Curb Appeal Before and Imaginary After

This is not your typical DIY project…

We’ve still got a lot of work on the inside that we’d like to get done before June, but I thought it would be fun to tackle some of the exterior projects with some imaginary before and afters. I used paint.net, a *free* editing program you can download, similar to photoshop.

Here’s a picture of the side, main entrance of our house. Gravel driveway, non-existant walkway, not much in the way of landscaping, no light fixtures, let’s just say it is a LOT better (see before pictures here) but it does need love!

You probably already know by the title of my blog that we’d like to add black shutters. Let’s see how that would look…

Wow! What a difference! Some people have said that we really don’t need the shutters after adding the new siding and trim, but ummm, yeahhh…. I DEFINITELY LIKE IT WITH THE SHUTTERS!!! I actually have green shutters (will spray paint), 5 pairs that will fit our windows and 4 pairs that are way too huge, that I got on freecycle before we even had a house - I couldn’t pass it up! Our local ReStore also has shutters, so I will snag some of those as well, then buy whatever else we’ll need.

Woo hoo, what do you think? Har har – I mean besides that my editing skills are laughable? I think I like it! It’d be a nice place to put some flower pots, a little black wrought iron bistro set, some plantings along the patio, and a welcome rug. Plus, grandpa wouldn’t have to struggle with coming into my house, that’s the biggest bonus right there.

Another big curb appeal change would be the addition of flower boxes. This is something we probably won’t do, but while I’m playing pretend, I’d like to see how it would look! Using my magic wand, google images, and Ann Marie’s image, we get…

Okay… maybe I will think more seriously about adding flower boxes! The major downside would be bringing bugs into the house, but we already have tons of ants and ladybugs, what’s a few more, right? 😉 I like it a lot, but keeping my priorities in check, this one will slide to the back burner for the time being.

Some other things I’d like to do would be to add more landscaping. I love gardening, flowers, and anything that grows. My mom and dad are big gardeners, both grandma’s were gardeners, so it’s in my blood. I’m thinking a winding bed of ornamental grasses and bushes, perennials, and anything family members want to split off and share with me (hint, hint if you’re reading…). We’ll also add a walkway from the one I drew in to the real front door.

Speaking of the front door… how would that area look with shutters and the chimney painted?

What a difference… I’m totally sold on the shutters now. And I was totally pulling the idea for the chimney out of nowhere, had no idea how it’d look, but I really like it now! I’m not a huge fan of the big bulky bushes, those will probably go free to someone who can dig them out via craigslist and the winding landscaping from the side will continue to the front.

Here’s a before and after with the original house (as it came) and with all the edits:

and the front…

I’m so excited about the shutters and changes now that I know how they’ll look!

White Tan House, Black Shutters, here we come!