Help your home get a low-budget face lift...

Step outside your home, walk across the street and turn around.  What do you see?  We all have busy lives and sometimes taking care of your home’s appearance can fall to the wayside, leaving your home looking a little drab.  Give your home a low-cost and easy face lift.  Here are some easy steps to improve your home’s curb appeal:

-         Prune back overgrown plants.  Cut back overhanging or low lying tree limbs for a clear view of your home.  Sometimes, less is more.  Go through you flowerbeds and cut back plants that have become overgrown.  Order is “in,” so create well organized groups of your overgrown flowers and trim shrubs.  Avoid trimming your plants into unnatural shapes like squares and perfect circles.  You don't want your plants looking like an over-pampered pooch at a dog show.

-         Over time, your sidewalk and driveway can start to look a little dingy with grime and dirt.  A simple power wash can help give your paved surfaces a fresh clean look.

-         Get rid of any yard clutter, whether its children’s toys, garden supplies, or old bird baths.  If you have a front porch, remove cluttered furniture or give the furniture a bit of a face lift with fresh paint or new upholstery like some textile pillows.  Unless you live in the Florida Keys and have at least five palm trees in your front yard (or even then, for that matter) pink flamingos and other such lawn accouterments tend to just look out of place.

-         Edge your sidewalk and driveway, removing overgrown grass and plants that have crept over the concrete or asphalt.  This creates a crisp line between your walkway, driveway and lawn.  You can also re-edge your plant beds where they reach the lawn.

-         Check your gutters and downspouts.  Do they need to be cleaned or reattached?  A house always looks less appealing when it has green foliage growing from its gutters.  

-         Look at your house at night.  How does the indoor lighting affect your home’s appearance at night?  Line your sidewalk or driveway with a few solar-powered yard lanterns.  You should not go overboard and line your driveway like a runway at Dulles National.  Provide attractive and soft lighting by alternating lights on each side of the driveway with plenty of space between each light.  If your porch lighting is dated, it might be beneficial to replace the fixture with a trendy new look.

-         Help make your front door pop.  Give your front door a fresh coat of paint or varnish and replace worn hardware with a cheap new modern lock system.  Be wary of making your door a really 'loud' color that may leave others scratching their heads, but a nicely contrasting color to your home can add a nice focal point.

-         Make sure you have attractive and clearly visible house numbers on your home and your mailbox.  Everyone has driven through a neighborhood at some point and been frustrated that they can't find any house numbers.  Make your house that savior with some classy house numbers.