Curb Appeal. What exactly does that mean? Curb appeal describes the visual appeal of your home and front yard from the street or curb. Curb appeal is how your home looks to passers by, visitors or neighbors.

So how do you increase your curb appeal? That’s easy! Go outside in front of your house and stand at the curb. Just make sure that you don’t step in front of a car as you’re studying your home’s appearance.

Now that you’re at the curb in front of your home, take an objective look. What’s your first impression? What are the best and worst features? This question is important because you want to enhance the home’s best features and minimize or remove the worst features.

Start with the area or yard in front of your home such as the driveway. Is it clean, free of stains and in good condition? Next, take a look at the sidewalk or pathway leading to your front door. Is the sidewalk in good shape and attractive? Do the areas on both sides of the walk or pathway look appealing? If not, then take steps to improve your walkway or driveway.

What about your lawn? Is it manicured and attractive, free of weeds or dead spots? Think about your trees or shrubs also. Make sure that everything in your landscaped area is trimmed with all dead leaves or plants removed. Now check for clutter or debris in your front yard and remove everything that’s not appealing such as trashcans, loose hoses empty pots or toys scattered about.

Once, you’ve made sure that your front yard is tidied up, its time to think about making the yard more attractive. If weather permits, plant colorful flowers that coordinate with your home’s exterior color near your front door in a garden bed or container such as a pot or window box. Then when someone arrives at your house, their eye will be drawn towards the front door where the flowers are planted. Plus, the flowers will enhance the appeal of your front door area. You can also plant flowers in other garden areas throughout your front yard too if your budget allows. When planting perennial flowers, I recommend planting shorter flowers in front of taller plants and grouping the flowers in planned color combinations such as all pastels or all reds. Just remember that warm colors such as red, yellow and orange advance towards you or seem closer and blues or lavender colors recede or seem farther away. If you need some shrubbery to make your front yard seem a little softer and more inviting too, remember the rule is to plant shrubs or plants in 3’s or 5’s.

Now that you’ve figured out how to increase the curb appeal of your front yard, driveway and sidewalk, now you need to focus on your house exterior. Is your home exterior clean, repaired and nicely painted? If not, take steps to improve your exterior. Look at your roof, gutters and window sills too. They need to be clean and attractive. And how does your fence look? Does it need a fresh coat of paint or stain? Make sure your windows sparkle too.

Now take a look at your front door. Your front door hardware should be polished and untarnished along with your house numbers, mailbox or light fixtures. If any of these items aren’t in good shape, then replace them or repaint. Place an attractive door mat in front of your door and add a door decorations such as a wreath, wall basket or other attractive item. Place a pot of colorful flowers or an attractive plant arrangement by the front door to create a focal point from the street. You can also add other decorative items that coordinate with your house or seasonal decorations by your front door. And don’t forget to look at the door itself to make sure the door’s freshly painted or stained.

Consider your exterior paint color too. Your main body color, trim and front door colors
should coordinate with each other in an attractive combination and blend with other surroundings.

Other great ways to increase curb appeal is to enhance your front door or focal point even more by adding a nearby fountain or other water feature near the front door or a seating area. And if you have the budget, consider a front porch area that would not only enhance appeal, but also provide shelter from the rain or snow for visitors.