Improving the exterior of your home is not just about keeping up with the Joneses, it’s also crucial to maintaining or improving the value of your home. Incorporating some exterior decorating can do wonders to enhance your home’s curb appeal, but sometimes more extensive renovating is needed to keep your house up to date and up to par.
Here are six home improvement ideas that will help enhance curb appeal for your home:
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1. Paint your front door
Painting your front door is a simple project you can do all yourself. Make it bright and pop if that’s your style, or go for a warmer, classic tone to lend an elegant look to your home. Before busting out that paint brush, do some research and compare samples to see what colors would be most coherent with your existing home style and décor. If you want to match the door color with a season, like the fall, that would be another way to improve your home’s curb appeal, because your house twill mix more with your outside surroundings.
One important detail to know before you paint is that there are two different kinds of paint used on front doors. One is oil-based, and the other is latex. That’s significant, because you can paint latex over latex, and oil over oil, but you can’t mix the two. Checking this beforehand will help your door look vibrant and well-done.
2. Camouflage the outdoor appliances
Your meter, air conditioning unit, and other essential outdoor appliances can be an eyesore in an otherwise beautifully landscaped and maintained yard. Some simple camouflaging can hide those big, ugly necessities, and actually transform the space into another beautiful addition to your yard.
You can start by purchasing inexpensive lattice screens or fencing from a home improvement store to surround your air conditioning unit with. Another strategy to tone down your meter or other appliances attached to your home, simply paint them the same color as your home’s exterior so they blend in better, or at least don’t stand out anymore. They could even match the color of your door that you painted earlier.
3. Update your house numbers
Another simple way to improve your home’s exterior is to update your house numbers. Purchase different fonts and apply them with offset nails rather than the stick-on ones to make your home front look more clean and elegant. You’ll be shocked at what a big difference this little change can make. Be careful though, you don’t want to get house numbers that will contrast with the style of your home. House numbers that stick out too much will be a tacky sight for passer byers.
4. Upgrade your mailbox
Again, a small upgrade that will go a long way in terms of curb appeal is your mailbox. Your standard mailbox on a metal pole is fine, but adding a beautiful stone pedestal, or planting flowers around it will take it from “eh” to “wow.” Give the instant impression of class, style, or whatever look you’re going for by starting with your mailbox.
5. Fix your roof
More important than exterior decorating is maintaining the actual structure of your home, and one of the most important aspects of your home’s structure is the roof. This is one of the first features that home-shoppers see, and one of the biggest ways to lower the value of your home in an appraisal. Especially if your roof is looking pretty shabby compared to your neighbors, it will really be a deterrent.
If you need to replace your entire roof, start saving. If you can make some minor repairs to make it hold up better and look more appealing, consider hiring out if you don’t think you can do it yourself. Even simply cleaning the dirt off of a 10-year old roof can make it look significantly better.
6. Add More/Improve Outside Lighting
Improving your curb appeal in day light is great, but if you add curb appeal for those who see your house at night, that will add even more home value to your house. Adding a lamp above your garage or adding some lights along the walkway up to your house are simple ways to light your house up more. Don’t worry about spending a lot of money doing this. One or two lights will make a big difference.
Improving the curb appeal of your home is as simple as adding some décor, but also maintaining the important aspects of your home’s structure. Try some of these projects and get creative as you find other new ways to improve the curb appeal of your home!
Author Bio:
Hayden Beck is a freelance writer that contributes content to multiple online publications. He is passionate about interior and exterior design. He has recently worked with RST Brands to help individuals to learn about recent trends in patio, garden, and pool deck design. When Hayden is not writing, he enjoys traveling and doing things outdoors.
