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Cozy Curb Appeal 4 Ways

September 26, 2019 By Chelsea Lipford Wolf Leave a Comment

4 Ways to Create Cozy Curb Appeal

Cozy Painted Brick House with Curb Appeal Rocking Chair and Sage Green Front Door
There’s not just one way to create curb appeal for your home! Here are 4 ways we’ve recently updated the curb appeal of 3 different houses featured on episodes of Today’s Homeowner.

Tear Down What Doesn’t Work

Sometimes you don’t need to add anything to update your home’s curb appeal. You just need to get rid of what’s not working for you anymore. This can be big or small! We worked on one house that had a sad and ugly fiberglass carport attached to the brick.

Old Worn Fiberglass Carport Awning

The worst part was that it leaked, so it really wasn’t offering that much protection. It was the first thing to go!

Create Curb Appeal by Tearing Down Old Structures

Tearing out old bushes, trimming overgrown ones, and cleaning out underbrush in your flower beds can make a big difference too!

Bushes in Need of Pruning and Shaping

Fresh mulch can make it look so polished!

Holly and Yews After Pruning and Brush Removal

We did some similar clean out and transplanting at this Chicago-area house!

Overgrown Bushes and Plants Overflowing onto Sidewalk

Flower Bed Along Front Walkway with Fresh Mulch

Paint What You Don’t Like

Again, this can be big or small! The shutters on this house were in great shape, but the color didn’t suit the homeowners anymore.

How to Paint Red Brown Shutters on Brick House in Place

So, we painted them in place with a dark brown exterior paint! (Espresso Beans from Behr)

Espresso Beans Brown Painted Shutters on Light Brick House

A much larger undertaking is to paint the entire exterior of a house. In the case of Greg and Morgan’s house, the red bricks weren’t anything special and they wanted something a little more modern.

Red Brick Industrial Age Small House with Porch

So we used an airless paint sprayer* to apply a masonry paint guaranteed for 20 years!

Tan Painted Brick House with Gel Stain Shutters and Green Front Door

You can see we also painted their front door! A project that only takes a couple hours and gives you a good feeling when you pull into the driveway!

Make It Look Like Wood

Inside or outside your home, wood tones bring warmth and cozy vibes! With the right technique you don’t have to have something made of wood to make it look like wood!

The shutters on the painted brick house were green when we started. So we first painted them with a tan spray paint. Then we brushed on a gel stain to get brush strokes that resemble wood.

Vinyl Shutters Painted with Spray Paint and Gel Stain

We did something very similar to the garage door and front door on this ranch home too.

Tan Painted Garage Door Before Makeover

Only instead of buying everything separately, we used a kit specifically made for this*! It came with a glove to use for the wood grain, but I found it easier to use a paint brush.

Garage Door Painted to Look Like Wood

Front door after:
Front Door Painted to Look Like Wood for Curb Appeal

Make Accents with Wood

So far these exterior updates have all been changes to existing features. But if you don’t already have features to change, you might need to add some! The Chicago-area home had a cute base to start with.

Simple Red Brick Cottage in Chicago Suburbs

We added simple window boxes with pressure-treated wood that we painted white.

DIY White Window Planter Box with Flowering Plants

Then above one window, we also added an arbor to fill up some of the brick expanse and to add a little cozy!

White Wood Arbor Shade Over Front Window

Before and Afters

Start with small changes to gain big appreciation for your home’s exterior! Click the titles below to watch the full transformations of each home featured on Today’s Homeowner!

Chicago Curb Appeal:
Simple Red Brick Cottage in Chicago SuburbsRed Brick House with Red Front Door in Chicago Illinois

Fairhope, AL Exterior Updates:
Ranch Brick Home with Red Shutters and Front DoorPainted Accents on Front of House Creates Curb Appeal

Greg and Morgan’s Brick House:
Red Brick Industrial Age Small House with PorchTan Painted Brick House with Gel Stain Shutters and Green Front Door

Thanks for Checking In! ~Chelsea

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Happy 3rd birthday🎈to the biggest mama’s girl Happy 3rd birthday🎈to the biggest mama’s girl I’ve ever known! She weighs as much as her big siblings but still likes Mommy to hold her.😜 She’s got plenty of sass and insists on doing everything herself. Which is why she normally has hair in her face and a tornado of chaos all around her. Pretty much our life since she came into it. But the best kind of chaos that grows and stretches you and teaches you to slow down and accept them just the way they are.☺️
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Can’t believe it’s been 3 years!🥺
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#celebratethem #birthdayshoutout #girlbirthday #girlparty #3rdbirthday #springbreak2022 #familyvaca #vacay2022 #vacationmode #visitflorida #staugustinefl
Cheers to the weekend, friends! May it be filled w Cheers to the weekend, friends! May it be filled with plenty of sunshine and bright spots!☀️🥰
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#happyweekend #friyay #feelslikesummer #weekendvibes✨ #mothersdayweekend #beachday #plentyofsunshine #pocketfullofsunshine #girlbedroom #twinbeds #pinkvibes
FINALLY painted this eyesore of a wall and finishe FINALLY painted this eyesore of a wall and finished just before dark last night!🙌🏻 My husband and I decided instead of starting a new project (ahem a baby nursery) we should finish the projects we’ve already started. Since baby is due in the summer, it will be so nice to have our backyard up to par so we can rest and relax out there during recovery. ☺️
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We started this project back in October by stripping and scraping the many layers of paint so we could waterproof the bricks and paint the wall to match the house. But the house was painted exactly a year ago. So it was way past time to knock this huge item of the time-do list. And it feels like such a relief to not have to walk by the unfinished-ness every time we come home now!
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Next up we’ll slowly tackle patching hardwood floors and finish painting and replacing our interior doors that are taking up room in our garage.👏🏻
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What’s something you’ve knocked off your to-do list lately?!
Happy Sunday! Love these little Easter babies of m Happy Sunday! Love these little Easter babies of mine! And definitely loving this beautiful spring weather we’ve been having lately!☀️Don’t forget Sunday is a day of rest and to give yourself some time to relax today.💆🏼‍♀️
Easter Sunday always feels special!✝️✨ Easter Sunday always feels special!✝️✨
Azaleas under oak trees never gets old. Welcome, S Azaleas under oak trees never gets old. Welcome, Spring!🌸🌺🪴
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#naturalbeauty #natureisbeautiful #natureinstagram #azaleacity #mobilealabama #southerncharm #canopyoftrees #springhassprung #springhascome #springishere☀️
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