Whew! I haven’t been as busy as I was in May in a loooong time! I was pushing hard to get all of my own projects done for the 7MD Curb Appeal Month and getting them shared with you. I’ll tell you what, though, I love how my home looks from the front now. Now I need to focus some attention on the backyard. Maybe next year though. Lol!
In addition to my projects I shared with you over the last month, I also shared projects from other bloggers and quick little things you can do on my social media pages. (Insert shameless plug to ask you to follow me on Facebook, Instagram, and Pinterest) In case you missed it, don’t fret! I’m going to share them all with you now!
Creating your own address sign brings in some extra personality and design to your home plus, it’s not just decorative. It’s a necessity. If you or someone in your home needs emergency services, those first responders need to know that they are at the correct location. Clear, easy to read numbers do just that. Having your house numbers in a plainly visible place and easy to read also helps the pizza guy or Amazon delivery person find your house. That’s important, too. Check out the details on how I made my shiplap version above. I also made a couple other designs as I was preparing for this post.
Updating your landscaping (or adding some where there wasn’t any before) can have a HUGE impact! I’m not very good at planning a landscape design, let alone keeping things alive, but luckily, there are people out there like Wondermom Wannabe who are willing to share some easy tips. Check out her list of easy tips to get you motivated.
Katie at Addicted 2 DIY comes up with some of the best projects. If you have trees in your front yard, there are tons of different ideas you can use to dress them up. Katie’s idea for a hexagon bench is great to give you a place to sit and watch the kids playing outside, during neighborhood parties, or to rest when the yard work gets to be a bit much. It would also be an excellent idea for backyard trees.
- DIY Greeting Sign
Greeting signs are becoming increasingly popular! If there was a way to track word popularity, I’m pretty sure Welcome and Hello (or any form thereof) are second and third only to Farmhouse. This is good news for you! That means you can find premade cutouts to make your own greeting sign for the front of your house or add it to a wreath for your door. And don’t count out paint. A hand painted sign looks awesome, too! Get creative with your sign by adding a monogram, an established date, or even a funny quip.
Did you know how easy making your own shutters was? I sure didn’t but I do now! The front of my house was seriously lacking some character and I’ve long desired some shutters but I had a hard time deciding what style and color to go with. As you can tell, I made a decision and I love them so much. I shared all the details with you in a previous post including free build plans!
It’s funny how one home improvement project snowballs into five others. I’ve definitely been there. Michelle at The Inspired Homebody (how great a name is that??) recently revealed her curb appeal refresher where she shares several projects you can quickly do to brighten up your home. Small changes can make big impacts and sometimes all you need to do is freshen up what’s already there instead of adding something new.
Changing our lighting fixtures is generally a super simple task but a lot of people think it’s much more involved. The hardest thing about most light swaps is you only have two hands and sometimes you really need three. Outdoor light fixtures have come a long way over the years in appearance and function and can make a big impact in boosting curb appeal. Chelsea at Two Twenty One takes you through the simple process of swapping a fixture.
- Adding a Flag
Adding a flag to the outside of your home is a quick and inexpensive way to boost curb appeal! Seeing a flag on homes always reminds me of summertime, cookouts, and being around good people. Installing a bracket typically only takes a few minutes. And if you live in a windy place like Oklahoma, I suggest upgrading the plastic bracket to a metal one. Trust me…
- Painting Your Home
It’s inevitable that a home will need to be repainted at some point. If you can find a good painter and can afford it, go that route. I, along with a couple people who are gluttons for punishment, repainted my house two years ago this month. It was hard work but, even though I painted it the same color, it looked like a whole new house when I was finished. And the $150 cost of doing it myself was much better than the $1800 estimate I received. Whether you revive the color it already is or go with something completely new, painting your home can be just the ticket to give you the change and wow factor you’re looking for! The attached pictures show the before, during, and after of one side of the house. (I didn’t take as many pictures of a project two years ago…)
Planter boxes are a great and easy way to add décor to your front porch. Even if you’re like me and don’t have a green thumb, you can totally add fake plants. No one will tell. There are tons of DIY options out there for you. I love these modern planter boxes from Shara at The Woodshop Diaries. They’re perfectly simple but sophisticated and can be customized in so many ways.
I don’t know why but I love seeing a place to sit on the porch. It feels so homey and welcoming. You just have to check out this herringbone bench I made for my porch. Not only is it pretty but it’s functional for much more than just sitting. It’s a storage bench, too! You can store whatever your heart desires in here but I plan to use it as a place for the delivery guy to hide my packages. They’ve already started using it and it’s been great! Oh yeah, there are free plans for this one too!
- Painting Window Blinds
One of the littlest but most important parts of curb appeal that often gets overlooked is window blinds. Think about it. How often do you really take note of someone’s blinds? I bet you notice when they look bad. Or maybe I just notice too much. Good blinds are expensive, especially for large windows common on the front of a house, so it hurts to have to replace them when they get damaged. Mine had gotten damaged by the sun and just looked dirty. I tried to clean them several times but that brown tint was NOT coming off. Enter the easiest hack ever – spray paint. I cleaned all the dust off the blinds and laid them out on a tarp. Pro tip: don’t do this on a windy day or with dogs around. Trust my experience. Using a couple cans of white spray paint I had in the garage, I had “new” blinds within an hour! I only wish I had thought to take a before and after of them in the window. Even without it, you can see what a huge difference it made!
- Updating Your Front Door
Front doors don’t have to be plain and boring! There are tons of ways to add a little pizzazz aside from just changing the color. You could add a kick plate that packs a personality punch. From a decorative pattern to your house numbers to a monogram, the possibilities are endless. Most kick plates are fairly inexpensive so grab one to fit your door and some paint them get creative! Photo from www.deckthedoordecor.com
Personalized door mats are so fun and a great way to welcome people to your home. The price tags on some of them are not so fun. You can totally design your own, though! The Live A Little Wilder blog has all the details. Like the greeting sign I shared earlier, the possibilities are endless. I personally love the ones with funny sayings.
I love driving by a house at night and seeing it all lit up on the outside. And I don’t just mean with brighter than the sun security lights. I always thought landscape lighting would be expensive and I’d have to hire someone to do it without going the route of solar lights. Not so! Check out Thrifty Decor Chick to see how easy it is to do yourself! I’m definitely putting this one on my to do list.
When working on your curb appeal plans, don’t overlook your mailbox and post! The looks of my old mailbox and post just weren’t cutting it for me anymore. I wanted to make something that matched my house. I shared all the details with you on the blog on how I made a custom mailbox post and installed it. It looks like it was always meant to be here.
- Pressure Washing
This may be the most satisfying curb appeal project yet! Sometimes you don’t really know just how dirty sidewalks and driveways can be until you break out the pressure washer. I pulled out my RYOBI Outdoor Products pressure washer and now all of the concrete shines bright like a diamond! I even used it to wash my car, bust down wasp and mud dauber nests, clean my garage door, and even water the flowers. If you’ve ever used a gas powered pressure washer, this one is so much easier. It’s basically a plug and play and it’s so much quieter. Excuse me while I go find more things to wash!
Sometimes the things on the outside of our homes that are in place to keep the insides of our homes running and comfortable (electric meters, cable boxes, AC units, trash cans…) are not designed to be pretty or are in the best spot for curb appeal. That’s okay, though! There are tons of ideas out there on how to conceal them! This roundup of fun ideas from Decorate Your Small Space has some great ones. This has me thinking about some ideas for my own eyesores…
- Lawn Edging
A freshly manicured lawn is paramount to your home’s curb appeal. Lawn edging is like the cherry on top. I don’t know about y’all but I don’t really love running a weed eater, much less using it as an edger. I finally got to use my Ryobi Edger I got last year and, call me crazy, it was fun! It was so easy to use and gave wonderful results. Surely all of my neighbors wouldn’t mind if I edged their yards, too…
And that concludes the first 7MD Curb Appeal Month! Thank you so much for joining me. This month was a lot of work but it was so worth it. I hope I shared something with you to inspire and/or motivate you. If you use one of my plans for your own projects, I would love for you to share pictures of it with me.
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