Whether you’re preparing to sell your home or just want to wow your friends and neighbours, spending time on curb appeal is always worth it. So what is curb appeal you may ask? It’s the attractiveness of the exterior of your home when viewed from the street and guess what? Sprucing up the exterior of a house can easily be done without breaking the bank, unlike other upgrades like bathroom renovations or new flooring! So what can you do to instantly improve the outdoor look of your home and most likely increase the value too? Here are 5 affordable ideas to get you started…
- Clear the Way with Pruning – How can you enhance curb appeal if your home can’t even be seen from the curb? Having healthy, properly maintained trees and bushes is a great way to make your house shine from the street. The key to tree pruning is to ensure that your foliage frames your house and enhances its beauty. This means you don’t want tree branches touching your home or hedges that are so overgrown that it distracts onlookers from the stunning architecture of your abode. If you’re unsure how to tackle this task here’s a handy guide or you can always hire a professional arborist if pruning seems too daunting.
- Join the Modern Age with Upgraded Fixtures – Updating a home’s exterior hardware is one of the easiest tasks on this list. All you have to do is head to the hardware store and pick up something that reflects the modern age! Take a good look at your house numbers, your mailbox and your door handle and lock… do they look like they are stuck in the 1990s? Decorative house numbers can do wonders to enhance the look of your home and so can updating your door to something more modern. Even replacing or painting your garage door can completely change the look of your home.
- Bring out the Brush – The paintbrush that is! Over time, our door frames, window frames, shutters, porches, fences and even our doors can start to look weathered. Paint is relatively cheap and is one of the easiest Do-It-Yourself tasks, and the result can be jaw-dropping! Have you ever noticed a house with a bright red or blue door? Or trim that is so eye-catching you can’t look away? Of course you have! So get to it! Spruce up your home with a fresh coat of paint and voila – your curb appeal is easily enhanced.
- Smell the Flowers – Flowers are beautiful, no one can argue that. So why not up your curb appeal with some beautiful arrangements, whether they be in pots placed outside your door, pots hanging from your rafters or along the walkway in front of your house? People love to see beautiful flowers and gardens that are well tended, and the end result makes your house look that much better. Most garden centres have stunning flower arrangements already made, which makes your task that much easier. And if you want to plant flowers that come back every year, talk to your garden centre to see which perennials grow best in your area.
- Let there be Lights – Well-placed lighting does wonders for curb appeal, and it doesn’t have to cost a fortune in electrician fees since solar lights have come on the scene! Not only do lights look great at night, they are also a wonderful way to increase safety. There are so many styles of solar lights on the market nowadays that you can choose a type that suites your home and emphasizes your landscaping or lines the walkway to your door. The end result will make your house look more inviting at night, which in turn enhances your curb appeal that much more.