HomeHome Updates: Tips & IdeasDecorating Ideas and How To'sHow to Update Your Home’s Exterior (Great for Home Staging)

How to Update Your Home’s Exterior (Great for Home Staging)

Posted on June 29, 2023 by KylieMawdsley

5 EASY & AFFORDABLE IDEAS TO ADD CURB APPEAL

Improving your home’s curb appeal is a great way to add value, whether it’s financial (for potential buyers/home staging) or emotional (for staying put). And it’s not about doing glorious landscaping with ponds large enough to skinny dip in (although the neighbors would be impressed); it’s about making small changes which, on the whole, create the illusion of a well-maintained, cared for, and modernized property.

1. EXTERIOR UPDATE: PAINT YOUR FRONT DOOR (& GARAGE DOOR)

As mentioned in my 5 Budget-Friendly Home Staging Update Ideas (I’ll link it at the end of this blog post, don’t worry), painting the exterior of your front door is a quick win and the most obvious update idea…

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Exterior front door, mid century style painted orange with dark brown black trim and painted brick in a cream beige tone. Kylie M Interiors E-design and ONline Colour consulting decorating expert

Painting your front door adds personality and style to your home’s exterior without a huge monetary commitment (a quart of paint will do it!). And don’t pick a front door color that YOU love; pick the color that best suits your exterior finishes, including stone, brick, pathway, roof, and siding.

NEED HELP WITH YOUR FRONT DOOR? I’ve got a package for that

The 9 Best Front Door Paint Colors

Aged copper roof, painted white brick exterior, black shutters and benjamin moore gray front door. Kylie M Interiors Edesign, online paint color consultant

The Best Teal and Blue Paint Colours for Your Front Door

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A QUICK EXTERIOR CHECKLIST (MORE IDEAS)

  • Add a simple welcome mat. The average home best suits a natural fiber mat without writing (i.e., the mats that say ‘Hello’…hard no). The exceptions are homes with a unique character or location, i.e., a family lake home. If you’re staying in your home (not selling), have seasonal fun with decorative mats.
  • Give your worn-out patio or deck a fresh lick of paint or pressure-wash it.
  • Don’t forget about your rusty ole mailbox – grab a can of spray paint or find a new one that coordinates with your exterior light fixtures.
  • Wipe down your gutters, especially those on the front of your home. This isn’t as vital with dark gutters, but white gutters can look pretty darn nasty (did you know you can paint your gutters? I DID!).

And don’t forget your garage door! Updating it with fresh paint or decorative hardware is a great way to improve curb appeal without breaking the bank. This next exterior shows the garage door at my Mom and Dad’s. They added Home Depot hardware, which cost less than $50!

exterior update garage door, white with decorative hardware, handles and hinges. James Hardie siding and shakes shingle in Dark Espresso

Affordable garage door hardware sets are available at Home Depot! 

 

2. EXTERIOR UPDATE: YOUR LIGHT FIXTURES

I’ve seen my fair share of moth-infested, rusted, crusty, nasty ole light fixtures. Enough is enough – time to change it up, folks! Did you know Home Depot has a two-pack of exterior light fixtures for under $100? Black metal, clear glass, simple lines – perfect!

Are these the best for a more modern home? No. However, these will do the trick if your home is a bit older and just needs a fresh new perspective.


budget friendly lighting update for exterior curb appeal. Home Staging tips Kylie M Interiors.

Hampton Bay 2 Pack

Or add a little modern farmhouse style with this gorgeous light…Affordable exterior farmhouse modern style light fixture wayfair, Bellair Bluffs

Belleair Bluffs Exterior Light 

This is a popular exterior lighting choice as well (By the way, Edison bulbs aren’t trendy in the interior of homes anymore, but are still moderately okay on exteriors)…

MODERN EXTERIOR LIGHT FIXTURES, CURB APPEAL

4 PACK OF EXTERIOR LIGHTS

Or maybe you’d like this slightly more traditional, slightly Craftsman, but still updated look…

Marshall Lantern, affordable outdoor light fixture, curb appeal for home staging, Kylie M Interiors

Marshall Wall Lantern

 

3. EXTERIOR UPDATE: NEW ADDRESS NUMBERS

Rusty old brass numbers won’t do the exterior of your home any favors in the style department. For someone who has never been to your house, the house numbers will be the first thing they look at – whether it’s a friend coming over, a real estate agent, or a prospective buyer, make a good first impression!

E-decor and Online Decorating, design and color consultant Kylie M Interiors. Benjamin Moore And Sherwin Williams paint colours. Exterior paint

Address plates like this don’t suit every home – I usually prefer just numbers

A cheapie but goodie will cost you about $6 per number. Something a bit more fancy schmancy will probably be between $12 – $15 – there’s no need to spend any more than that. If your old numbers were on a diagonal and your paint hasn’t faded, consider placing them vertically or horizontally, which is a more modern application.

Or you can be like me and grab a can of spray paint! I gave my house numbers a cleaning and three fresh coats of black paint – they look brand new (photos TBA)!

 

4. EXTERIOR UPDATE: REFRESH YOUR LAWN & GARDEN BEDS

Unless you live on a large property with an obscene amount landscaping (mine is definitely borderline), it shouldn’t cost too much to freshen up your garden beds. At $6 a bag (for mulch), you can spend under $50 and get an AMAZING amount of work done. You’re not looking to add a foot to each bed – just looking to freshen up the top surface without mixing it into the old stuff; it usually takes three to five inches to do the job (that’s what she said…).

Just as home decor, accessories, and personal items can clutter the INSIDE of your home, leaves, yard shrapnel, and ragged edges clutter the outside of your home.

DECLUTTER your garden beds, and give your plants some room to breathe! 

Leaves: The environmentally friendly choice is to leave leaves on your garden beds and lawn over the winter – this protects your plants and provides a place for bugs and bees to hide. Personally, I have other ways to save the environment. I plant TONS of bee-friendly flowers, but I like my garden beds TIDY!

Budget friendly curb appeal, landscaping ideas for home staging. Kylie m Interiors Edesign

 

5. EXTERIOR UPDATE: TRIM YOUR BUSH

Spend a few hours on your shrubs, and you’ll see an immediate improvement in your curb appeal…

Red orange brick exterior, mid century modern style home, Sherwin Extra White trim and white front door, Hardie Iron Gray siding.

This front patio is just BEGGING for a little bistro set! 

Exterior brick home painted Sherwin Williams Agreeable Gray, Comfort Gray, Snowbound. Kylie M Interiors, online paint color consulting and diy advice

Trim back overgrown hedges, pull out any plants that aren’t thriving, pull those damned weeds, and do some decluttering, like you would in your house. Find out when the appropriate pruning season is for major trees or shrubs. (The internet is a WONDERFUL thing, isn’t it?)

Exterior paint colour palette with charcoal gray roof and stone. Benjamin Moore Weimaraner, Dinner Party, Mascarpone, Wenge. Kylie M E-design

I love this home’s charm and thoughtful, English garden-style plantings!

By the way don’t be afraid to remove overgrown bushes past their prime – not everything is worth saving! When we bought our home, we had to take out four truckloads of bushes and trees that had lived their best life (we saved TONS, though). Here are a few of them…

exterior before

California Lilacs have a short lifespan – approx 12-15 years. These were 15 years old and were rotting from the inside out (sadly).

And look at it now…

exterior update, concrete curbing between grass and garden beds, mulch, evergreens, perenials, annuals, west coast back yard. Kylie M Interiors

 

And using inspiration from the above photo, I’ll share a bonus idea, just for sharts and giggles…

6. EXTERIOR UPDATE: ADD CONCRETE CURB

This idea is a bonus because it’s EXPENSIVE.

Do you struggle to keep your garden beds contained? Are the edges constantly barfing over into your lawn? Do you have clumps of grass growing in your garden beds? I hear you. We had the same struggles, so saved up our scheckles for concrete curbing, which is a HUGE update to our already beautiful yard…

exterior before

Exterior update, home staging ideas, curb appeal, concrete curb between grass and mulch, evergreens and perenials. Kylie M Ideas

exterior before

backyard exterior update with concrete curbing between grass and landscape beds, garden beds, annuals, evergreens, perenials, hottub gazebo.

The original homeowners did their best, but it’s a LOT of yard. In the before photo, you’ll see some of the overgrown and dying bushes we removed (some we managed to rehome in other parts of the yard.). It’s nice to see a bit of mulch, giving our new grasses some breathing room. Our lovely dwarf spruce is also a LOT happier not being buried in Barberry (truly, the asshole of the plant world, with its sharp thorns.)

exterior concrete curbing between grass and garden beds, ideas to update yard. Kylie M. Gray blue exterior paint color, evergreens and perenials.

The price of concrete curbing varies, depending on where you live and your local supplier. Where we live, it’s approx. 13sq ft…which adds up fast, but for the hours we’ve spent trying to keep our landscape beds contained, it’s worth its weight in gold! Bender-board is more affordable and is another way to divide outdoor areas in your yard.

In all, whether you save money or blow the budget, I hope these ideas help you enjoy your home’s outdoor spaces a bit more more, or get them read for new potential owners!

READ MORE

Does Exposure REALLY Matter When Choosing Your Home’s Exterior Colors?

The Best WHOLE HOME Gray & Greige Paint Colors

Home Staging for Mass Appeal

The Best Paint COLOURS for Home Staging

The Best Neutral, Light Paint Colours for Home Staging

Chat soon,

Kylie M Interiors, decorating blog, e-design, online colour consulting expert. signature

ORIGINALLY WRITTEN IN 2018, OVERHAULED IN 2023



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