This is the year your house rocks the block. The nice lawn, cute decorations, and beautiful curb appeal are all going to come together in time for the first sign of warm weather. Sure, the blowup Easter Bunny and fake plants on the porch were fun gimmicks for a while, but now it’s time to truly make your home the apple of the block’s eye.
The best news is that it won’t even take an overwhelming amount of effort. A few simple tricks will get the job done. Just follow our lead.
10 Tips to Dressing Up Your Home’s Exterior
Many suggest that getting started on your outdoor work as early as January is a good idea. And if you’re looking to break up your work list into smaller chunks, that’s a good route to go. Between yard work and exterior decorating, there’s more than enough to get you started that early in the year.
Having your house ready for summer without caving under a heaping pile of to-dos starts with scheduling. Map out an early plan and take it easy until your exterior looks like an HGTV superstar house. First things first:
- Plan Ahead: Target items you like early and target them often. The sooner you can get your outdoor décor ideas, the sooner you can shop for what you need. Take advantage of off-season sales and grab what you need before you actually need it. If you’re searching for some ideas on how to make your house look like it’s straight out of a magazine, you’ve come to the right place.
- Go green: Nothing impresses more than a lush looking front yard. And the best way to get it is by aerating your lawn. Breaking up the hard ground allows nutrients to settle in and strengthen the roots. Once your front yard looks like a baseball field, all your other improvements will look better too.
- Dress up your doorway: Dress up the entrance to your home by opting for some decorative molding. A fun, easy way to make your front door a little more colonial looking is by adding some faux columns to each side. They can be an affordable wood or even Styrofoam. Anything that can add a little bit of structure to the wall surrounding the opening will do the trick. Or, take it a step further by adding iron guiding rails to each side. A little bit of length will do just fine when attempting this method. Just keep in mind that the main goal is appearance based, not functionality.
- A little landscaping goes a long way: Plant a flowerbed, add concrete edging, and trim the shrubs. Following these three steps will take your curb appeal from tired and dated to classy and modern. If you’re willing to put in the effort yourself, it will be even more affordable.
- Paint your shutters: A little color goes a long way. Shutters take poor weather the hardest out of any exterior decor. If your shutters are painted a light color, it will be visible to the entire neighborhood. Opt for something dark but saturated if possible-especially if your exterior paint is already a muted color.
- Pickup some porch accents: Hanging baskets and porch furniture do wonders for your living space. The additions make the area more fun to live in and project an infectious warmth to all who stop to chat.
- Give your patio a punch of color: A patio will not only make your home look great, it will also add substantial value. If you already have one, take the same approach as with your porch and shutters. Add some flowers, incorporate a touch of color in through saturated vases and outdoor rugs, and repaint the furniture. If you don’t have a patio, that’s alright. You can adopt similar aesthetically pleasing elements around a fire pit or yard hammock.
- Hang up the hammock: That wasn’t a typo… hammocks are comfortable, fun, and exude a sense of relaxation that every home needs. Put a couple benches around and you have a great outdoor space without dumping a ton of money into it.
- Seasonal pieces are key: Maybe it’s obvious, but if you want your home to look up to date, you should keep it up to date. Pumpkins and straw in the fall, pastels and flowers in the spring.
- Time to stain: What’s classier than painting? Staining. And if you have wood furniture, you should do it. When combined with even some of these other tips, your home exterior will look stunning.
Identity Magazine is all about empowering women to get all A’s in the game of life — Accept. Appreciate. Achieve.™ Every contributor and expert answer the Identity 5 questions in keeping with our theme. Their answers can be random and in the moment or they can be aligned with the above article. As a team, we hope to inspire and motivate ourselves and inspire you to get all A’s.
1. What have you accepted within your life, physically and/or mentally? What are you still working on accepting?
My main acceptance in life would be that “change” itself is a constant and regardless of opinion it is inevitable. Making peace with ones self and accepting the things we CANNOT change is key to living a full and happy life. Within those experiences we grow as people and learn.
2. What have you learn to appreciate about yourself and/or within your life, physically and mentally? What are you still working on to appreciate?
I have learned to appreciate all of my imperfections as it makes me who I am as a person and in reality “perfection” is all up for interpretation. In return I have taught myself to replace the old methods in dealing with situations and problems with ones that will deliver or elicit positive responses and solutions.
3. What is one of your most rewarding achievements in life? Tell us not only what makes YOU most proud but also share the goals and dreams that you still have.
I believe my core values or the personal rules I have set in place for myself and chose to live by have brought nothing but reward to my life as it has created my known presence to be one of value and those things remind me daily of my standards set if ever I were to steer off course.
4. We all have imperfections, so we think. The truth–we are all perfectly imperfect. What are your not-so-perfect ways? What imperfections and quirks create who you are–your Identity?
Over analyzing every situation would definitely be a not-so-perfect quirk about myself, leading my mind to wander with thoughts of what-if’s, that usually are just that, “what-if’s”. Along with spontaneity and positivity it creates my not-so-perfect, but awesome self!! 
5. “I Love My…” is an outlet for you to express and appreciate all the positive traits that make you…well… YOU! Sharing what you love about yourself will make you smile, feel empowered, and uplift your spirit and soul. (we assure you!) Identity challenges you to complete the phrase “I Love My…?”
I love my positive outlook on life and the huge heart I carry with me daily filled with nothing but compassion for others and a willingness to always be learning something new.
Photo by Jesse Roberts on Unsplash
