If you’re looking to make a drastic change to your home exterior, take a good hard look at your home’s current state. Chances are one of these three areas will be the transforming factor you’re looking for. We’re bringing you the best home exterior features to update for the biggest curb appeal transformation.
Do you have a portico or front porch?
A covered area above your front door creates a welcoming space for visitors. It results in an semi-enclosed entryway that not only protects your visitors from the elements but physically leads your guests straight to your door. The following Pinterest before and after pictures will give you an idea of how big of a difference these updates make!
Additionally, a portico or porch provides depth to the face of your home. Adding a protruding structure like a portico onto the front side of your house creates a focal point for the eye when looking on from the street. The front door should typically be the focal point on a house; by building a 3-dimensional structure specifically above the front door, you’re drawing the viewer’s eye straight to where you want it. A house without this feature is too flat. If your eye has nothing to settle on, you usually stop looking. Good curb appeal counteracts this by keeping the onlooker’s attention for a significant period of time.
What does your exterior siding and paint look like?
An old paint job that’s chipping or faded isn’t going to appeal to many onlookers. Even a decent paint job can have a negative effect on your curb appeal if the color doesn’t complement the style of your home and its surroundings. Don’t forget about the trim either! The right color trim can make or break the overall look of your home.
The before and after image below from Pinterest is a great example of exterior siding and color update as well as a portico addition.
Often old brick or wood siding, if not kept up, will give your home an unappealing aged look. Replacing the exterior siding on these homes will drastically improve the curb appeal of the home. Applying vinyl or fiber cement siding will allow you to add new color and protection to your home’s exterior that will surely draw a few eyes in comparison to the previous deteriorating siding.
Is your landscape well-kept?
Even if your house looks great, if your yard is dead and drab, your curb appeal is dead too. When it comes to well-kept landscape, think life! If your yard isn’t alive and growing, it probably doesn’t look good (unless you have some quality hardscaping happening instead). The key to this is keeping a trimmed and green lawn, clearing out dead shrubs in the winter, planting new flowers or plants in the spring, and using your landscape design to lead people from the street or driveway to the entrance of your home. You don’t want to plant flowers just for the sake of planting them. Line your walkway with flowers or place a flower bed along the edge of your house or porch. Take a look at the before and after shots below and try to identify which elements work and don’t work in each design.