If you have a tree lined street - very pretty in itself. Plant small flowers (pansies and the like) around the base of the ones outside your home. It makes you smile when you drive in.

Our house is located on a street with 100 year old brick cottages...keep it neat tidy simple and paint your porch! Here are pics of when we bought the house 7 years ago and what it looks like today!

Flowers.

I dont like to see rubbish bins anywhere!

First word...appropriate. Colors, entry, plantings whatever needs to fit the style and scale of the house and blend with the neighboring properties. Second word...maintained. No peeling paint, unmown grass, weed filled or over grown beds or dead plants in sight.

Upkeep, of course and a handsome, welcoming entry. But nothing makes a house look better than large beautiful trees and appropriate landscaping in front.

We added a new walkway and landscaping to boost our curb appeal! Pictures shows before and after of a small portion.

donnacox, very NICE!!!

I posted earlier...here is a better shot of the porch...geez im a lousy photographer! lol So proud of this considering the before!

Ihavealittleoldhouse.....what a beautiful update!

Yes...it's lovely!

I think professionally cleaned windows can really make
a home sparkle. I noticed the house color comments. I live
In what is considered a custom neighborhood, yet all the
houses have brown trim, brown shutters. All the same is boring
and doesn't seem custom to me! We are changing our
trim to a stone/ French blue. I might be the new neighbor
that others are complaining about. Stay tuned...

It is at night but, outdoor lighting.

Yes, I agree!!! But, those sparkling clean windows show off beautifully lit
chandeliers at night, too. : )

The lights.

Well maintained lawn and weeding comes to mind as a first step. Then decorating your outside space tastefully and appropriately to the " bones" and style of the home. Flowers, outdoor furniture , statues, urns etc all add personality and love to a house!

Don't spend a ton on money. Define the Style, determine how to get the new look with little fixes, i.e. the ledgestone covered column is not supporting, just cosmetic.
Staining brick, rather than covering the entire facade is cost-efficient and beautiful too.

Forgot this detail - we are now using artificial lawn judiciously- in areas where grass will not grow!

We are working on our curb appeal and creating a useful front yard. It is still a work in progress but we a loving the outcome so far!

Properly-fitted shutters. We see so many homes that have shutters that are too skinny or too small for their windows. We understand that shutters are used for decor purposes more often than not today, but real, authentic shutters have proven to not only enhance the appearance of homes but also the value.

See the difference below.

Regardless of the style of home or landscape, it needs to look like it is cared for. Lighting is very important as well.

I agree, lighting is HUGE.
Especially if you end up selling your home in Winter Time (less sunlight.)
I was looking at our house from the frontyard last night and fell in love again!

Remove urns, plant bright colored (low growing) flowers between shrubs for color. Beautiful home!

Quality landscaping. It can make a cardboard box look appealing.

Wow. Can't get over the huge difference those shutters make (above). The after shot is so much more beautiful! I know I'd pay more for that house with those shutters.

With the right size shutters it can truly make a "huge" difference on ANY home.

It definitely looks better with the shutters. I know all of them are sized right, but the shutters on the first floor windows on each end really look BIG to me with very little brick showing. Does that ever factor in?

Timberline, that home does look better with shutters but the style was made for them. However, I drive by a house that put shutters on a flat-roofed MCM house. I just want to rip them off every time I drive by.

Dar Eckert - We are well aware that not all homes call for shutters. However, in most cases when shutters are added (especially in America), the shutters are installed for decor purposes only. Not that that is wrong, but they should at least be properly fitted and designed to function, regardless if they do or not.

Chloebud- The shutters on the first floor are indeed properly fitted, which is why they're so large. Shutters should measure out to half the size of the window they are covering, and in that example, the homeowners wanted the shutters to be functional so they could close and cover the entire window.

Thanks, Timberlane! I know the shutters should be half the window's size whether functional or decorative. Is there a point, aesthetically, when you would advise against shutters due to an especially large window...even if there's enough space for the shutters?

We do make certain recommendations when it comes to the appearance of the home, but the end result is truly up to the homeowner and their design preferences.

Since all of our shutters are hand-crafted and custom made, we have the ability to create and style shutter at any size.

We will be doing our front yard landscaping next year. I've taken note of all these suggestions! We already have some little potted plants (cant actually plant anything yet), but I'm excited to start next year!

Flowers, lots of flowers in front of beautiful architecture

Flower beds with numerous flowers, Nothing is more beautiful or more inviting!

landscaping not limited to just around the house. Continue it out to the street to draw your eye toward your home.

Natural stone or nicely arranged plants instead of iron fences. Some homes curb appeal in relatively safe upscale neighborhoods are ruined by iron fences that look like they belong in high crime neighborhoods.

We are in a terrible drought here in SoCal. Don't have much of a front lawn, so it's OK to use the sprinklers there, but have a steep hill behind the small strip of backyard. Only have soaker hoses back there, so have lost a lot - an avocado tree, several small bushes, and a young birch tree. It's fenced in, bordering open space that's owned by the City and will never be built on. Would love to do a "natural" habitat with large rocks, cacti, grasses, etc., but would probably cost a fortune. THEN we would get rain !!!! LOL

if you live in the South; St Augustine grass perfectly groomed, a pretty, welcoming door, & shutters

Most electric companies publish lists of trees and shrubs that do well under their electric lines so that no major disfigurement needs to happen. To their credit, power co's must trim for fewer power outages as well as safety for their linemen and customers when limbs and trees cause line damage.

A clean porch, inviting lighting and large flower beds. I'm blessed to have a beautiful home that my husband and I toiled to build ourselves, but every other home we had had nice flowerbeds, clean and tidy walkways and all woodwork was maintained. Even the most modest home (including the mobile home we rented while building) can be charming and welcoming.

Place the garage and its doors on the side or rear of the house if at all possible. Otherwise, get the best looking garage doors you can afford or even make them blend into the architecture of the house. And everything else above...

Needs a little color and more defined flower beds, a couple of kids and a nice doggy laying on the front porch. :) Nice House!

Clean, well groomed, and well maintained…both hardscape and plants/grass. Flowers where possible…but grooming is everything. If you are in a drought stricken area and you have the means, there are some amazing artificial sods that look amazingly real, trade out that thirsty grass for drought tolerant or artificial turf.

Some of my neighbours have replaced their lawns with artificial grass. It looks marvellous.

Upgrade the garage door, especially if it faces the street. One in 5 garage doors sold today is a carriage style door. Use the Door Imagination System at www.clopaydoor.com to upload a photo of your house and see how a new garage door can enhance your home's curb appeal.

Quintessentially English.

First thing: keep your garage door closed so all the neighbors and passersby don't have to look in at your junk.

There is such a thing as too much landscaping. While it may look beautiful, I don't want to own/maintain it. Unless you are wealthy and hire out yardwork .. have a mansion type home to sell .. scale it back.

Symmetry.

Yes, symmetry!