Rethink Front Yard Landscaping
There is lush and there is jungle. As your home matures, trees, shrubs, and perennials expand to fill the space available to them. While there’s no doubt the shade from a deciduous tree can lower your cooling costs significantly, it can also darken your interior in a way you can’t control. If you have mature trees that are reaching the end of their lifecycle, consider removing some of them and installing shutters instead. That way you can keep heat out when you need to and let light in when you want it.
As our summers get hotter, replacing standard grass that needs constant watering with drought-resistant plants and lawn cover that never needs mowing makes sense. You can still get a lush, bursting out all over midsummer look you want by installing hanging baskets and porch-flanking flower containers. You can donate perennials you no longer want at plant exchanges, and you may be surprised by the visual impact a less-is-more approach to landscaping can have.
Paint and Restore
Sometimes builders or previous owners just don’t get it right. A combination of brick, stone or stucco on one part of the house with the wrong color siding on the rest of the exterior can be jarring. The good news: brick, stonework and stucco can all be painted, and this is one of the cheapest and most dramatic exterior transformations there is. If you decide to replace the siding instead, remember you can always replace the siding at the front of the house and leave the existing siding on the sides and back for a later date.
If you live in an older home whose exterior has been renovated in a way that doesn’t match its original design, consider restoring it. Wrought iron porch railings are never going to work on a Craftsman home, and replacing them with something more in keeping with the home’s original design will eliminate the visual disconnect.
Transform Your Porch
An enclosed front porch can be claustrophobic if it’s too small, and unless you use it often, you might want to consider ripping it off and installing a portico instead. The inherent drama of a classic, column-supported portico gives your house instant curb appeal and the open front and sides give the same impression of space as high ceilings do in a home’s interior. This is one of the easiest exterior home remodels you can make. And if you invest in stylish bistro set and some nice pavers, you may find yourself sitting out in your front yard more than you ever thought possible.