Better Homes And Gardens Split Level Curb Appeal

front exterior white house with green door

If your home's curb appeal makes a great first impression, everyone (including potential homebuyers) will want to see what's inside. Check out these simple, low-cost curb appeal improvements that you can do in a day, a week, or a month.

Curb Appeal in a Day: Replace Old Hardware

front yard gray door

Credit: Jason Donnelly

House numbers, the entry door lockset, a wall-mounted mailbox, and an overhead light fixture are all elements that can add style and interest to your home's exterior curb appeal. If they're out of date or dingy, your home may not be conveying the aesthetic you think it is. These elements add the most appeal when they function collectively, rather than as mix-and-match pieces. Oiled-bronze finishes suit traditional homes, while brushed nickel suits more contemporary ones.

Related: How to Replace Your Front Door Hardware

Curb Appeal in a Day: Install Window Boxes

window box container with herbs

Credit: Carson Downing

Window boxes offer a fast, easy way to bring color and charm to your home's curb appeal. Choose boxes made from copper or iron for a traditional look. Select painted wood for a cottage feel. Mix and match flowers and plants to suit your lighting conditions and color scheme.

Related: How to Build a Window Box

Curb Appeal in a Day: Dress Up the Front Door

front exterior white house with green door

Your home's front entry is the focal point of its curb appeal. Make a statement by giving your front door a coat of color with paint or by installing a custom wood door. Clean off any dirty spots around the knob, and use metal polish on the door fixtures. Your entry should also reflect the home's interior, so choose a swag, flag, or wreath that reflects your personal style.

Curb Appeal in a Day: Create Perfect Symmetry

pale blue front doors of white colonial exterior with stone pathway

Credit: Julie Soefer

Symmetry is not only pleasing to the eye, it's also the simplest to arrange. Symmetrical compositions of light fixtures and front-door accents create welcoming entryways and boost curb appeal. This door is flanked by two sidelights. The lantern-style sconces not only safely guide visitors to the door, but also coordinate with the door hardware and urns.

Curb Appeal in a Day: Dress Up Your Porch with Seating

Porch with rocking chairs, pillows, skateboard

Credit: Edmund Barr

Welcome guests in with comfortable furniture on the porch that beckons visitors to pull up a chair and stay awhile. Rocking chairs that sway in the wind are often a calling card for visitors. Even a small chair or a minuscule table on your porch can serve as a resting station between outside and inside and boost your curb appeal. And because your front porch is the public face of your home, seating can encourage guests to stay outside and engage with neighbors and streetside activity, too.

Curb Appeal in a Day: Install Outdoor Lighting

Path lights

Credit: Hedrich-Blessing

Low-voltage landscape lighting makes a huge impact on your home's curb appeal while also providing safety and security. Fixtures can add accent lighting to trees or the house or can illuminate a walking path. For the best landscape lighting, plan to incorporate a variety of fixtures and lighting types. If you aren't able to use lights that require wiring, install solar fixtures (but understand that their light levels are not as bright or as reliable).

Curb Appeal in a Day: Create an Instant Garden

Home exterior with container garden on porch

Credit: Laurie Black

Container gardens add a welcoming feel and colorful curb appeal to any home exterior quickly and affordably. You can buy ready-made containers from garden centers or create your own with your favorite plants. Pots come in a variety of materials, such as terra-cotta, ceramic, wood, and plastic. For most landscapes, a staggered, asymmetrical arrangement works best to create a dynamic setting.

Curb Appeal in a Day: Do a Mailbox Makeover

Mailbox with garden

Credit: Kritsada Panichgul

Mailboxes should complement the home and express the homeowner's personality. When choosing a hanging drop box, pick a box that mirrors your home's trimmings. Dress up mail boxes for curb appeal by painting the wooden post to match the house's exterior color. Surround your mailbox with a beautiful flowering garden to instantly make your front yard more welcoming and approachable.

Garden for Curb Appeal: Take It to the Next Level

Use these easy curb appeal ideas to take your landscape to the next level. Install a charming and attractive gate to welcome visitors into your yard. An arch marks the entrance to your front yard and offers instant charm with a focal point. Install a small fence at the corner of your yard with perennials and annuals around it to provide an immediate sense of space and welcoming display of color. A small garden with drought-tolerant plants around a mailbox is the most visible way to improve curb appeal. A bench that's visible and accessible creates a visual point that beckons visitors into your yard. Place containers along paths or steps for a big boost of color.

Curb Appeal in a Day: Renew Planter Beds

Garden with leafy plants and stone surround

Credit: Laurie Black

Get garden beds into shape by pruning growth, pulling weeds, and planting flowers. Add new mulch to restore color that was taken away by sunlight and harsh weather. If stone or brick borders your bed, consider cleaning and resetting any pieces that are soiled or dislodged. If your border is old or tired-looking, try upgrading to stone or a decorative cast-concrete edging system for improved curb appeal.

Curb Appeal in a Weekend: Make a Grand Entry

gray house overhanging front porch with red door

Credit: Robert Brinson

Even with a small budget, there are ways to draw attention to your front door and improve curb appeal. Turn your home's entry into an inviting focal point by adding a few well-chosen and nicely arranged plants on the front porch. Molding also acts as an architectural eyeliner when applied to the sides and top of the doorway. Notice how the white door casing makes this door pop.

Curb Appeal in a Weekend: Create a New Planting Bed

garden bed in front of rear deck

Credit: Laurie Black

Add contrast and color to your home exterior with a new planting bed. Prime spots for curb appeal are at the front corners of the yard, along driveways or walkways, and immediately in front of the house. When creating a new garden, choose features that will frame your home rather than obscure it. Opt for stone or precast-concrete blocks to edge the bed. Include a mix of plant size, color, and texture for optimal results.

Curb Appeal in a Weekend: Add Shutters or Accent Trim

Inspiring Exterior on light green house

Credit: Richard Leo Johnson

Shutters and trim add a welcoming layer of beauty and curb appeal to your home's exterior. In addition to controlling light and ventilation, house shutters also provide security. Exterior shutters can be made of wood, aluminum, vinyl, composite, or fiberglass. New composite materials, such as PVC resins or polyurethane, make trim details durable and low maintenance.

Related: How to Install Shutters

Curb Appeal in a Weekend: Replace Gutters and Downspouts

gutter maintenance

Credit: Greg Scheidemann

If your home has an older gutter system, odds are it's also suffering from poor gutter maintenance such as peeling paint, rust spots, or other problems that can convey a sense of neglect. Replace old gutters with newer, snap-fit vinyl gutter systems that go together with few tools and require no painting. If you're on a tight budget, vinyl gutter systems may fit the bill. However, they're known to become brittle and crack over time in cold weather. Copper systems, while pricier, convey an unmistakable look of quality and pretty curb appeal.

Curb Appeal in a Weekend: Add Arbors or Fence Panels

Arbor with vines and sconces

Credit: Edward Gohlich

Arbors, garden gates, and short sections of decorative fence panels will enhance your garden and curb appeal of your home. These simple additions can become a backdrop for a bounty of blooms. They're available in easy-to-build kits or prefab sections that you simply connect together. For best results, paint or stain these items with colors already on your house.

Curb Appeal in a Weekend: Add Outdoor Art

Small fountain surrounded by trees

Credit: Ginny Weiler

Give your yard a little spunk and curb appeal by adding weather-resistant artwork. Choose pieces that complement your home's natural palette and exterior elements. Birdbaths, metal cutouts, sculptures, and wind chimes are good choices for outdoor art. Water sculptures not only function as yard art, but the burbling sounds soothe and make hot days feel cooler. Place fountains on level ground in optimum hearing and sight vantage points.

Related: Create a Terra-Cotta Fountain

Curb Appeal in a Weekend: Create a Street-Side Garden

lush street-side garden

Credit: Stephen Cridland

Planting colorful flowers is a surefire way to increase your home's curb appeal. Use bold, bright hues to create a big impact even if you don't have a lot of space. Greet guests with a colorful garden in your parking strip (between the street and sidewalk). For an easy street-side garden plan, feature native plants such as aster, baptisia, and purple coneflower.

Curb Appeal in a Month: Upgrade Railings

home exterior with wrap around porch

Credit: Robert Brinson

Porch and stoop railings can deteriorate quickly if not treated properly. If your railings are past their prime, look for quality wood or metal components to replace the existing material and improve curb appeal. As with other improvements attached directly to the house, make sure the color, scale, design, details, and material are compatible with the home's main features. Porch railings supply an integral part of a home's exterior aesthetic, helping to reinforce a home's style.

Curb Appeal in a Month: Renew Paint, Siding, and Trim

orange home exterior

Credit: Helen Norman

An exterior update (new paint, siding, or trim details) automatically transforms the look of a home. Periodic maintenance of that exterior surface is the surest way to keep your house and its curb appeal looking great. Any obvious defects, such as cracked or rotting material, can downgrade the aesthetic and quickly turn away potential home buyers. Once defects are repaired, look for ways to add personality with color, trim, or shingles.

Curb Appeal in a Month: Tile Your Doorstep

Front entry with tiled doorstep

Credit: John Bessler

Create a permanent welcome mat by tiling or painting a design that contrasts with the porch floor or front stoop. Not only will you not have to worry about replacing the mat when it gets ratty, but you can impress your visitors with your creativity. If you decide to go the tiling route, make sure you select a tile that is appropriate for outdoor use. If your installing tile on sealed concrete, you'll need to grind the surface down before starting so the thin-set mortar will bond.

Curb Appeal in a Month: Dress Up the Driveway

decorative driveway

Credit: Helen Norman

If your driveway is cracked or stained or has vegetation sprouting from it, you can upgrade it for curb appeal without doing a complete redo. First repair the cracks and stains (and kill the weeds), then dress it up by staining the concrete or affixing flagstones. If you need more room to move your car or park, add stone, brick, or pavers to the sides of the drive to widen it with a decorative border. Establishing a crisp, clear shift between paved and unpaved surfaces can help to set off a driveway and enhance a landscape.

Curb Appeal in a Month: Build a Walkway

Sidewalk leading to front steps and entry

Credit: Matthew Benson

Well-designed walkways make your home feel warm and inviting. For a dramatic improvement to a straight concrete path, replace it with a contoured walkway made of stone or brick. For a less radical upgrade to your curb appeal, apply a colored concrete resurfacer to the old walkway, then edge with brick or stone borders. Brick pavers offer traditional, classic beauty to the landscape of any home.

Curb Appeal in a Month: Apply Stone Veneer

faux stone patio

Credit: Michael Partenio

Nothing carries pedigree and permanence like stone. It's a great option for dressing up exterior features such as concrete foundations, column footings, and other masonry details. Natural and manufactured stone can be costly options for large expanses, but both are affordable and well suited for use as an accent material. A faux stone patio adds long-lasting curb appeal to your home.

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