Curb Appeal Progress and Plans

I've been wanting to write this post for, oh, the last month. However I couldn't very well take a picture of the house exterior with Christmas lights still up. (Hanging head in shame. With bedhead to boot.) That's right, folks. It's mid-July and we just got those darn lights down yesterday. Ahem.

What can I say though? We had a baby and bought another house. It's been uhhhhhhh, kinda busy around here.

I thought I'd share some of the curb appeal projects we've tackled so far as well as the ones planned for the (hopefully not too far off) future. 

It's always fun to see before pictures so I'll share a good before and after comparison at the end of this post. :)

Here are the first six projects that we tackled:

1. Alex, with the help of some family and friends, re-shingled the roof with some cute, two-toned grey and black shingles. Apparently roofs are important. I wanted to spend the money on other, cuter things. I lost that battle.

2. We replaced the tiny light fixture beside the door with a larger, lantern-style light. I brought a photo from a Country Living decorating book to our local lighting store and asked the worker to find the closest match. He did a good job 'cause I just love that light! We chose the "medium" size although I would have loved the larger one. The electrical box was too close to the door though. Wah wah.

3. Alex made a window box to span the width of our wide, sunroom windows. I painted it in Cloud White by Benjamin Moore exterior paint. I fill it up with shade-loving annuals every year but man those are expensive! (See window box posts here and here.)

4. I bought some large ceramic planters to flank the bottom of the stairs. (I hate those cement stairs, btw.) I also fill them up with shade-loving annuals. (See post here.)

5. We ripped out all of the existing plants at the front of the house (this might have involved chains and my dad's truck driving on our front lawn). Instead I planted ten, yes ten, Annabelle hydrangea shrubs. This was inspired by picture from a Country Living magazine years and years ago. I've since lost the picture but I still have the image clear and crisp in my decorating-loving brain (where important information is supposed to go instead). (See post here.)

6. Alex built a fence in the sideyard/backyard to contain the Roar-man and to give us some privacy. I originally wanted to make the tops of every board rounded but eventually settled for pointy tops when I realized how long it would take for Alex to make the round ones.

Here are the rest of the projects:

7. We installed a cement curb to divide the gravel driveway from the grass (not shown). This project sucked with a capital S but was worth it in the end. (See original post here.)

8. I bought a large barn star as well as an iron trellis to fill up the empty brick wall on the other side of the door. I found that the house looked unbalanced with all of the windows on one side. Both the star and the trellis were purchased at a local home decor store. Climbing up the trellis (and the extension cord from the Christmas lights, haha) is some purple clematis.

9. I gave the old front door a little spruce-up by giving it a fresh coat of exterior paint (Nature Lover by Benjamin Moore) and spray painting the hardware black (to go with the black railings).

10. I freshened up the front door trim with some sanding, primer, and crisp white paint (the same colour as the window box: Cloud White by Benjamin Moore).

11. We ordered a custom slate house-number plaque from Home Depot. It has our street name and address. It fits perfectly in that little spot above the front door. It's my faaaaavourite.

12. For my birthday two years ago, Alex and I spent the day building some board-and-batten shutters to add some interest to the second story windows. I wanted shutters for SO LONG and was so proud when we finished this project. (See original posts here and here.)

13. And last, I've given the lawn some major TLC with lots of fertilizing, aerating, de-thatching, grass-seed planting, and watering. When we cut our grass we always leave it fairly long so that it doesn't dry out in the sun. That's why our grass is always green and our neighbour's lawns are always brown. Muhahahahaha!

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So that's where we're at with the curb appeal so far. There's a few more projects that I'd like to complete sometime soon (don't tell Alex because he's been working like a dog at The Fixer Upper).

Future Curb Appeal Projects:

#1 on my list is to ditch that horrid screen/storm door as well as the old wooden door (that half-moon window is my nemesis) and replace them both with a new wooden door. I just love this style (but painted of course):

You can see a similar door in the next photo (from the inside):

#2 is to give those ooogly metal railings a fresh coat of paint. Eventually I would love to get rid of those cement stairs and metal railings altogether and replace them with something nicer. But that's waaaaay far in the future right now.

#3 is to replace the white, aluminum siding with some fresh new material (ideas anyone!?!?!). I'm in all kinds of love with grey cedar shakes but alas I will be prob'ly be stuck with orange brick and siding forever. Wah wah wah.

#4 is to create a little mini-roof/overhang over the front door. In this photo from the blog 65th Avenue, Londen did the same thing to update her cute bungalow.

I know you've got a fresh set of eyes. Is there anything else you think we should do to add some more curb appeal to this place? Let me know in the comments, k?

Have you tackled any curb appeal projects lately? Whadja do? Whadja do?!? :)