Help, my house needs curb appeal!

8 years ago

Hi! I'm a first time homebuyer and complete renovation/landscaping/hardscaping novice. My house needs some major help! We're scheduled with a tree removal company to have the giant christmas tree removed in 2 weeks and I need to have a game plan to help the exterior of my home. I'm completely open to just about anything and have a budget of 5K. I'm open to painting the shutters, door, steps. Also, not sure what/what to plant. Those sad shrubs will be going, too.

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Comments (4)

User
8 years ago
last modified: 8 years ago
Paint the shutters and front door something more cheerful. Cobalt blue! Add plants to the walkway.
jlc712
8 years ago
Wow, that's an enormous tree! You're going to need quite a bit of topsoil and sod to fill in your lawn. Go to a local garden place and get some recommendations for plants along the foundation. You could make the whole area between the house and the path to the front door a big flowerbed, maybe with a dwarf tree in the center between the two small windows. I'd plant a couple of trees (that won't get too big) along the front sidewalk.

I agree with Mimi, paint the front door and shutters a color you love. You may want to paint the foundation beneath the siding too. With a white house and gray (or is it blue?) roof, your options are very open. Gray shutters and teal door, navy and yellow, greens, turquoise, or traditional black or dark green.

You could replace the metal porch railings with wood railings. If the concrete steps are in bad shape, you could patch and paint them, but if they're ok, I'd leave them alone.
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I have a few ideas for your home. i have included a sketch and a photo album on Flickr for ideas about colors and plant selections. hope you enjoy In front of your home I have added a small courtyard surrounded by a low stone wall. You could even use a low wooden fence. A modern bench and a pot of foxtail fern. The footing could be pea gravel, decomposed granite, flagstone or whatever you like. Even packed earth. At the top of your drive you have 2 tall planters with boxwood balls and a long low planter full of foxtail ferns. The ground cover is paddle plant. The containers are galvanized metal. on the porch another tall container with box ball and a smaller rectangular container with 3 smaller box balls. A bouganvilla vine adds color and softens the left corner. For the color, I love what Lauren from purestylehome blog has done. For your home, I would paint the trim the same grey or just a shade lighter. SInce you don't have alot of architectural detail, you don't want it to take center stage. This will give you a monochromatic look. I suggest a bright color for your door. Lauren chose pumpkin orange. The stone wall could be bluestone as I have shown or the lighter stone on the bottom half of Lauren's home. More ideas: http://www.flickr.com/photos/50366623@N07/sets/72157624097082386/
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Not sure how much you want to spend on this but if you are re teracing the yard and stairs, consider curving or angling them toward the driveway. it would add convenience and visual interest. I would cover the cinderblock wall with a stone veneer or a faux stone paint job and let vines grow all down it. You could even add cast stone tracery and grow ivy over the wall to fake castle walls or paint a mural :-) For safety I would keep the lampoles (sprayed hammer black metal ) or replace with lights on the stair walls to illuminate the steps. I would also spray the stair rail black and maybe add black shutters a classic red brick, white trim and black shutters. Then a couple black urns with bright flowers could flank entry steps. (Those Rustoleum textured metal spray paints work magic on cheap plastic pots as well as metal light fixtures) If you want a awning or a small gable over the front door add post to stair rails to support a metal roof. You have a nice house with intersting design challenges just clean and add some colorful plants while you plan any big structural changes to the wall.
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Personally, I am not a fan of contrasting corner trim. If you ever re-side, I would lose that, increase the size of the window trim, and perhaps do a vertical siding on the bump-out. I agree that the driveway needs to be made smaller. Normally I wouldn't suggest faux shutters, but they could add some interest to the front. A front deck and pergola at the door would be pretty.
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Following up on Addie's idea, if you want to designate an area for the pool and incorporate it into your landscape, why not? Then in spring and fall it could be your campfire area, and in winter you could put holiday decorations there. But my first item on the priority list would be a privacy fence. Frankly your house looks fine/wonderful to me but if you have no back yard and are wanting to get the most use out of your front yard with kids, etc. then start with a GOOD fence. It is not inexpensive. Then just prune a bit or refresh what you have. And for what it's worth, I think the tree looks like it is hugging your house, in a good way! Plus if I was a kid I would be up that tree in a New York minute. :) You don't need to do it all at once! And you can get a lot of plants and other things bit by bit as they come on sale or even for free from friends or neighbors who are cleaning up. Do the big important thing (fence) with a lot of planning and don't skimp on the money and the rest will come from your enjoyment of your private space as time and cash allows.
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Nothing Left to Say
8 years ago
last modified: 8 years ago
I think I'd consider painting the foundation something darker, like grey. And how do you feel about window boxes under the front windows?
acdcstrang
8 years ago
last modified: 8 years ago
What a lovely house. Classic and cute at the same time! And with white siding, your options are truly wide open. I will third everyone else's advice to use a colour you love on the shutters and door. Perhaps just paint the door first and leave it for a while to decide whether you love it on the door as much as on the paint chip :) Then, when you find a colour you love, do the shutters the same.

There is a huge gap between the plants against the house and the windows, so I would try planting some taller shrubs back there (that will not grow over the windows in time). If gardening is not really your thing, try to plant some native plants which should not require as much care and nurturing as non-native species. Your garden centre should be able to advise in that regard.

jlc712 already gave you the advice I was about to. Maybe think about turning that grassy area in between house and walk into a garden bed. It doesn't have to be done all at once. Perhaps get a garden plan created at your garden centre and just add a bit at a time as you are financially and time-wise able to manage.

Good luck. I am sure it will be wonderful. You are starting with a great canvas!!

Help, my house needs curb appeal!

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jlc712

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