Our House a Few Months Before We Bought It
The outside, however, is a little more difficult to change. New siding is very expensive, new shutters is costly … new anything cost quite a bit of money to be honest. So, work with what you have. If you don’t have it, look for sales or online like craigslist, just don’t pay full price! You don’t really have to. The following list are a few simple ways I spruced up the outside of our house or will be planning to.
1. Do a Little Lawn and Garden Care
-The best way to make the outside of your house to look nice is to keep it neat. Pull the weeds out of your flower beds and dead head any spent flowers. Keep your lawn mowed and clear up any leaf piles that may still be around from the fall or whenever.
2. Add some Flower Power
-Not everyone is into gardening like me … willing to go the extra mile and tend all my flowers. However, a little color doesn’t hurt anyone. Big box stores often have their garden materials on clearance racks after a few weeks due to the plants fading in their tiny pots, varieties going ‘out of season,’ or new varieties coming in. I’m sure if I spent full price for everything I bought last year I would have spent thousands, luckily I got it all for 90% or more the tag price. Some great plant it and leave it varieties include daylilies, hosta, and many varieties of bushes (with some pruning at end of season).
3. Clean Your House
-Spring cleaning doesn’t have to just be about the inside of your house. Easily was your house with a hose attachment cleaner and spray that dingy dirt of your house. If you really want to, grab a ladder, rag, and bucket and clean my hand. The removed dirt will most likely brighten up your siding (if you have it) making it look fresh. Don’t forget the outside of your windows either. Clean windows look great from the inside and out.
4. Add Some Easy Color
-Think you want a color change for your house, but don’t have the money to reside? An easy way to completely change the look of your house is to change the shutter color. Our house had some terrible green shutters that I hated. I wanted to go with a bright blue, because our house is a blue gray color. So, I picked up some inexpensive spray paint and primer and changed the color. Be sure you wipe down the shudder before you paint and follow the directions on the can.
5. Change your Light Fixtures
-The lights on your house may be rusted, chipped, or simply outdated like ours are. An easy way to fix them would to give them a fresh coat of paint. If you want to completely change the fixtures, go ahead! You can find new ones cheap, for around $20.00 a pair and some big box stores, or hold out for a sale in the future. The new fixtures will give your house a new aura about it and make you feel good about the look of your home.
Our house A Year Later
As you can see, there are still quite a few things we are working on in reference to the outside of our house. However, it looks a lot happier and brighter with the easy changes we’ve made. With the five easy ideas above, you could quickly turn the outside of your house into something of which you can be proud (like us!). What other ideas do you have to brighten up the outside of your home?
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{ 2 comments… read them below or add one }
Those are some great changes, I will keep these in mind for when I purchase a home down the road – the shutters really do add quite a bit of color!
Being a homeowner is lots of fun. We still have some on this list to finish, but I just thought these ideas were obviously really simple, cost efficient ideas to make a change of the outside if you’re not loving it the way it was when you bought it.
I like changing our older home, rather than buying a brand new one where I would feel bad changing it already.