There are eight exterior home improvement tactics that you need to seriously consider to enhance the curb appeal of your home.
After investing a considerable amount of money in your home, you certainly want it to always look its best. This is especially the case if you’re thinking about putting your house up for sale. Curb appeal is crucial when it comes to conveying a sense of taste and style for your home and is conducive to supporting a more premium price tag.
There are eight exterior home improvement tactics that you need to seriously consider to enhance the curb appeal of your home. Many of the strategies presented here can be undertaken as relatively easy do-it-yourself projects. Others can be accomplished with professional assistance in a short amount of time and within a reasonable budget.
Improve the Entryway
When it comes to curb appeal, many people focus on the entryway. The reality is that potential buyers visiting your home will spend more time at your entryway than anywhere else at the front of your residence.
If the door or anything else at the entryway is in disrepair or worn, the time may have come to replace the front door — and make the fix soon. At a minimum, you’ll want to consider giving the entryway to your home, including the door, a fresh coat of paint. If you want to change the look of your exterior, merely changing the color of your front door can be enough of an alteration to result in your house’s facade having a whole new look.
You also want to add a few other attractive touches to your entryway or front porch. Depending on the size, add a couple of well-crafted chairs and a complementary table. Small additions including a wreath or potted plant are also smart and understated options.
When sprucing up the porch and entryway, keep in mind that this is the passage point between the outdoors and the heart of your home. Make certain that your entryway selections harmonize with what you have done with your interior decor as well.
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Install Landscape Lighting
If you’re like most homeowners, you’ve spent at least some time and money on landscaping for the front of your house. You may be interested in making at least some landscaping-related improvements. One of the simplest and most impactful steps you can take is to install landscape lighting.
Landscape lighting offers you a wide array of placement options: Elect to install lighting that will highlight trees on the premises, illuminate a walkway or light up the exterior of the house itself.
You can elect to have landscaped lighting hardwired. This may constrain your efforts to some degree, but taking this route ensures steadier and more reliable illumination.
The alternative is to install either battery-powered or solar-powered lights. With either, you have more flexibility as to where and how you install landscape lighting on your property. However, be mindful that the lights have a consistent power source. A missing or broken light within a series of lights can really stand out, and not in a flattering way.
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Add Security Lighting
The addition of security lighting at your residence can enhance curb appeal in a practical way. In this day and age, people are becoming more security conscious.
Consider placing lighting around the perimeter of your residence itself, adding floodlights or spotlights at key locations around the property including walkways and entry points, and schedule them to turn on and off at specific times or by motion detection.
Security cameras have become relatively affordable and are a worthwhile investment to provide comprehensive monitoring of the home, even remotely, and deter unwanted intruders. Although many of the newer models have night vision capabilities, it would be ideal to install these within proximity of the lighting coverage.
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Add Easy Landscaping
While on the subject of landscaping, perhaps the front of your house is a bit lacking when it comes to foliage. You can go the container garden route to increase and coordinate the placement of vegetation around the front of your home. The local garden store will most likely have an array of different types of containers that you can mix and match to create a beautiful presentation around the exterior of your home.
In most cases, an asymmetrical and staggered approach to placement results in a stunning, vibrant look. In addition, adding landscaping in this manner represents another curb appeal enhancement strategy and can be undertaken as a DIY project.
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Make Over the Mailbox
If your mailbox is at the curb of your residence itself, take action to enhance curb appeal by giving the mailbox box a makeover. A mailbox project can have an understated, positive impact on the look and appeal of the front of your home.
The options available to you in regard to making over your mailbox can be as simple as replacing the box itself. There are plenty of fun and stylish options available at most home improvement centers like Home Depot or Lowe’s. You can also consider having a mailbox custom designed to be a replica of your house.
Another step you can take to enhance the appearance of your mailbox and your home is to plant a small garden around the post, transforming the mailbox into a pleasing anchor to a garden that can feature vibrant flowers.
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Install Window Boxes
If your overall residential design harmonizes with the addition of window boxes, consider installing some to complement the front windows of your home. With window boxes, you are able to present different types of plants on a seasonal basis, adding an eye-catching vibrancy to the property from the street.
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Install Shutters
In the same vein as window boxes, if you have a residence with a style that harmonizes with shutters, consider adding them as a means of enhancing the curb appeal of your home. There is a wide variety of different types of shutters and designs you can typically find at your local home improvement center. In addition, if you’re so inclined, you can even have shutters custom made and installed for your home that use sophisticated, automated mechanisms.
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Refresh Painting, Siding and Trim
An exterior home improvement tactic that applies to many houses is refreshing paint, siding and trim. Especially if you’re planning to put your house on the market and haven’t updated the exterior paint or repaired siding in a while, taking the time for these projects — which may require a professional to make sure it’s done right — is a must.
If you’re interested in making a more noticeable change to the look of your home, pick a different color for the exterior of the house, changing the siding or do something more subtle, like altering trim color.
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