16 DIY Curb Appeal Ideas That Transformed Our Front Yard
After nearly eight years of chipping away at the exterior of our house, I can confirm—front yard curb appeal projects are some of the most rewarding. Sometimes, it just takes a little sweat equity and a sunny Saturday to make a big first impression.
We’ve done our fair share of weekend warrior projects around here, and I can say with confidence that the “before” and “after” moments are always worth it.
This spring marks 8 years of us living in our brick colonial house (hard to believe), so I’m taking you on a recap journey of the entire curb appeal makeover process. This is where we started 8 years ago.
As always though, we know every “after” is really just “progress”. Because honestly, is a house ever really “finished”? (If your house is tell me what that’s like… I doubt I’ll ever know.)
If you’re staring at your front yard wondering where to even start, here are 16 front yard curb appeal upgrade ideas we’ve done over the years.
Front Yard Curb Appeal Ideas
1. Limewash Brick
In December 2017, we took the big scary leap of having our brick exterior limewashed in the color Romabio Bianco White. Many years later, it’s still going strong! Normally, I love a deep red natural brick, but I wasn’t a fan of the orange brick in our case.
What I love most about limewash is it still allows texture to peek through. Unlike many paints out there, limewash allows the bricks to breathe to prevent peeling or cracking. (Our contractor Hans at Reflections of Italy is a specially trained artisan, and he’s absolutely amazing!)
2. Paint the Garage Door
An upgraded garage door has been on our wish list for a while, but painting our existing garage door Behr Cracked Pepper helped give it a big facelift for just the cost of paint. We used the same color on our shutters and exterior doors. This is what it looked like right after we finished it in 2017, and it still holding up perfectly.
3. Paint the Porch Floor
A good porch floor paint can make a dated concrete slab or scuffed wood look brand new. I stenciled our terracotta porch floor several years ago but recently decided I preferred the simplified gray color (Behr Battleship Gray), so I painted over the stencil design.
We used Behr Porch & Patio Floor Paint; it’s held up great!
4. Widen and Clean Up Flower Beds
Big flower beds = big wow factor. We did a major DIY flower bed makeover several years ago by extending them. Ripping out weeds, pruning shrubs, and throwing down fresh mulch is instant gratification.
These were our flower beds before:
And here is the after:
5. Add Stone Garden Edging
Stone edging creates such a polished border around flower beds and keeps mulch in check. It was back breaking work, but we couldn’t be happier with the end result.
We used Tremron Munich Stone in the color Sand Dune (the same stone we used on our DIY backyard fire pit).
6. Install a New Mailbox
Bonus points if it’s one with character or a little garden bed around it. This white mailbox we have is HUGE!
All together, it made such a huge difference in our front yard.
Before:
After:
7. Upgrade the Motion Sensor Lights
I was determined to have a “pretty” option for motion sensor flood lights. Motion sensor lanterns were a pretty upgrade with function in mind around our garage.
Would you like to save this?
We'll email this post to you, so you can come back to it later!
8. Spray Paint Planter Pots
Never underestimate the power of spray paint. We stretched our cheap pots and spray paint stash to make these DIY concrete look planters.
9. Use UV Treated Fake Plants
As much as I love real plants, they inevitably die within 2 weeks in my care. So I’m a big fan of using realistic UV treated faux plants for porches. Maybe one day once my kids are grown I can handle caring for real plants. But it’s not in my wheelhouse at this point in my life.
10. Restore the Lawn
Rescuing our dying lawn was a hard journey. For years, our kids couldn’t play in the grass because of brambles and thorny weeds. But now it’s as soft as a plush green carpet.
It took about a year of babying our grass to encourage healthy growth. Now we have a local lawn care friend (Tanner at Palmetto Lawn Services) who helps us keep it healthy.
11. Replace the Front Door
We really loved our old front door and wanted to keep it. But it was an energy efficiency nightmare literally leaking money into thin air. And our dark entryway needed more natural light.
We found our new door at a local building supply warehouse here in Charlotte (Pop’s Building Materials) and hired a local contractor (Mike Bates) to do the heavy lifting that was beyond our DIY skillset. We immediately saw a decrease in our energy bill!
12. Paint the Front Door
After installation, we painted the door the same color as our shutters: Behr Cracked Pepper.
13. Update Old Porch Lights
You’d be surprised what a light fixture update can do for nighttime charm in the curb appeal department. This copper lantern was a splurge for us, but not nearly as much of a splurge as a real gas lantern.
14. Try a Flame Bulb for a Gas Lantern Look
Since running a pricey gas line to a lantern was out of our budget, I did some research to find the most realistic flame bulb to find the clear winner. It’s incredible how much it looks like a real flame!
15. Add Solar Landscape Lights
We had solar landscape lights out here for a few years, but these stone look solar spot lights are next level! Line the walkway or tuck a few in your flower beds for instant cozy glow, no wiring required.
16. Update the Roof
This was a pricey upgrade but since it was one we had to tackle anyway because our old roof was damaged, we took the opportunity to get designer shingles (CertainTeed Belmont in Colonial Slate). They added so much character!
(Our contractor here in Charlotte was Taylor Roofing – couldn’t be happier with their work.)
That’s it! 8 years worth of curb appeal projects and quite a transformation.
We still have front yard things on our to-do list like:
- Repave the cracking walkway and driveway (maybe even replace them with pavers)
- Replace the too-small gutters (we would love copper cutters but not totally sure if they’re worth the cost)
- Upgrade the garage door
- Keep giving the landscaping some love to encourage more growth
Even if nothing else happens from here though, we are content with where the exterior of our home is right now.
Here’s a full “before” and “after” with a nighttime look after 8 years of progress.
What’s on your curb appeal to-do list right now? I’d love to hear what you’re working on in the comments.
