Boosting Your Home’s Curb Appeal in Six Easy Steps

When you're at home, chances are you spend most of your time indoors, sleeping, watching TV, or relaxing with your family. You likely don't spend a lot of time standing on the curb, examining your home from the outside. However, everyone from potential buyers to homeowners associations to pedestrians strolling by pay a good deal of attention to your home's exterior.

Whether you're looking to improve your home's value prior to selling it, make a better impression on your neighborhood, or simply make your home's exterior more aesthetically pleasing for your own benefit, applying a few simple changes to boost your home's curb appeal is a great idea.
Read on for six easy ways to improve your home's outward look.

1. Manicure Your Lawn

How your lawn looks have a huge impact on the overall impression people get from your home. A messy or uncared-for lawn gives an impression of sloppiness and distracts from other positive things about your home.
For optimum results, make sure your lawn stays well-kempt as often as possible. Simply mowing your lawn can go a long way towards boosting your home's appeal, and make sure to fertilize well for a vivid green. Cover up any dead spots on the lawn (from shade cast by trees or your home itself): plant flowers and shrubs that thrive in shade or place mulch around the base of the tree.

If you have flowering shrubs, make sure to prune them after flowering for maximum effect. Trim any low-hanging branches from trees or extra cover from shrubs – you want viewers to have the best possible view of your home, unobscured by untidy branches.

2. Plant Flowers

If you have space for a flower garden, a little bit can go a long way. Consider planting some flowers for a splash of color – they look great against the green lawn or against your home's walls in a flower box or hanging basket. Raised beds also help flowers stand out, drawing viewers' eyes straight to them.

Visit your local nursery (or ask green-thumbed neighbors) what kinds of flowers flourish in your area. Many flowers are easy to maintain and relatively cheap when you find the right flower for your region. Perennials even come back year after year, refreshing your home's look with little extra effort on your part.

3. Improve Your Doors

One of the fastest, easiest ways to boost your home's curb appeal is by repainting your front door. Choose a color that will make your door stand out without clashing with the rest of your home's coloring.
If you want to invest a little bit more, try installing a new front door altogether. Not only do newer doors have greater security and function, but they can also come with unique looks guaranteed to make your home stand out. Steel doors are relatively cheap, very secure, and an excellent way to improve your home's look.
For a compromise, try upgrading some of your current door's fixtures. A new knob or doorknocker helps your door-and, by extent, your home's entire exterior-look neater and classier.
And don't forget the garage! If your garage doors feature prominently on your home's exterior, keeping them up to par changes your home's entire look for the better. Try painting or investing in new doors for a vibrant new look.

4. Install a Fence

A low fence creates a sense of privacy without looking exclusive. It can make your home feel sheltered and protected, and also come s with the added benefit of making your property look larger by creating an enclosed boundary.

fences come in so many styles that finding a low fence that matches your personal style is neither difficult nor pricey. Do you want an antique-style iron fence for a stately, elegant home? Or a picket fence for a neat, modern feel? Even a small fence can go a long way towards helping your home stand out.

5. Fix the Concrete

Chips in your driveway or sidewalk can be very unsightly and won't go unnoticed by potential homebuyers. Consider repairing any damage in your cement, concrete, or stone, and make other stylistic changes as well: edge the driveway for a crisper feel or install sidewalk lights to make the pathway to your front door pop.

6. Turn on the Lights

Your home's outdoor lights set its nighttime atmosphere. If they're too dim or too harsh, they can ruin the effect you've tried to create with other changes. They also play an important role during the daylight: they need to be aesthetic enough to support your home's style all day long.

Find light fixtures that complement your home's current style and color. Fitted with energy-efficient bulbs, your new lights will cast a natural-feeling light that makes your home safer, warmer, and more inviting.

These six changes might be among the easiest, but when it comes to curb appeal, the only real limit is your imagination. From birdbaths to planter boxes to a shiny new stair railing, your options for the more beautiful property are endless.

For more tips on beautifying your home, feel free to contact us at Riverside Ironworks Canada Inc.