Everyone likes a house that looks beautiful on the outside.
A nice green lawn, some simple bushes and flower plantings, and a clean-looking, well-kept exterior make a lovely home.
Sprucing up your home’s exterior not only makes you happier when you pull up in the driveway, it increases the value of your home.
If you are looking to make the outside of your house look better – read this entire article.
How Can I Make the Outside of My House Look Better?
Simple Landscaping
As so many homeowners concentrate attention and cash on the interior, landscaping is an often-ignored aspect of the home improvement genre.
Nonetheless, simple landscaping improves the appearance and increases the value and curbside appeal of your home.
Visit local plant nurseries and gardening departments of big box stores in your area.
Find sales people who appear knowledgeable about the best local plants for ease of care and hardiness.
Once you find people who can offer you helpful, free advice regarding your landscaping, you’re ready to get your yard in shape to increase your home’s value.
1. Attend to your grass. If you have weeds or areas of brown grass, your local home improvement store has a wide variety of products to help restore your yard’s lush color.
✓ Learn how to apply lawn additives and environment-friendly fertilizers to take care of your lawn concerns for relatively low costs.
✓ Mow the lawn at regular intervals and use an edger to create the perfect manicured lawn.
2. Evaluate the trees in your yard. Are you happy with them?
✓ Trees are an important aesthetic, as well as good for the environment. If you don’t have any trees, consider planting at least two or three of them.
✓ Think about a tree’s maximum size before planting, as the tree will need plenty of space to grow to its full size over the years.
✓ Consider also the tree’s placement in terms of proximity to your house, the neighbor’s yard, your driveway, and walkways.
✓ Avoid putting in trees too close to property lines, as falling blooms and leaves can be annoying to neighbors.
3. Do you have any bushes in your yard? If so, keep them well trimmed and nicely shaped.
✓ If you don’t have any bushes, you’d be surprised at how a few bushes can spruce up the look.
✓ Flowering bushes are especially lovely during spring and summer and the blooming buds bring a nice color contrast to your green grass.
4. Flowers are a must-have. Planting a few in-season flowers will beautify your yard.
✓ If you prefer, plant perennials (flowers/plants that return every year on their own) that bloom. As the perennials establish themselves, you can depend less and less on purchasing annuals every year.
✓ When selecting flowers, a general color scheme for the blooms is very pleasing. For example, stick with flowers having purple, yellow, and white blooms.
✓ Should you put your property up for sale, blooming flowers in your yard will draw attention and increase potential buyers’ interests in your home.
Exterior Painting
The outside of your home is especially important for added home value.
Nothing draws more attention to your homestead than the appearance of the exterior of your house.
Remember, also, the appearance of your driveway, porch and walkways when discussing your home’s exterior.
Condition of Your Driveway, Porch and Walkways
When you’re pondering possible home improvements to increase the value of your home, take a good look at your driveway, porch and walkways or sidewalks on your property.
These suggestions will help you increase the value of your home by taking care of these aspects of your yard:
1. Clean your driveway every 3 months to ensure it has a clean, fresh appearance. Avoid parking cars in your driveway that have leaking oil pans.
✓ Use a pressure washer quarterly to clean off your driveway.
✓ In the event your driveway hasn’t been taken care of in the past (i.e. before you owned the home), a simple and not too expensive way to beautify its appearance is to paint it. Specially formulated paints for concrete that can withstand weather and the wear of car tires are available at paint shops and home improvement stores.
2. How does your porch look? Perhaps it needs a good cleaning.
✓ Sweeping periodically and keeping clutter off the porch shows that you take care of your home.
✓ Occasional mopping or hosing down will keep your porch looking spic and span and improve the overall appearance of your home’s exterior.
✓ If your porch needs a coat of paint, consult your local paint or home improvement store to buy a paint product that can take the weather and the wear that a porch endures year round.
House Exterior
Unsurpassed in its ability to impress, your home’s exterior is the first thing people see when they drive by your property.
Should you ever put your property up for sale, the condition of your house’s exterior makes more of an initial impression than any other aspect of the home.
To increase the value of your home, your house’s exterior needs to appear clean and fresh.
1. Keeping a home clean from the outside takes some diligence. Walk around the house with a broom to sweep down leaves and cobwebs monthly to give your home a well-kept appearance.
✓ If you see that the exterior is dirty, you might want to use your water hose to spray off your home.
✓ If you’re not planning to paint afterward, take care that you use a light spray. Higher pressure spraying on a home’s exterior can trigger old paint that’s already flaking to peel off even more.
2. If your paint is starting to flake, it’s time to re-paint. Depending on the size of the exterior of your house, you may want to ask friends and family members to help you with the job. Throwing a painting party gets the job done and saves money over hiring a painting contractor.
✓ Although it’s important to conserve your budget when performing home improvement projects, obtain the best exterior paint you can afford. Watch your local home improvement stores and paint shops’ ads for sales on mid- or high-quality paints.
✓ In the case of exterior paint, quality matters in terms of how easily the paint goes on and how long the house’s surface retains a fresh appearance.
✓ Of course, you’ll want to spray down the home a day or two before painting and allow the dry completely.
✓ Avoid painting anything outdoors when it’s the slightest bit damp as paint doesn’t cover well when mixed with water.
3. Clean exterior window frames and windows at least twice a year. Doing so will cost you almost nothing but a couple of good cleaning products and the time it takes to do the labor.
✓ You’ll increase the value of your home simply by putting some elbow grease into this special task.
Your landscaping, exterior appearance of the house, and the look of your yard combine to reveal the care you’ve given to your home.
These tips will help you make the outside of your house look better.
If you need help, reach out to request a quote!