NewlyWoodwards

an unconventional home

Easy summer curb appeal tips

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Thanks to Spot Shot® Instant Carpet Stain Remover for sponsoring this post. Check out the Stain Fighting Community on Facebook for more tips for keeping your home beautiful and removing those pesky stains. Grab a coupon for $1 off Spot Shot to try it for yourself. And thanks supporting sponsors who make projects and posts on this blog possible.

Every year, we take some small steps to improve the curb appeal of our home. After building our own home two years ago, our yard was pretty much just dirt.

So every change – no matter how small – makes a huge difference in making the front of our home look a little more welcoming and beautiful.
I should mention – we live in the middle of nowhere. We have only a few people living on our street. But having a beautiful home from the outside gives me a lot of joy. The curb appeal may be mostly for our family – but also for guests.

 

And don’t forget the UPS guy. He’s basically family.

 

Anyhow – back to curb appeal. Summer is prime time for entertaining and that means more of a focus on curb appeal. I thought I’d share some of the tweaks I’ve been working on this year on the front of our home.

First up – the front garden bed.

We planted most of the plants about 18 months ago and they are thriving. Right now, we are low on blooms – we have enjoyed the color of tulips, daffodils, alliums, and iris. But there are lots of buds about to burst – lilies, daylilies, coneflower and black-eyed susans. Then, will come the butterfly bush and the hydrangea.

 

We did our best to plant flowers that have color all year – and we focused on native plants and perennials. Ain’t nobody got time for annuals.

 

In the last month, we added another layer of fresh mulch and I also transplanted some of the overgrown irises that were taking over. (Tip: I like to split and move plants right after it rains – it makes it way easier to pull them up and split them. And I always wait until they’ve bloomed to move anything so I don’t miss the flowers during the year.)
For reference, here’s how everything looked a year ago (2017).
And here’s how it looked last fall (2017).
It’s fun to see the progress each year!

Next up – the front porch.

Our front porch needed a serious wash down this summer. Dirt, grime and pollen take over quickly when living in the country. I just did a quick wipe down of everything and then added some decorative touches for summer.

I’d like to find a new rug for the porch, but I haven’t found anything I love yet.

 

So instead, I gave the old rug a little clean up with Spot Shot® Instant Carpet Stain Remover. It’s still a little faded, but it got rid of the stains from being outside all winter. There were plenty of muddy, dirty spots that this cleaned up quickly. (You can get Spot Shot at Walmart or find your local store here.)

I picked up a new wreath this year with a gift card and I love it on the red door! The yellow totally pops – and it reminds me of all the dandelions around our property. Henry  loves dandelions and has been known to cry when Ryan runs over them with the mower.

 

I found the vintage-looking WELCOME sign locally and attached it to the bottom of the door with command strips.

Next to the door, I added the fence to the wall above the rocking chair. Down the road, I’d like to add more comfortable seating to the front porch – but this works for now. 

And lastly – a few flowers.

I only added a couple of pots of flowers to the porch this year. I’m notorious for killing them, and this is much more maintainable with daily watering.

Making our front yard presentable this summer just took a little time and elbow grease. And with each little step, it’s looking and feeling more like home. 

Do you have any curb appeal tips?

Comments

  2. Love seeing the progress of the plants. Do you have any plans to do some sort of walkway from the bottom of the steps to the driveway? Pavers, bricks, planks, cement, something so people don’t have to walk on grass to get your front porch? Do most of your guests use your front door or back/garage door entrances and does that change in winter vs summer? (So many questions!)

    • We are planning on a simple stone walkway – slow and steady!

      Almost everyone enters through the garage so it hasn’t been much of an issue so far. =)

  3. Totally agree on the annuals comment! I’ve taken this one step further: I don’t plant any deciduous perennials anymore. Only evergreen perennials for me. Thanks for posting.

  6. Love it. Do you mind sharing what your light accent gray color is? We’re getting ready to pick out the color for our home and that light gray is what I’m looking for! Thanks!