How to Make a Brick Ranch House Look Victorian With Brackets & Trim

Dress up your ranch-style house and make it look like a Victorian-style house by adding brackets, trim and other types of Victorian woodwork, sometimes known as “gingerbread.” There is no such thing as “less is more” in the Victorian style. More is more, and the more, the better. Add Victorian-inspired trim or decorative wood pieces on all surfaces and components, everywhere on the exterior of your home.

Brackets
Gables or gable finials
Pendants
Dormers
Gables
Fretwork spandrel
Turned spindle
Fretwork
Carved medallions
Railings
Balusters

Instructions

- 1
  Install brackets under the eaves or roof overhangs. This will create the classic gingerbread look Victorian houses are known for. Attach gables or gable finials to the gable ends of the house, just below the peak.
- 2
  Decorate above, below and alongside windows with a collection of Victorian brackets, pendants, dormers and gables. Install a fretwork spandrel above a patio door or large picture window. Use pairs of brackets to frame window openings, adding matching pendants between the brackets on larger windows, to bring the design from one end to the other.
- 3
  Trim screen doors with trim in the form of turned spindles, fretwork, multiple pairs of brackets and carved medallions. Attach a fancy, molded brass handle to complete the Victorian look.
- 4
  Replace porch railings with Victorian-inspired, turned balusters. Suspend fretwork from the ceiling between porch support posts to further evoke the Victorian era.

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