3 Cheap & Easy Ways to Add Curb Appeal
Whether you’re in Brown County, Door County, or elsewhere in Wisconsin, summer time is beautiful. It’s a time to get out in the yard and enjoy the warm weather. It’s also a time to make our yards look pretty. Whether you’re just tired of looking at a messy yard, are ready for a change, or are getting your home ready to sell, here are three easy and inexpensive ways to add immediate curb appeal to any home.
Spruce Up the Front Door
Adding some interest to your front entry is a simple and inexpensive way to add immediate curb appeal to your home. Try painting your door a color that coordinates with your home’s color. But be sure to add some contrast between the door and other colors on your home so your door stands out and “pops”. If your house is green with white shutters, consider painting your door yellow so it stands out. New house numbers and door wreaths are other great ways to add curb appeal to your front door and to create an inviting entryway. And for a little added touch, try a potted plant or two near your doorway.
What’s it going to cost?
If you’re just painting your door, you can pick up a quart of exterior paint for about $10. A paintbrush will run you a few more bucks if you don’t have one. Door numbers can be purchased for a few dollars each. And a potted plant starts around $7. For less than $40 you can transform your doorway and home!
Clean Up the Lawn
A nice looking lawn is one of those things that nearly everyone can do themselves. Grab your mower and start with a nice cut. That’s instant curb appeal. If you have dandelions and other weeds, it’s best to pull them to reduce the risk of them growing back. The other option is to use some lawn weed killer and spray those pesky weeds. Just be sure to spray on a nice dry day, so rain doesn’t wash away the pesticide before it has a chance to kill the weeds. Also, be sure to use “lawn weed killer”, not “grass and weed killer.” If you start spraying lawn killer, your lawn will look worse than when you started cleaning it up. If you need to fill in some dead spots in the lawn, seed is an inexpensive way to fill in those missing patches. Or if you’re in a hurry to make your lawn look nice, you can pick up a few pieces of sod from a garden center and drop them in. Either way, just be sure to give the seed and sod enough water while they’re growing in.
What’s it going to cost?
If you own a home, it’s likely you own a mower, so no added cost there. However weed killer will run you $10 or so. You can pick up a small bag of seed for around the same price. And a piece or two of sod will run about $4 each. Not much cost here, just a little sweat required to make your lawn look great and to add some curb appeal.
Beautify Your Beds
Clean garden beds are a great way to add immediate curb appeal to your home. Start by pulling any weeds, and/or using weed killer on them. If you have existing plants that are overgrown, either dig some up and rearrange them, or get rid of the excess. If you have bushes in your garden, give those a trim too.
If your problem is that you don’t have enough plants, try planting some low maintenance perennials that will look nice year after year. Yarrow is a pretty yellow flower that rabbits won’t eat (a huge problem for plant lovers in Green Bay) and it’s low maintenance and will come back year after year. Tulips are beautiful in spring, but prone to rabbit. Hostas are great too, although they don’t have a pretty flowers.
Once you’re happy with the plantings and have removed weeds and over grown plants, the final touch is adding fresh mulch. Much like with your front door, be sure to add a mulch that is a coordinating, yet contrasting, color to your home’s color. If your house is beige, you probably don’t want a light colored Cypress mulch since there’s no contrast. Instead, try a color like a dark brown or red mulch. Simply pick up a few bags from Menards or Home Depot and spread the mulch generously throughout your garden bed; being sure to not pour the mulch onto your plants.
What’s it going to cost?
Again if you need to buy weed killer, it will cost you $10 or so. Buying some nice perennials or annuals and run you as little as $5 per plant. However you can always check Craigslist’s “Free” section since lots of people in the Green Bay area post plants there for free (since they’re getting rid of their over grown plants). Lastly, you can get some great deals on mulch. Menards usually has sales in spring, with large bags starting at $2 each. You can also find mulch at Aldi in spring for about $2 per bag too. So once again, for less than $50 and a couple hours of “exercise”, you can add a ton of curb appeal to your home!
