Our first two curb appeal tips of the week were to clean your home’s exterior and then to trim back bushes and trees. Now it’s time to survey your home again. Does it feel like something is missing? Could you add a little something more to your home? One easy way to add color and variety of your home is by painting trim on doors or windows, or even adding some functional or decorative shutters. All of these things add dimension to your home, an important element of curb appeal.
Check out our before and after photos below. In the before image, the home has no trim colors or shutters. In the after image, you can see what a difference it made to paint the trim black and add decorative black shutters to the windows.
Before you decide exactly what you want to do to your house, it might be helpful to gather ideas from looking at other homes. Don’t be afraid to drive around your town and look at other homes’ color combinations. Make notes of what you like and dislike. This is a great way to get ideas for your own property.
After you’ve gathered some ideas and sorted out what you do and don’t like, head out to the street and shoot a picture of your home with a digital camera. Next, download the image into your computer and use a design or paint program to digitally enhance the photo. This will allow you to visualize the changes before you actually make them. While this isn’t going to give you a perfectly accurate representation, it can help with a general idea of what certain things might look like. For example, you may have thought that your entire garage door should be painted, but then find that it is too much color and you decide to just trim the outer edge or around the windows.
While you may not have the resources or time to paint your entire home, it is relatively easy and economical to brighten and modernize the look of your home with trim paint. Shutters are also a great option for adding a little something extra to your home’s exterior. If you live in the Southeastern United States, or any area that experiences high winds and possibly violent storms, functional shutters might be a good idea. Otherwise, decorative shutters can be purchased relatively inexpensively at most home centers, and can then be painted to match your home.
Yesterday’s curb appeal tip was to clean the exterior of your home. Now that the scrubbing is done, it’s time to venture back out into the street to look at your house again. What is the condition of your trees and shrubs? Most of us are pretty attentive to our lawns; however, during the busy summer months, it’s easy to let trees and bushes go by the wayside. However, keeping your shrubbery trimmed regularly is an important part of maintaining your home’s curb appeal, so it isn’t a task you want to neglect.
Trees and bushes should always be trimmed in accordance with the type of plant. If you’re unsure how to trim a particular tree or shrub, go to your local library and consult a gardening book. Most plants need to be trimmed back to a certain height or shape at a specific time of year. Not following these guidelines can be very hard on the plant, and in extreme cases, may kill it.
When trimming bushes, picking up the debris is half the job. Of course, manually bending over and picking up all the branches and leaves is an option, though this is hard on the back and knees. Another option might be to run your lawn mower with bagger attached over the area. Electric or gas powered blowers can do a good job of rounding up all the debris into one area, too. There are also many different types of lawn cleanup and leaf bagging tools available that can make the job easier, too.
When trimming bushes and trees, you should also remember to use a weed trimmer or edger to clean up the lines along sidewalks, fences, and landscape edgers. All these little things add up and make a big difference in your home’s curb appeal to visitors, neighbors, or potential buyers.
This post begins our week of curb appeal tips designed to spruce up the exterior of your home! Whether you’re trying to sell or just impress the neighbors, our curb appeal tips are applicable to every homeowner, no matter where you live or the size or style of your home. So without further ado, our first curb appeal tip of the week is… Clean it!
The first step to improving your home’s curb appeal should always be a good cleaning. Begin by standing out in the street and looking at your house from the same perspective as neighbors and passers-by. What do they see? If your home’s exterior looks a little dingy, it’s probably the result of years of built-up dirt on the surface. While rain does keep most of the dirt at bay, remember that not every side of your home will face the direction of the rainfall, and therefore 3 sides of your home are usually missing out on Mother Nature’s “bath.” Additionally, rain does not reach under overhangs where dirt collects. For these reasons, it never hurts to wash the exterior of your home periodically.
Siding and brick exteriors can usually be safely cleaned with a mild detergent and a soft brush and hose. Use care when picking a detergent. You don’t want the run-off soapy water to harm your landscaping. When cleaning, don’t forget to scrub down your driveway, sidewalk, and the street curb in front of your home. If they are stained, consider using a concrete cleaning solution (these can be found at most home improvement centers or hardware stores).
Before putting away your scrub brush and dumping out the soapy water, be sure to scrub down any outdoor pots, as well as chairs and tables. Other things that may need cleaning include outdoor lighting fixtures and address plaques.
Once your home’s siding is dry, you’ll probably notice that your windows are spotted. The final step in cleaning your home’s exterior should be washing the windows. A simple solution of equal parts water and rubbing alcohol, plus a little splash of ammonia will work wonders. To make quick work of the job, use a long-handled sponge or brush tool that features a squeegee on the opposite side.
