When you’re selling your house or just having new people over,
curb appeal makes a big difference. It’s just like meeting someone on a first
date. You’re going to shave, put makeup
on, and wear that dress that hugs your curves in all the right places because as
much as people like to deny it, first impressions matter. Yes, you/it may have great personality on the
inside, but people always notice looks first whether you’re talking about a
person or a house. It’s human nature. People are always super critical of a house
they are looking at. If you don’t
believe me, go drive by or go tour a house you are interested in. You will see every flaw that the homeowners
probably stopped noticing long ago.
So when people see the outside of
your house, you want them to say “Oh how cute!
I can’t wait to see the inside” instead of “Oh, well the outside isn’t
pretty, I wonder if they neglected the inside too?” Because, let’s face it, the outside of our
house gets neglected sometimes. It’s
hard enough keeping the inside of a house clean and sometimes you look up and
realize that six months has gone by since you trimmed the bushes and you have a
weed growing up to your roof (oops).
Now, I'm no expert, but as we are getting our house cleaned up to put on the market and house searching, we realized that our curb appeal was a bit lacking. We were guilty of the awful overgrown bushes, the moss-covered walkway, broken doorbell, and the boring, leaf-ridden, cobweb-covered front porch. So, here are a few things we did to greatly improve our curb appeal in a super inexpensive way. And you can do these things whether you are wanting to sell your house or not!
1. Remove cobwebs
People hate spiders. This is science. They will
absolutely notice cobwebs and egg sacks.
Go get one of those fluffy yellow brushes (make sure your hubby and kids have their fun playing with it before you start cleaning) and get rid of all the spiders
and webs from your windows, doors, shutters, and porch. I got this for
about $5:
2. Put a plant out front
Foliage in a cute potted plant is always welcoming. I absolutely do not have a green thumb however. Seriously, I commit vegecide (aka plant murder) on every green thing I own.
3. Put out a welcome mat
They have them at Walmart or really anywhere for $10-$20.
4. Sweep the porch
This just takes 5 minutes of work and makes a big difference. You may not notice the leaves, pebbles, and chunks of plant and mud that are on your front porch, but I guarantee you a buyer or your mother will!
5. Add pretty house numbers
House numbers are one of those things that draw your eye as you’re walking up. They look nice, and if you are selling, you want people to remember what house they are looking at. You can find some at Lowes for about $5 a number.
6. Pressure wash the walkway and driveway
This one is time-consuming since it's tedious and not to mention cold if you’re doing it in the winter, but extremely important. I had literally no idea how bad our sidewalk was until we did this. Holy cow look at the difference a half-hour of washing makes!
Before:
7. Touch-up paint
When you purchased your house or if you did any work on it, you should have some leftover paint for the outside. If you don't happen to have paint, spend the few dollars and go buy some. Go around the house and wash and touch up shutters or porch paint that may be peeling. It will give the outside a fresh, clean feeling!
8. Add a decorative wreath/welcome sign
I am not really a wreath girl. I hate having to shove doors closed with the wreath hanger over the door, but they are definitely cute and will make your house seem friendly. I was going to make this instead.
9. Add chairs and a small table
If you have a front porch, you should do this. My husband and I are not people to sit around on the front porch and watch the cars go by. We have never, ever hung out for no reason on the front porch. And yet, whenever I see pictures of houses that have a cute little chair and table set, I automatically go “Aww, how cute” even though I know I will never use it. It makes me feel homey. You want other people to say that about your house. Try something like this:
P.S. As a disclaimer, that is not my picture. Just found it on google images and am going garage sailing next weekend to find something cute like that ;)
P.P.S Notice all the things they are doing right! Clean porch, furniture, wreath, plant, fresh paint. Nice!
10. Trim bushes and mow lawn
This goes back to first impressions. Let people know that you care about your house and take care of it. No one wants to see your giant weeds, overgrown grass, or gigantic bushes. If you are listing your house in the summer, make sure you mow and really upkeep your lawn for showings.
Bonus tip: Fancy up your garage door
Hope you enjoy these tips and have fun prettying up the outside of your house. And, if you are doing these to sell your home, good luck to you! :)
