A little bit about curb appeal

I love it when I'm driving around and a house just catches my eye.  Sometimes it's the architecture, but often it's the landscaping and how it's all put together.  You can't easily change the architecture of your house, but you can make the best of it with great landscaping, and a couple of other little tricks.

My house has a large driveway and three car garage.  The house is situated on the lot in order to best take advantage of the valley and mountain views out the back of the house.  From the front, that means that the garage and driveway are VERY prominent.  It's not ideal, but we had to choose what was most important, the views or the curb appeal.  We picked the views because that's one of the reasons we chose our lot.  That means I just have to work with the overbearing driveway and garage.  

First, I chose carriage style doors that could be stained or painted to blend in with the colors of the house.  In this case, I chose to paint them to BLEND in with the house rather than make them stand out even more than they do by staining them.  I love stained garage doors, but in this instance, I think the paint works better.

I also soften all the concrete of the driveway by flanking each side of the garage with large flower pots.  I took several short cuts on my flower pots because that's just what I do.  First, I wanted copper pots to compliment the mountain/craftsman style of the house.  I found several online, but they are spendy, so I made my own.  

I went to Ikea and bought a bunch of these galvanized pots.  The ones I use by my garage are actually taller than this one pictured above.  Then, I grabbed some of the Hammered Copper Rust-Oleum paint I already had on hand.  The pots didn't have drainage holes in them, so we drilled a hole in the bottom, painted it, and... Ta Da!!

The other shortcut I took is that instead of planting my own pots, I ran down to the local flower store, Draper Flower Pros.  They had a TON of hanging baskets for $24.99-$29.99 in all kinds of color combinations.  They were all gorgeous and HUGE!!  So, I grabbed some.  I just fill up my planters with rocks in the bottom to keep them from tipping over, then soil, then the hanging basket just sits right on top. I just cut off the plastic hanging part.  It makes it easier to turn the flowers if they need it and I didn't have to wait for them to fill in.  

My next tip is to have a "destination" or seating area that draws you into the yard.  My kids actually use our front area to play more than our backyard, so it makes sense for me to have a seating area out front, so I can watch them.  I asked Nate for these adirondack chairs for Mother's Day.  They are from World Market and I love them!  So cute and comfortable.  

My last tip is to focus on the entry.  Add a wreath, some flower pots, and something of interest to welcome people into your home.  I also love a brightly painted door, if it fits with your house.  My house is already pretty colorful with the red window trim, so I opted for the stained wood door.

You also need a cute doormat.  I got this one at World Market last year.  If your front stoop or porch is big enough, a chair or a little bistro set is also super cute and welcoming.  

Curb appeal not only positively affects the value of your home, but also affects how you feel about it.  I love to pull up to my house and see those pretty flowers and comfy chairs calling my name.  It's a great welcome home.