Decorating & Design
May 17, 2016
22 Ways To Maximize Your Home’s Curb Appeal
Get inspired to make a great first impression. From East Coast charmers to laid-back West Coast gems, we’ve got quick and easy solutions to give your home curb appeal, whether it’s paint color ideas or tips to make your garden the most beautiful one on the block.
Affordable and durable painted vinyl shutters add invaluable curb appeal to the exterior of this home. For the front entrance, the stucco archway was softened by morning glory vines.
Designer Sarah Hartill replaced chipped stone veneer with fiber-cement siding sheets and planks. A clever DIY cover made with painted cedar boards and staircase spindles camouflages the air-conditioning unit. Kumquat trees flank the front door while poured-concrete planters add to the symmetry.
Pick a palette inspired by the home’s surroundings. The paint on this pebble gray door and cedar shake exterior are ringers for the rocky mound outside this seaside Vancouver home.
Hits of black incorporated in the planters, stair runner and door to create a handsome, organized façade. Interlocking brick, laid in a herringbone pattern, is elegant and perfectly suited to the home’s Victorian architecture. A delicate steel wire sculpture makes a strong and unexpected statement.
Fashion expert Lisa Rogers loves a coordinated look, so it’s no surprise she picked up on the cranberry hue of her reclaimed Victorian front door with coneflowers and hydrangea blooms in the same tones. Instead of pavers, try peagravel for a European parterre look.
Wide concrete steps and blue pine siding give this exterior a striking, modern look. A bright Solair chair is a welcome dose of color on the porch, while a tent works double-duty as a pretty accent and play space.
Grouping fragrant herbs with rambling ferns and flowers provides some natural relief from the city’s man-made surfaces and instantly softens the look of a front porch. Enhance the effect with a pair of lanterns and a cheerful striped runner.
Dramatic dark grey paint modernizes the exterior, and the crisp lines of the new energy-efficient windows follow suite. The door was replaced with a steel and glass design and topped with an industrial marine light. Grey interlocking bricks dress up the driveway, with two areas reserved for beds of low-maintenance grasses, herbs and ferns.
A custom color will set your home apart. Homeowner and architectural designer Nicholas Lewin mixed six colors together to get the deep grey-green he desired. Paint large test swatches to see how the shade reads in different light from dawn to dusk.
Let balconies make a statement. The X shape of this 100-year-old cottage’s second floor railings highlights the negative space and looks airy. Matching lanterns dress up the veranda.
Give your front door a completely new look with a bold paint color. Plus, don’t forget accessories! A simple mailbox swap, number upgrade, larger light or punchy doormat can make all the difference.
Play up the symmetry of a traditional home by planting trees, like these Chanticleer pear standards, to frame the front door. An edited palette of flowers looks polished.
Long for a beach house look with a city home? Shingle-look siding mimics authentic cedar shakes, while a turquoise door helps underline the nautical character.
Towering maidenhair grasses planted along this property form a far prettier divider than a fence. A Corten steel frame turns four Flame Amur maple trees into living sculpture. Its rusted orange hue contrasts with the moss-green shrubs.
For those who prefer to skip the hassle of containers, the Belgian farmhouse inspired design of this house illustrates the beauty of restraint. Slow growing boxwood hedging defines the beds while hydrangea standards are low-key performers that don’t require loads of pruning or fuss.
Let vines enhance the heritage feel of an older home. Fast growing vines soften hardscaping and add a lush hit of green. And when possible, think authentically. The owner of this Paris, Ontario home rebuilt the portico from a 1911 photograph after the original was torn down in 1953.
A casual grouping of Muskoka chairs is a welcoming note on a veranda. Highlight architectural details, such as columns or a nautical-style eyebrow window, with a crisp white trim paint.
Modern design can read as stark, so a juicy hit of color adds zest, without modifying the rigorous structure. The door paint was selected to match the chartreuse of spring leaves and perks up the corrugated metal cladding. When choosing planters, mimic the architectural style of the house: box planters have clean lines and offset the windows.
The exterior of the 2010 Princess Margaret Hospital showhome emphasizes a rustic, vernacular style with an unpainted wooden stoop and door. The repetition of symmetrical lanterns gives a pleasing rhythm and cohesive look.
The front of an A-frame beach house has plenty of charm going for it, but it was enhanced by fun tropical tiki umbrellas (an unexpected pharmacy find!), a palm and butterfly chairs.
The dormers on this traditional saltbox, that dates back to the 1780s, not only add more light to the second storey, but impart character to the roofline.
Not every house or cottage has a name, but iron letters make The Woodbox, a circa 1844 home in Chester, Nova Scotia, even more distinct. Think about adding your own personalized or address plaque for an instant pedigree.
Tour the rest of this charming home here.