WHAT TO LOOK FOR A long, low, horizontal roofline with wide flat eaves. The garage built into the front elevation rather than added later. Clerestory or ribbon windows high on the wall. Brick and vertical board siding used together. Sliding glass to the back yard. An entry tucked under the roofline instead of projecting from it. Inside, an open plan with the beams left exposed. WHAT USUALLY GETS LOST Decorative shutters. The style never had them, and they fight the horizontal lines the whole house is built on. Carriage-house garage doors with fake strap hinges. A six-panel colonial front door. Wrought iron porch posts. Small builder- grade house numbers in a script font. The exposed beam boxed into a flat ceiling. SMALL MOVES THAT BRING IT BACK A flush or horizontal-plank garage door. The garage takes up so much of the front elevation that this one change outperforms everything else on the list. Oversized house numbers in a period sans serif, mounted horizontally and spaced apart. A flat slab front door in a saturated color, or one with a row of small square lights across the top. A globe or starburst sconce beside it. Take the added shutters off and patch the holes. A screen of breeze block or vertical slats to define the entry. Low, horizontal planting in place of the round foundation shrubs. THE MODERN VERSION Ranches are going dark on the exterior now, with warm wood at the entry and one strong color on the door. Interiors go smooth and pale, the wood tones carried in the furniture, and the ceiling beams left exactly as they are. The Midcentury Ranch, roughly 1945 to 1970
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