Freshen Your Facade: Simple Ways to Improve Your Home’s Exterior
Making sure that your home keeps its outer beauty year after year can be a big chore, but luckily there are plenty of immediate and easy steps you can take to ensure your home maintains its great curb appeal.
A Good Cleaning
As time passes, dirt and dust tends to build up on the exterior walls of the house as well as on the surfaces of walkways and decks. For this clean up job that can make a big difference in the appearance of your home, rent a pressure washer and hose down the walkways. Include the driveway if it is paved, then give the outer walls of the house a wash down. You may need to adjust the pressure depending on what type of surface you are cleaning; high pressure settings are acceptable for brick exteriors, but lower pressure should be used on painted surfaces or vinyl siding to avoid any damage.
Replace Old Windows
If your windows have seen better days it may be time to consider switching them out for new and more efficient varieties. Replacing your old windows won’t just make your home look better, says a specialist from Golden Windows Ltd, it will probably end up saving you money on your utilities. Old windows allow heat and cold to escape the home, making your artificial heating and cooling systems work much harder to achieve the temperature you set them at—newer, more efficient windows will solve this problem. Install more windows closer to the ceiling of a room to let in more natural light and add a new element of style to the exterior of the house, or replace a conventional window with one that has more decorative characteristics.
Make a Colorful Entrance
Add wow factor to your main entrance by painting the front door a bright new hue that will complement the color of your house. A deep, plum shade could be just the thing to update a home with light olive-colored exterior walls, while a couple of coats of crimson will make the front door stand out on a home with a traditional white color scheme. Get creative and have fun!
Fencing and Flowers
Give your walkway a natural touch by installing a white picket fence and adorn it with flowers and climbing vines. Installing flower boxes to street-facing windows further enhances this type of improvement, as does incorporating hanging plants or flowers around the front porch.
Freshening up the outside of your home does not have to take an endless amount of time or money. With motivation and imagination, you can make your home look better than ever.