Improving Your Curb Appeal
Whether you’re lounging around on the beach or roaming around in the mountains, California is a beautiful state with beautiful landscapes. But it’s a beautiful state at the neighborhood level, too. Everywhere you go, it seems like neighborhoods are lush, clean-cut, and attractive—not a blade of grass of a driveway paver out of place.
People in California are borderline obsessed with their front-yard curb appeal—and if you’re going to keep up with the neighbors and have a front yard worth celebrating, you’re going to have to put in the time, the money, and the hard work.
In this blog, the Bakersfield landscape supply specialists at Kern Turf Supply will give you a few tips for boosting your curb appeal, so your home can be the envy of the neighborhood (or the block, at least). These tips are cost-effective, providing you with the most curb appeal punch for your money.
Paint your front door.
The front door is the focal point of your front yard—and we realize you might not believe that quite yet. But if it weren’t the focal point, then why does everything in your yard direct you and your eye to the front door? Why do you light your front door at night instead of your lawn or your flowers? Can’t beat that logic.
Most front doors are white—but that’s not your style. You’re not about red doors either. They’re the pumpkin spice latte of front doors: overdone and overrated. Black doors? What kind of message does that send about the inside of your home? Who would keep a black door clean in a dry and dusty place like Bakersfield? There are 50 shades of grey that would look better and more friendly than black—but that’s just not your style either.
You’re looking for a color that’s fresh and unexpected—a navy blue, sea green, or a rusty red. Or maybe you’re the irreverent type who wants to skip the fire-engine red to go straight for the fire-engine fuscia. It’s not a thing yet, but it could be once you show the world your incredible taste in door colors.
Whatever the shade, paint your door a color that matches your personality and makes people say “wow, that’s neat. We should paint our door, honey.” If it doesn’t work out, you can always start over and paint your door again.
Light it up.
Do you take selfies much? Neither do we. But if you did, you’d realize that proper lighting determines the success of your selfie. You home works the same way—to make your house look beautiful at night, you need the right lighting in the right places.
Add a couple of sconces near your front door, use LED ground lights to outline the runway that is your driveway, and keep a single light burning near your dumpster so you’re a little less terrified about taking out the trash in the dark. These are just lights for aesthetic value—they provide safety and security, too.
Repave your driveway.
There isn’t a single curb appeal blog in the bowels of the internet that recommends you keep your old, patchy, and cracked concrete driveway. We can see the weeds poking out between the cracks of your driveway right now, and all we want to do is whip out a jackhammer and make it go away.
A new driveway will instantly upgrade the look of your home, and it’s a fairly reasonable investment to make for resale value, too. Freshen up your look with some colored concrete, or go all out with a paver driveway that says “it took a lot of manual labor to make this happen.” Whatever you choose, ditch the sad, grey concrete, and opt for a driveway material with a warmer, classier look.
Keep the lawn game strong.
No, not that lawn game. A large percentage of great front yards are built upon a beautiful lawn—the luxury rug of the outdoor world. But not all lawns are created equal. An enviable lawn is even, lush, and green (obviously)—but that takes a lot of hard work. If you’re going to get into the lawn business, you need to put in the time and the effort to make sure your lawn looks spiffy—otherwise, you might as well not get into the lawn game at all.
There’s nothing that looks worse than an unmowed, uneven, patchy, and brown lawn. If you’re too busy to take care of a lawn (or don’t want to shell out the money for a lawn care crew), might we suggest synthetic turf—a ground cover solution that looks great and needs no maintenance. It’ll cost a little more upfront, but that turf will pay for itself pretty quickly once you turn off the sprinklers and stop paying for lawn care supplies.
Add some flowers.
There isn’t an easier way to make your home look warm and welcoming than to add some flowers to the front yard—plus, it’s incredibly affordable. Planting some flowers in window boxes or inexpensive flowerbeds will add a pop of color to your yard and set you apart from all of those neighbors with drab, low-maintenance landscaping. Use drip irrigation systems to keep your flowers fed, and you’ll have successfully taken your curb appeal to an enviable level.
Replace your windows.
This one of our more expensive curb appeal suggestions, but a useful one nonetheless. A window replacement provides an added newness regardless of your siding or landscaping, and energy savings provide an extra incentive to get rid of your current windows. According to the US Department of Energy (DOE), adding Energy Star® windows to your home can save you up to 15 percent on your energy bill annually—which means the new windows will virtually pay for themselves. They’ll look nice next to your freshly painted front door, too.
Trust the Bakersfield Landscape Supply Experts
When working on improving your curb appeal, it’s best to take things one step at a time. That’s where Kern Turf Supply can help. With an extensive collection of landscape supplies and an experienced group of staff specialists, Kern Turf Supply can help you with all of your curb appeal projects. Get started with us today!