The curb appeal is the first impression a buyer gets when pulling up and parking in front the house. This includes the house exterior, the front yard, the porch, driveway and possibly the garage too. The art of curb appeal is less complex than most people have considered. Small changes to the look and feel along with additions to the front of the house, lawn and driveway can go a long way with impressing a potential buyer.
How do I improve my house curb appeal easily? Improve the curb appeal by removing scattered items from the front lawn. Then power-wash the house, porch, brick and concrete areas to clear dirt. Define a clear path to a well-lit the front door using existing brick, stone or define a path via plants and flowers. Add some color to the windows and front lawn using flower beds with brick or stone edging. Finally, if the garage is visible, clean the garage door, improve the lighting and paint it to match or accent the home.
The idea is too quickly and easily improve the look and feel of your home from the moment in comes into view of a potential buyer. There are many more ways to improve the curb appeal for any house providing there is time and capital available.
Larger projects might include staining the concrete driveway, repainting the entire house, replacing windows and doors or changing sections of the house to a brick facing. Real estate agents seem to agree that a well landscaped yard can make a huge difference. We have some great simple suggestions that are cost friendly and simple to accomplish with the owner providing labor.
How Can I Make My Front Door More Appealing?
The front door or entrance will be the first destination when a potential home buyer visits the house. A clean and attractive path leading the front door is just whats needed as an invitation to ‘come inside’.
The house may or may not already have a brick walkway, stone path or just a concrete sidewalk. Clean the existing sidewalk of dirt, weeds and any broken pieces. Concrete can be patched and stained or painted to look clear and smooth. Brick and stone can be repaired easily and cleaned to reveal the natural colors.
Make the path look even more inviting by planting flowers or small bushes or shrubs to guide the eye line to the front door. Some potted plants at the door stoop would help too. You can also add some edging to the sides using more brick or stones to be uniform.
Should I Power-wash First?
It was suggested that one of the easiest ways to improve the curb appeal was to simply wash it. Not necessarily with a soapy rag and a 5 gallon bucket though, it would be easier to rent a high pressure washer from Home Depot or Lowes and use it to clean the steps, railings, windows, doors, driveway and any brick and stones that are buried under dirt and weeds. This may reveal some opportunities long forgotten.
Cleaning off those buried bricks and stone makes them visible again and may improve things immediately. Wash all concrete pads and the driveway from back to front. You may notice overgrowth on the driveway edges, removing this can widen the driveway visibly. After clearing the weeds, the driveway may look much clearer and have a smoother look. You can also consider staining the driveway if it really needs it. (or for design purposes)
While you have the power washer don’t forget to wash the house too. Hit those dirty windows and doors. I also found a site that suggested power washing the roof to get the color back to original, might be worth it for a nice clean look.
Will A Flower Garden Help Improve Curb Appeal?
One of the more obvious choices to brighten up the front of the house is to plant a decorative flower garden in front. Home owners will place a flower garden on either side of the stairway. Others will create a standalone in the center of the yard surrounded by a simple brick or stone edging.
You will need quite a few plants to make the bed dramatic and you can buy the seeds at a pretty good discount. Use flowers and plants of all colors that complement the colors and accents of the house. You will need to plant flower seeds 3 or 4 months in advance, read the instructions for each plant seed.
Ideally you can plant the flowers so the different varieties and colors bloom during different times of the year. Since we are looking at selling the house, hopefully it will not take that long.
Window Box Planter & Hanging Plants
The window box and hanging plants are a great way to also spread the color from the front yard or lawn to the front of the house, specifically the windows and doors. Hanging plants can be placed in various places but the garage and doorways are popular choices as they seem to spruce up these locations.
Just as we mentioned regarding the flower garden, choosing a color scheme that is a good match or contrast to the house color and shutters is important in keeping that curb side appeal. There are different types of boxes available in color and wood. Some of them come with a bracket to hang the boxes out the window easily.
Lighting
An inviting home will be well lit from the driveway to the front door. This is an opportunity to use lighting fixtures that accent the yard and front porch. The most popular days for showing a house is usually Saturday and Sunday so there is some opportunity that a late shopper can be dazzled by a well lit home. As we make some suggestions think about using colored lighting in many of these instances as well as the soft whites and yellows.
Porch lights is an easy one. You probably already have a porch light fixture and cover, it can be changed to something more creative and inviting. There are many styles so choosing something more dramatic might make the doorway pop a little better.
Another item is the solar powered lights for the sidewalk or path up to the door. I’m not a fan of these as they tend to be very dimly lit and cheap but when they are first installed it offers a nice “path to the inside” look outside.
There is also driveway lighting where you place short bulb lights next to the driveway for a “pathway” look. It also helps with night time driving.
Other areas include the flower beds we mentioned before as well as lighting up the 1st floor window area or accenting large bushes in the front of the house.
Garage Doors
If the garage door is visible from the street the we can use it to enhance the house layout and design. The big door offers opportunity for a unique design, a matching color scheme or a standalone structure. We can be creative with the color, paint design and trim for the windows. This is a good area where looking at examples via google images would really help with ideas.
Front Yard Trees
You might be lucky and the property already has a big mature tree in its center. The big tree has some benefits from providing shade and saving some cooling costs, to muffling neighborhood sounds. For the curb side appeal this would be an opportunity to build a bench that surrounds the tree, like a picnic bench. The wood color or stain should match any other wood trim.
I found quite a few Real Estate agents recommending to plant a tree or 2 in the front yard to help with curb appeal. This may or may not be in addition to your other landscaping plans.
Unique Mailbox and House Number
It goes without saying that the buyer should be able to find the house easily. One way to do this is to display the house number well and visibly. We can use some more creative techniques to make the house number unique, bigger, brighter and maybe more well lit. Some houses have their house number displayed on a mailbox at the end of the driveway and others will have it displayed near the front door and/or painted on the curb too.
Following the layout of the front yard and the curb appeal. The mailbox can be unique with a house number that is bright and visible with a friendly unique design. If there is a red brick pathway and it is well lit we might use the similar color or a brick panel to cover the mailbox post. In the same sense if we are using some wood panels for the flower bed, that might be a great color for a wood panel and white numbers displayed next to the door.
More
There is literally millions of different houses and possibilities to improve the curb appeal. Google images is a great resource for ideas and inspiration regarding landscaping the front yard. be sure to use alternate terms to find more specific examples other than just “landscaping ideas”.
Response Questions
How important is curb appeal when selling your home?
The curb appeal refers to the first impression for a buyer when they see the property. This helps with the sale as it sets the stage before the buyer steps inside the home.
How can I improve the outside of my house?
Improve the outside of the house by washing and clearing dirt and weeds from walkways and driveways. Cut the lawn and bushes to be more symmetric and fix any structures such as brick, stone or wood edging.