35 Creative ways to improve your home's curb appeal.

1.         Hide your garden hose in a nice pot.

Unsightly garden hoses and spray nozzles can easily be coiled and stored inside of a big ceramic pot or planter. 

2.         Reface your foundation.

If you have a plain and boring concrete or stucco foundation, add faux or half bricks, tiles, or faux stone to turn a negative into one of its nicest features.

3.         Highlight your address numbers.

Instead of small black letters near your front door, why not get creative with larger letters built into in a false rock, concrete column or stone feature with built-in lighting.

4.         Add a pathway.

Build a pathway to your side yard or driveway with mulch, stone, great plantings, and stepping-stones.

5.         Install shutters.

Nothing makes the face of your home look better than nice shutters outside each window.  Look at plenty of color patterns but try a glossy paint with deep, dark colors like black, crimson, or hunter green. 

6.         Get a new front door.

Replace your humdrum front door with a classic stained wood or modern full window door. 

7.         Add window boxes.

Remember those shutters we put up?  Follow that up with box planters outside each window (or just the second floor) with colorful flowers.  Stained wood or bright paint looks great on these.

8.         Plant vines over unsightly areas.

If there’s an area of the house that isn’t particularly nice to look at – like if it has utility poles, boxes, or lines – you can simply put up a vertical trellis in front of it and plant some vines. 

9.         Build a trellis above the garage door.

Let’s face it – garage doors are ugly.  But an easy weekend project of building a nice trellis over it, complete with interwoven vines and some accent lighting, and your garage will be the envy of the neighborhood. 

10.       Paint your front door.

Don’t worry if your budget doesn’t allow for a brand new front door – you can repaint your existing one!  To make sure the new layers of paint don’t keep it from closing properly, you might want to sand it down some before applying primer and paint.  Match this too your shutters with glossy paint.

11.       Create a container garden.

Our first instinct is to plant everything in the front yard, but it’s way easier (and looks really cool!) to mix and match fun, funky, and colorful containers to hold flowers and plants.

12.       Update your mailbox.

Just like your address numbers got a makeover, spruce up your mailbox.  Instead of having it hang by your front door, build a classic wooden pillar and have it sit out on the street, or wrap the base in brick or stone.  Build in a sturdy mailbox but make sure it locks.

13.       Set up a sitting area.

It’s amazing how inviting a front porch or front yard looks with some simple outdoor furniture so you can sit outside and enjoy it.

14.       Update your front porch light.

Replacing outdated lighting with new, modern lighting is a great way to improve curb appeal without breaking the bank.

15.       Replace your garage door.

Trade in your dented and dated garage door with a gorgeous wooden carriage door or faux wood door.  You can even get these to open horizontally to complete the look of a million dollar mansion!

16.       Fix up your garage door .

If you don’t have money to replace it, you can have a row of horizontal windows cut into your existing door and add screw-on hardware that makes it look like a classy carriage door.

17.       Add new hardware to your front door.

Add a new knob, big brass knocker, and brass kick plate to any front door to make it look brand new. 

18.       Add an archway.

Build an archway on the way to the front door and cover it with vines, colorful flowers, and cool lighting.

19.       Paint the exterior.

You may not want to paint the whole house, but there’s nothing wrong with painting only the front, including a three-color pattern with the trim and the front door and shutters different colors.

20.      Paint over concrete steps or porch floor.

Paint old and weathered concrete steps or a porch with dark and glossy paint.  Black looks great, but remember to prepare the concrete well first and use specialty mason/floor paint because of the high foot traffic. 

21.       Power wash.

Rent a power washer for the day and spray clean your house, your roof, inside gutters, stucco, walkways, and your driveway.  Just remember to wash from the top down so you don’t create a bigger mess.

22.       Replace your welcome matt.

Don’t forget that something as simple as a new, colorful, and personalized welcome matt can make a great first impression.  You can even build your own out of painted wooden slats!

23.       Wash windows.

Take out the Windex and the old newspapers (better and less expensive than paper towels) and give your windows a good washing – they’ll really sparkle!

24.       Plant a tree.

To break up a monotonous lawn, plant a tree and surround it with a mulch bed and other lower plants or flowers.

25.       Upgrade your porch railing.

If you don’t have money for a brand new porch, you can replace the posts and spindles and repaint to make it look new.

26.       Add edging stones to your driveway.

I love this look – instead of a boring asphalt driveway butting right up against the lawn, set in edging stones, pavers, or bricks along the way.

27.       Hang outdoor curtains.

Outdoor fabrics are weather resistant and sheer enough to let light in, so use them as outdoor drapes hanging from your overhang or porch ceiling with tiebacks.  The neighbors will rave about it!

28.       Outdoor chandelier.

While you’re at it, replace your boring overhead light fixture with an outdoor chandelier to make your front porch look like the foyer of a million dollar mansion!

29.       Add lights to walkway.

New landscaping lighting along pathways gives your home that welcoming glow at night.

30.       Hang string lights.

Wrap trees, posts, and front porches with strands of white outdoor lights.  The key is being subtle so it doesn’t look like Christmas!

31.       Put up hanging plants.

You can make any porch pop by hanging pretty flowers or lush ferns from pots suspended from the ceiling, complete with their own mister watering system.

32.       Rip out the lawn.

Replace the front lawn with natural landscaping and symmetrical flower gardens to give it an organic, modern look.  You can even have fun and recreate the beach with small crushed gravel that looks like sand, “beachy” grasses, and seas shells and starfish scattered around!  

33.       Put a bench in the garden area. 

Simply adding a sitting area can add curb appeal.  Don’t be afraid to go with something bright and fun.

34.       Add elements of water.

A fountain, water feature, or koi pond makes a great signature piece in the front of your home.

35.       Hang a porch swing.

There is no better way to add curb appeal – and even add value to your home – with a hanging swing on your front porch.  A nice one isn’t too expensive and you can easily attach it to a strong beam with chains or thick ropes.  It will add instant charm to the front of your house!

Does it make dollars (and sense) to fix up your house before selling?

As the real estate market gains momentum and people start thinking about selling in the spring, a common question is: "What’s the payoff on fixing things around the house before we put it on the market?" 

The last thing you want to do is undergo extensive repairs that cost you money – and valuable time, only to find you don’t recoup that cost once the house sells.  Then again, leaving obvious fixes left undone can turn buyers off, and drastically reduce the price of any offers that come in.  So what’s the happy medium?  Here is our expert opinion on what fixes will add bang for the buck once you sell – and what to leave off your To Do list. 

The reality is that a declining market in the period between 2007 and 2012 drove all housing prices down.  As a function of increased inventory – including plenty of foreclosures and short sales – people got less money back from remodels and repairs they put into their homes, too.  The good news is that remodeling costs have dropped 10-15% in the last 5 years, too, even as the cost of building materials has risen 17%. 

But there are smart ways to “spit shine” the look of your house, focusing on signature and most-viewed areas that will yield you the most money back when offers come in. 

Try to understand it from a buyer’s eye; when they first walk in, their eye takes it all in as their mind categorizes each detail into positive, neutral, and negative features.  If you have a woefully outdated bathroom, for instance, that may trigger the thought that it needs to be updated – causing them work, and taking money off their offer price.  If they walk in and that same bathroom is newly remodeled with high-end tile, fixtures, and decorations, that would be a positive factor that might put you ahead of the competition, and if it was clean and new but with nothing fancy, a neutral factor.

At the very least, you want to eliminate the negative factors that will ding your asking price.  Those include health and safety items – like a leaky roof, overburdened electrical panel, or bad smoke detectors, which will all be flagged in a home inspection, anyway. 

So what repairs will yield you the best return on investment?

That’s easy -  focus on the kitchen and bathrooms as your remodeling priority.

Kitchen: 

-Fix any broken doors or tracks on cabinets and drawers.  If they are outdated but functional, consider having them painted.  Lay down new wax paper in the bottoms. 

-Modernizing lighting by installing a cool new fixture over the sink doesn’t cost much.

-Replace old tile or cheap linoleum countertops, possibly with granite (ask your realtor if that surface is recommended.)

-Add a nice new sink faucet and fixtures.

-A hanging pot rack or wine rack is a great signature piece.

-Retile the floor with nice, big, earth tone tiles to get rid of old 6” tiles or linoleum.  Laying them down in a diamond formation – instead of square – looks great, too.

-Paint the walls a neutral color with satin or eggshell paint.

Bathrooms:

-If the toilet works fine, just put a new seat and lid on it.

-Replace your shower curtain with a nice new one.

-Install a new mirror and medicine cabinet and also replace your sink with a new, modern sink and vanity set.  The sink area is where people look first and spend the most time in the bathroom, and they have great deals on sets that come with a nice faucet and fixtures as well.

-Install new earth tone large tiles on the floor.  This is especially easy since the bathroom floor doesn’t cover a lot of surface area. 

-While you’re at it, take down your towel racks and TP holders and replace them with nice new ones.

-Pop in a cool signature lighting fixture over the sink.

-Paint the walls in a soft, neutral color with satin or semi-gloss, and your bathroom is ready!

Here are a few ideas for other areas of the house that won’t cost much:

-Add new high wattage light bulbs to illuminate the house well, especially dim areas.

-Take down old wallpaper, that’s always a no-no.

-Take down paintings or decorations (except for a mirror or two) and fill the nail holes with spackle, sand to smooth, and paint over them.

-You don’t need to paint the whole inside of the house, but do cover any brightly-colored rooms or high-traffic areas with a new coat of paint in a light, neutral color.

-If the outside doesn’t need new paint, a good power washing is a great way to make it look better.

-Paint your front door with a shiny, traditional color – like red or black – and remove any screen doors over it. 

-The garage door also looks better with a coat of paint, and if it needs it, think about painting the trim only (if you can get away with it) just on the front of the house.

-Clean your windows well, inside and out.  This is a great alternative to replacing them, which can be very expensive.

-Hire a stager if your realtor recommends.  Usually this pays off the best with high-end listings.

-Sprucing up the landscaping is one of the best and cost-efficient ways to improve the curb appeal of your home.  Make sure to weed, prune, lay down some fresh stone or mulch in beds, and plant nice flowers in the front yard, especially on the way to the front door.

-Pools, hot tubs, decks, garage additions, or trying to enclose and winterize patios and sunrooms never pays off when selling a home.

- Get your carpets professionally steam cleaned unless they are really bad and in need to replacement.

-Same thing, you can have someone refinish real hardwood floors, which will make them sparkle.

The repairs that give you the best % payback:

-Exterior siding – adding nice fiber-cement siding to the exterior of a home instead of repainting pays back 78% of the cost.  However, this may differ depending on what part of the country you live in and you never want to stick out in the neighborhood (have siding when everyone else has stucco, etc.)

-Replacing an old or shabby front door pays by 73% of the cost.

-A reasonable kitchen remodel yields a 72.1% return on investment.

-Putting in a new garage door will pay back around 71.9% of the cost. 

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We hope the information helps!  Remember to call us if you have any questions about selling your home or what to fix up before it goes on the market.