Curb appeal is one of the top characteristics buyers look for in a home. But even if you’re not selling, curb appeal is still essential for your abode. It shows that you maintain your property well and that you’ve got good taste.
But sometimes, we obsess over improving our curb appeal that it results in disaster instead. Maybe you’ve over-decorated with garden ornaments, or overcrowded your yard with shrubs. While you’re encouraged to practice your creativity in boosting your curb appeal, your poor yard shouldn’t look like a medium for your experiments.
“Simplicity is beauty” and “less is more” also apply in sprucing up your curb appeal. To nail it this time, note these pretty things that actually ruin your curb appeal:
1. The Wrong Garage Door
Your garage makes up a huge part of your curb appeal. If you’ve chosen the wrong material or style, your home’s entire facade will be affected.
Before paying for a new garage door installation, consider your options carefully first. Below is a list of the common garage door materials:
- Steel — the most popular material due to its price, durability, and easy maintenance. Steel, however, is a poor insulator, so it’s recommended to go for the insulated variety.
- Aluminum — shares many characteristics with steel, but also comes with faux wood textures. It is less expensive than steel, but not as tough.
- Wood — an expensive material as well as a high-maintenance one. The least expensive type is painted wood with flat hardboard panels.
- Wood composite — made with recycled wood fibers. Strong as steel but looks just like regular wood.
- Fiberglass — a lightweight material with poor insulation, but is resistant to saltwater corrosion than other materials.
Any of those materials can work in boosting curb appeal, but that depends on certain factors. Weather is one of them, and the most crucial. If you’re choosing wood, for example, you shouldn’t be living in an area with a wet climate, or your garage door will often expand. Steel is the best option since it suits most climates and is the easiest to maintain. However, if you live in a coastal area, fiberglass is better, because it won’t degrade from saltwater.
Practicality should top aesthetics when choosing a garage door. When you choose the right material, it will pull off your desired style better, because it’s able to maintain a pristine condition for a long time.
2. Too Much Personal Possessions
The yard isn’t the place for your valued collections, such as religious decorations, lawn ornaments, or even your kids’ toys. Piling them up in a corner is a mistake either. That’s because those things don’t usually match with your landscape design. And to create a stunning curb appeal, cohesion is key. If there are items in your landscape that obviously don’t belong there, the cohesion is disrupted, and your curb appeal decreases as a result.
3. Overcrowded Landscape
Many landscaping articles may tell you to avoid leaving spots unfilled, because it may become a space for weeds. But you don’t have to follow that advice immediately after creating a landscape. Leave the bare spots alone, because your current plants will fill those in time. Covering the bare spots when your plants haven’t fully grown yet will result in a landscape that can’t seem to breathe.
4. High-maintenance Plants and Blooms
Perennials, annuals, and other beautiful lawn features may be hard to resist, but they’ll increase the upkeep requirements of your garden. Eventually, you may grow tired of tending to them. If you sell your home, a buyer may see your high-maintenance garden as a red flag. So try to keep everything low-key. Good curb appeal doesn’t necessarily mean a garden bursting with colors. It’s more of a well-kept garden with a healthy breathing space.
5. Zero Comfort
Since outdoor furniture has to be sturdy and resilient against the elements, they tend to be low on comfort. But you don’t have to settle with hard and cold seats. There is weather-resistant furniture that is also soft and ergonomic. They’re perfect for lounging while reading a book or enjoying a cocktail drink. Comfort can also be felt by looking, so don’t assume that good outdoor furniture can fool the eye as a cozy patio set.
6. A Very Bold Exterior Paint
Exterior paints fade and peel over time, so every homeowner should schedule repainting work every few years. And while it’s tempting to choose a completely different paint color when that time comes, sit back and reconsider. Ask yourself if it will complement your neighbors’ paint colors. Curb appeal is also about blending in while having the best home at the same time. Going for pink when white is the norm in your neighborhood will destroy your curb appeal instantly.
By avoiding these mistakes on your home remodeling project, you’ll spare yourself the trouble of spending money again for correcting your errors. You’ll also attract a lot of interested buyers if you’re selling your home.
