Lana Hawkins You could argue that a home’s street view is like the first page of a passport – many important details can be read from there and there’s certainly a lot of us who don’t look too pretty on our passport photos. Fortunately, there are many ways to improve a home’s curb appeal, unlike our passport photos. If you think your home could use a simple ‘facelift’ then read on. These simple, effective tricks will get you started with your project in no time. Once applied, they can truly make a difference.
Give your mailbox a new suit
Even from afar, someone driving down the road will instinctively look at the mailbox first and the house second. This mailbox makeover project is simple because it requires little material, and can be done in a single afternoon. To begin, wrap your 4×4 wooden post with scraps of differently colored natural stone pavers. Once you have an attractive stone pillar, attach a shiny black metal mailbox to one side and complete the magazine look with a vertical house number plaque.
Arboreal spotlights
Give your trees and shrubs a brand new night attire by putting them into spotlight. During the day, solar spotlights are virtually unseen in the undergrowth, while they charge up. But as the night falls they start to shine beautifully at the tree canopies from bellow. You can also point them on a few decorative boulders or a small pond. They won’t amount to your electricity bill and some of them come with solar panels that are attached with long wires, so they can be charged on a sunnier spot.
Front door makeover
If you are on a tight budget and you want to give your front door a facelift, there is no need to go for a full replacement. A bit of paint and molding can do wonders to your dull entrance. A rich dinner party or wenge color scheme will upgrade your home a class or two, while the polystyrene molding above the doorway will make every entry grand.
Hide slab foundation
The exposed slab foundation is a straight out eyesore. Extending the facade all the way to the ground level so it covers the foundation is manageable, but it will make a hole in your budget the size of an open coal mining pit. Instead, you can choose a solution that will look attractive and still leave you with some cash for further upgrades. Faux panels come in a number of colors and styles, mimicking natural stone, brick or wood. When you finally choose, you will probably want to apply some of it inside, too. Maybe for an accent wall or fireplace sides.
Repainting
Perhaps a bit more costly upgrade, but surely a worthy one. When looking at the ‘big picture’ from the outside, if a house has deteriorating paint on many spots it will make a bigger and more negative impact than almost all other nice things put together. Consider a complete repainting job if your budget allows. Check out a few great examples of color schemes from the CraftPro blog.
House number on planters
If your house number can barely be seen from the road, you could take a few planters with nice flowers and write the house number on them. Aside from being practical, this project is simple and inexpensive. Buy as many planters as there are digits in your house number, find a suitable spot and prop them on a crude, unprocessed plank that rests on old bricks to get that vintage look. You could also use a stump. Paint the house number with white paint on a dark
background and plant some annuals in each planter.
Camouflage the eyesores
Every home has eyesores like utility boxes, wires, lines and vents that mar the aesthetics of the house. There are several ways to deal with them. The simplest one is to paint them in the same color as the rest of the house and no one will ever notice them. However, if you want to conceal the trash bins or the air conditioner unit, you can either plant a hedge around it, or camouflage it with a couple of lattice panels painted the same color as the facade.
So there you go, several easy DIY projects which will enhance your curb appeal in no time. With improvements like these, not only will your new neighbors want to take a closer look at what is inside, but they will impress anybody who passes by, including potential homebuyers.
