Getting the best offer by adding curb appeal-- HELP!
Hello, we recently purchased a foreclosure. It is definitely lacking curb appeal, but it was a price that we could afford. Can you guys help me figure out what to do to add some curb appeal? I have already planted a few more lilies around the front (those are gardenia foundation plantings) and removed the blue spruce? cypress? that was in the middle. I also painted the front door black and replaced the outside lights. We may be moving again very soon and are afraid that are ugly exterior is going to cost us a buyer. Please help! Also, we live in NC, not Australia-- not sure how that got there!
I think this is a cute house. I would add some flowering plants. It needs a little color, and if you ever have to replace the gutters, I would install black.
depends on the price range. I think you are fine. Maybe some flowering plants like mentioned above. Maybe powerwash, freshen up the exterior, and get better pictures. That would make a big difference. You could add some stone along the drive, but I would not bother
Thank you Dawn and Jonathan. This house should sell for about 180,000 bc the houses around here usually go for $100/sq ft. I'm just not sure that I can get that much bc our exterior is so unimpressive!
This is a cute house. I would look at adding some annual flowers with color. The green shrubs need a trimming. Do you have too many green shrubs up against the house? Go to a local nursery an have them design something or give you ideas. They will do this for $50 or so. Extend the flower bed to in front walk to the porch. Add a flower bed border. If the house needs a new roof go with a shingle that dimension to it. The roof looks in good condition from the pic so I don't think this is an option. Spend $100 to get a professional photographer to take pics, worth the money!
that garage is an eye sore. need to tone that down.
do this:
add shutters to the front window, match that color with the garage and front door paint.
it needs one mature plant, ideally, something with color (blue evergreen garden variety (dwarf size).
nice buy. ideally, garage door could be made to look like a wood stain, and shutters match.
Thank you Jim and John! I will utilize your suggestions. I am going to look in to that faux wood garage door!
I think by adding black mulch around the exterior including along the driveway and bushes and tress might help, especially since you said you painted the front door black. I don't know, just a thought. I plan on adding black mulch to all my properties, I think it helps so much.
Hi Himilce;
I saw your post and lamented the fact you painted the front door black. When I see a recessed door like that, I would try and paint it a light, bright, color, to accentuate the entrance and make it more welcoming. Now that it's done, there's no sense going back and repainting - instead, I would leave that front door light on to brighten the entrance, at night, during the day, anytime the house is being shown.
Another thing I would consider, this house, like many newer homes, screams WELCOME TO MY GARAGE DOOR! Anything you can do to de-accentuate that giant wall of white will be good. If the budget allows, you could swap out the top panel of that overhead garage door, with a panel with windows. Alternately, you could use black paint to paint faux windows there. Also, for less than $40, you could buy faux decorative black hinges and handles to add some interest to the garage door.
Then, like others have mentioned, a white window box filled with colorfull flowers, a pair of shepherd hooks with two matching flower baskets, and some dark mulch, would add punch.
I used photoshop to create a picture of what I'm describing.
Best of luck with your flip!
Jerry
Great door treatment. I'll have to try it.
@Himilce Phelps the short plantings in front of the window need some taller plants mixed in. I love the idea above with the bright pink taller flowers mixed in, and added to the left of the garage as well, in the picture by @Jerry Ciesielski . I think if that's all you did, it would make a big difference.
The house is cute, in my opinion. But, I also like adding the black to the garage door, which would tie into the front door. Those should be cheap and fairly easy fixes.
I can't see the lighting fixtures well in the photos. But, that's another easy fix - putting in some really cool lighting fixtures. And if they were also black, like a wrought iron look, it would also tie in more of the black, and I think they should be bigger. This is a good article that talks about lighting and getting the right size fixture for more punch, as well as better lighting:
http://www.dlglighting.com/blogs/dlg-style/7700179...
You can get cheaper versions of wrought iron-looking fixtures at Home Depot that look nice:
Thank you all very much for the suggestions. Here is what I have so far. But now I am wondering if I should either repaint the garage door white and add the hardware? Also, should I paint the front door a brighter color (what color?) or leave it black? I replaced the former mis-matched outside lights with something 2nd hand, but should I go for something nicer? Thanks so much for the help especially to you, Jerry, for the photoshopping!
Originally posted by @Sue K.:
@Himilce Phelps the short plantings in front of the window need some taller plants mixed in. I love the idea above with the bright pink taller flowers mixed in, and added to the left of the garage as well, in the picture by @Jerry Ciesielski . I think if that's all you did, it would make a big difference.
The house is cute, in my opinion. But, I also like adding the black to the garage door, which would tie into the front door. Those should be cheap and fairly easy fixes.
I can't see the lighting fixtures well in the photos. But, that's another easy fix - putting in some really cool lighting fixtures. And if they were also black, like a wrought iron look, it would also tie in more of the black, and I think they should be bigger. This is a good article that talks about lighting and getting the right size fixture for more punch, as well as better lighting:
http://www.dlglighting.com/blogs/dlg-style/7700179...
You can get cheaper versions of wrought iron-looking fixtures at Home Depot that look nice:
Thank you for your ideas! I posted a picture of what I have done so far-- do yiou think I still need better lighting?
Originally posted by @Jerry Ciesielski:
Hi Himilce;
I saw your post and lamented the fact you painted the front door black. When I see a recessed door like that, I would try and paint it a light, bright, color, to accentuate the entrance and make it more welcoming. Now that it's done, there's no sense going back and repainting - instead, I would leave that front door light on to brighten the entrance, at night, during the day, anytime the house is being shown.
Another thing I would consider, this house, like many newer homes, screams WELCOME TO MY GARAGE DOOR! Anything you can do to de-accentuate that giant wall of white will be good. If the budget allows, you could swap out the top panel of that overhead garage door, with a panel with windows. Alternately, you could use black paint to paint faux windows there. Also, for less than $40, you could buy faux decorative black hinges and handles to add some interest to the garage door.
Then, like others have mentioned, a white window box filled with colorfull flowers, a pair of shepherd hooks with two matching flower baskets, and some dark mulch, would add punch.
I used photoshop to create a picture of what I'm describing.
Best of luck with your flip!
Jerry
Thank you! And especially for the visual :) I had already painted the garage door a tan(ish) color to try to make it blend in more-- do you think I should go back and try white instead? I don't mind repainting! I posted a new picture and comment below-- I was unsure of how to directly reply.
Some colorful perennials in the front bed would do wonders. Probably $7 a pop and it would break up the massive amount of green and help soften it a bit.
@Himilce Phelps the plantings look much better. The lights are much better, too. My eye would still like to see bigger ones, but, I'm thinking why not paint the garage door black? Then see if the lights still need to be bigger.
Having it tan looks off to me, because it doesn't match the other white trim.
I'm thinking just painting the garage door a solid black might look really good with the black front door and the black lighting fixtures. With the whole garage door black, the lighting fixtures might not look too small anymore.
You're really working hard on that place! Good job.
Oh, and I agree, you still need some taller plants with color like in the photoshopped picture. You could even just go buy some potted plants at the gardening store, and place them around in their pots. Then, if the flowers die and you haven't sold it yet, you just go get some more :-)
Another possibility that came to me, is to put a black window box under the window and plant a bunch of overflowing flowers in it. I'd but a fairly deep box, not one of those skinny window boxes.
Like this:
Here's another photo of a flower bed planting, that has more varied height and more color, just as an example:
Definitely do NOT paint the garage door black. Now that you have it tan, leave it as is. But I still DO like the idea of black decorative hardware to tie it together. I like your new matching lamps.
After that, add the window boxes and shepherd's hooks with colorful flowers (even fake flowers added in for extra pop - really, who's going to look that closely) and call it a day. Don't keep spending money undoing things you've already done. ;.)
Hello everyone! Just wanted to say THANK YOU for all of your suggestions and advice! We ended up with this and about $50,000 in our pocket! Thanks again so much!
This is our new house... if you guys are willing, we'd love more suggestions on adding diy curb appeal. We have already about maxed out the amount we think we can sell it for, so we need a way to dress it up inexpensively and are thinking of selling again. Thank you for any help you can offer!
We were thinking of building a flower bed in front of porch and removing the rails. Also, we thought of making the door and shutter either blue, or cedar colored.
You might be able to get away with removing that left section of railing (in front of the windows), but I don't think you can get rid of the right section (in front of the door), due to the height of the drop from the front porch to the front yard. Either look in the local building code or ask your insurance agent about how much distance there can be before you need a railing.
I think this might be a good place for painting either the front door or the railings a bright, contrasting color... some version of blue, green, or red. Not super-saturated, but something on the brighter end of the scale... teal/cyan, kelly green, ruby. Not sure if it works better to leave the front door white or light-colored and paint the railings a bright color, or to do the front door *and* the railings in the same contrasting color.
Another idea: Do all the shutters in something like the color of a manila folder - similar to the color that's on the siding around the front door and window now. Do that siding in a darker color. Leave the door and railings white, or maybe a less-intense version of blue or green - like sky blue or mint green.
My suggestions:
1) Go to a local "mom-n-pop" style nursery because they're going to know what works well in your area. At a Lowes, Home Depot, or Wal-Mart you may be speaking with someone who is well-intentioned, but not a "plant geek" for your specific environment.
2) Always plant things with their mature size in mind. I say this because growing up I had a moron neighbor who used to rototill his gravel driveway and planted things like Maple trees, friggin' MAPLE TREES, inches from his house.
3) Plant low-maintenance. Some quality tenants just hate yardwork. I suggest things that grow thick and dense and block weeds. At one of my houses these pre-existing Elephant Ear plants suddenly decided to conquer the property. They were so impressively huge that neither me or my tenants wanted to remove them even though they overpowered the house and allowed weeds to flourish underneath. We eventually had a cold winter here in Florida that killed the foliage so I moved their bulbs to the backyard and put more low-maintenance and weed-blocking stuff in their place.
If the properties are occupied keep your tenants in mind. Learn if they have allergies and avoid plants that trigger them. I have a tenant who is deeply afraid of critters. I planted things that ended up attracting bees and tree frogs (FYI I'm in Florida) so I removed them for her.
3) Consider safety: at one house I planted a vicious spiny aloe-looking plant at windows because it would make for a painful experience if you wished to break in at that window.
4) Also consider completely selfish motives. I have always fantasized buying undeveloped land and planting it with nothing but plants with that deep red leaf color (imagine a forest like that!) so at one house every plant I plant has red leaves. I even found a crape myrtle (popular in Florida) in a red-leaf version.
I also have a heavily shaded property that I would like to plant an Australian fern tree upon. I've always wanted one since moving here, but my own property is too sunny. I still haven't done this, but I will!