Whether you are working on selling your Fresno / Clovis house or not, it’s a good idea to improve your curb appeal as much as possible. Having a warm, inviting home will make your neighbors more likely to want to stop in for a visit. Sometimes, it can be overwhelming to think about renovations, which is why we are giving you a series of curb appeal updates you can make without hurting your bank account.
1. Add Mulch
A bag of mulch won’t cost you much, but it will make a huge difference for your plants. Mulch your plants once a year to keep the weeds down and keep your yard looking tidy. Avoid dyed mulches and opt for materials that are native to our area.
2. Prune
Learn how to prune the hedges and trees in your yard. Be sure to pay attention to when your plants respond best to pruning and don’t prune too often.
3. Paint Your Door
A fresh coat of paint on the front door, especially when it is in a fun and complementary color, can completely change the look of a home. Painting the door is a great opportunity to decide whether you want your home to look playful, beautiful, elegant, or imposing.
4. Plant A Tree
Trees can be surprisingly inexpensive, and if you have a tree you already like, you can take a cutting of that tree and root it in water. Willows are especially low maintenance and easy to plant.
5. Frame Your Pathway
There are many ways you can make your home more inviting from the street, but one of the best is with a beautiful gate, archway, or a pair of potted plants framing the walkway to the front door. Stand at the street and look toward the house to imagine the perfect framing to see if it can improve your curb appeal.
6. Window Boxes
Window boxes are a classic way to make your home warmer and more friendly, but today there are many options that a savvy homeowner can choose between when they choose a window box. If you are handy, you can make your own window boxes out of scrap wood or metal.
7. Pressure Wash
A good clean is another great place to start as you update your home to improve curb appeal. Consider pressure washing your sidewalk, your front steps, and even your siding if it is a material that responds well to washing. As you pressure wash your sidewalk, you have a good opportunity to clean up the edges of a lawn. Make sure that your lawn isn’t completely overgrowing your sidewalk or paving stones. There are many companies that provide pressure washing services that will also clean the edges of your sidewalk for you.
8. Light Your Best Features
You know which features of your home or yard are the most attractive. Why not highlight them with a beautiful array of lights. If you have a particular tree that you love, consider adding lighting that shines up toward the top of the tree and illuminates the crown. On the other hand, you can also use a tree for moonlighting, which is when you install lights in a tree that will shine down to illuminate the yard. If your pathway is not already lit, you should definitely install some lighting along the pathway to guide visitors toward your door.
9. Install A New Mailbox
Adding a new mailbox can be a surprisingly impactful step toward creating your curb appeal. Often, our mailboxes do not match the personality of our home, making them out of place in a carefully designed yard. With this in mind, you should find a mailbox that matches your home in style and color. Mailboxes are another place where you can save money and add some DIY flair. You just need to be sure that your mailbox is up to the USPS regulations.
10. Creative House Numbers
Isn’t it awful when you can’t see the numbers on a house? Solve this problem by installing fun, distinct house numbers that will set your home apart and show off your home’s personality. Just make sure that the house numbers are well lit and easy to see so that they are visible to visitors day and night.
Some fun house number ideas include: painting house numbers onto a series of potted plants, creating your own ceramic house numbers, projecting house numbers in light onto the façade, painting them on the door in a graphic font, investing in neon numbers, adding your numbers to a planter hanging from the fence, creating moss-covered house numbers with sheet moss, creating a mosaic with your house number, printing the number on an outdoor pillow, hanging a simple mobile with the house numbers, printing them into a concrete retaining wall, etching them in the glass of the front door, and putting the number up on a big tree in the yard. With all of these fun options in mind, why would you settle for a simple number?
11. New Exterior Light Fixtures
Framing your front door is just as important as framing your pathway. One of the best ways you can frame your front door is by installing some beautiful, eye-catching light fixtures. Even if you cannot afford to update the fixtures themselves, you can always add nice warm bulbs to existing light fixtures so that your lights cast a warm glow on your front porch. Think about how nice it is to have Christmas lights warming your façade in the winter and imagine if you could have this warmth year round.
12. Add Stones or Stonework
This tip can be as big or small as you want. This can be as small as adding some pea gravel to the driveway to give it an update or as big as hiring a mason to create stonework flowerbeds in front of the house. Whatever steps you take, make sure that you are not stealing stones. It can be tempting to take round rocks from rivers or to grab some beach sand for your path, but make sure that your rock collection is legal before you keep collecting.
Different cities have different laws around collecting stones from local rivers. Construction sites are always a good bet if you are hoping to snag a statement boulder for your front yard. Stop by your local construction site and ask the foremen if there are any rocks they don’t want. If that doesn’t work, there are many landscaping suppliers that will supply rocks directly to your home.
13. Add Outdoor Furniture
Outdoor furniture can be a bit of an investment but it can make all the difference when it comes to making an inviting living space out of your front yard. Ultimately, your front yard should not be wasted space, it should be a place where you want to spend time. Adding a few lounge chairs can make the biggest difference. Consider making a little patio for your furniture.
If you have made all or some of these updates, congratulations, you have just increased the value of your home enormously on a budget!
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