brick, vinyl, or wood, it's all in the spotlight.

That's why it's essential to make sure your detached garage uses the same siding material as your home. Let's break this down a bit further.

Brick and Stone Siding

If you have brick siding, you'll want to match the same type of brick. That means working on two primary factors: color and pattern. The coloration of your brick has to match your home, or something will seem drastically off.

Additionally, the layout pattern of the brickwork will need to match what's on your home. A skilled mason will be a great help in getting this right, so hire carefully.

The same is true for stone siding – make sure it's the same type of stone, laid out in the same pattern.

Wood Siding

For wood siding, you need to arrange two things. First, be sure you're using the same style of wood on your detached garage as you have on your home. Second, guarantee that you apply the same finish to the wood on your garage as you did to the siding on your home.

Match Your Roofing

If your siding is the main visible feature of your home's exterior, the roof isn't far behind it. Here too, you need the roofing on your detached garage to match what you have on your home.

There are two basic factors to consider: material and color.

Match the Roofing Material

If you have shingles on your home, then you should have shingles on your detached garage. The same goes for sheet metal.

This is especially true with an older slate roof. Finding a match for this style may be more challenging, but it's vital for getting the look right.

Match the Roof Color

The second factor is the overall color of your roof. This matters most with metal roofs – you don't want your home roofed in a vibrant dark green while your garage is sky blue.

The same goes for shingles. Shingles aren't monotone in their coloration, so it's important to apply matching tones to both your home and your detached garage.

Match Your Landscaping

Make every effort to match the landscaping that surrounds your detached garage to the landscaping that circles your home.

Primarily, this means using the same species of plants, but it also means that the overall coloration of flowers and shrubs matches for both structures.

It's also important to consider the overall layout and pattern of the landscaping. If your home is surrounded by tall shrubs, small trees, and little undergrowth, then your garage should mirror that. Similarly, if you mostly have undergrowth and flowers around the home, the garage should reflect that as well.

Match the Color Scheme

As one final touch, consider the overall color scheme of your home and garage. Most homeowners want their detached garage colors to tie back to the house, so think through the details that pull everything together.

Should Your Garage Door Match Your Front Door?

Do you have a deep chestnut-colored front door? Work to find a garage door that matches it. Coordinating the two creates a cohesive look, which is why so many homeowners ask whether the garage door should match the front door. Pulling that color through is an easy win for curb appeal.

Coordinating Trim, Shutters, and Doors

Do you have rich maroon shutters on your home? Consider adding some to match on your detached garage. You can also have your garage doors painted the same color as your house to keep the palette consistent.

That said, a detached garage in a different color than the house can work too, as long as the tones complement each other rather than clash. Take your time and think through all the little details – it will go a long way toward getting the ideal match you want.

Build a Detached Garage That Matches Your Home

For better curb appeal, it's often much simpler to build a new detached garage from scratch. At Danley's, we've built over 100,000 detached garages in Chicago and the suburbs. In fact, we're the only company that can build a gable garage, reverse gable garage, and hip roof garage that will match the aesthetics and colors of your home. Speak to a specialist and get a free quote online today.