{Photos property of Scarlett of Spruce-us.com. Please do not use without permission.}

I’m often asked by clients, what I mean by curb appeal. More importantly, what I mean by GOOD Curb Appeal. In its most simple meaning, good curb appeal invites you in, shows off & coordinates with the style of your home. Having good curb appeal makes someone want to stop and take a peek at your beautiful home.

You can have the most gorgeous home ever on the inside but if the curb appeal doesn’t match the inside…not good. Vice versa, you don’t want your curb appeal to look better than the inside of your home either. The two should be a good match. A good marriage so to speak.

Take the beautiful home above. It’s almost Storybook like to me. The exterior matches its style which is what you want. With its curved, gravel driveway up to the front and its stone garden walls and beautiful greenery & blooms and welcoming bench. The curb appeal of this home is inviting to say the least. Just lovely on so many levels.

{Photos property of Scarlett of Spruce-us.com. Please do not use with permission.}

This gorgeous home is a favorite home of mine in a favorite town of mine - Franklin, TN. This historical beauty is pretty much perfect (to me anyway). The blue & white which I adore. That porch! That breezeway! Those windows! Just in love with this home (and town in general).

My photo here doesn’t show the other side of the home but trust me when I say, I was curious enough about what was going on with the red rose bushes in the middle of the rounded boxwoods that I took a peek on the other side to see if there were matching rose bushes. Sadly there weren’t. I’m really actually pretty surprised & equally proud of myself that I didn’t go up and nicely ask what was going on here with the red rose bushes.

I’m not sure if they lost a couple of the big, established bushes or what happened exactly but…if at all possible, I would replace those big, beautiful bushes and relocate the red rose bushes to the side of the house or around back (wherever they’d get enough sunlight). I’d also add lots more of the little white flowers planted just in front to really add in that punch of low growing white border.

I’d love to see something planted in the two round pots at the entry of the front porch leading to the front door. Obviously the same white flowers along the border of the front bed would work in the planters but if they were going for a punch of red since the rose bushes have now been relocated, they could add red Geraniums or Begonias here in these two matching pots. Even a mix of white & red in these two pots would be nice too.

Lastly, I would try to make sure all window treatments were the same color facing the street. This place is so gorgeous it may be the last thing anyone would notice…but it would certainly be more appealing to the eye.

This house is what GREAT Curb Appeal is all about. So beautiful & so inviting.

This lovely home is located very near my house here in Florida. Like lots of homes that were built over 20-25 years ago…the builders didn’t really take into consideration when planting/placing Palm Trees that they would someday take over the front of the home. In this case, they didn’t even take into consideration that the two nearest the front door aren’t even the same palm tree which causes an issue visually as you can see.

This is a beautiful home in a cul-de-sac. The front yard is very shallow but the back yard backs up to a large lake. There are a few things I’d do to this home to boost its curb appeal.

1) Make sure all blinds/window treatments are the same color facing the street. This is easily done with drapery lining that is all the same color no matter what the fabric is. Blinds should all be the same anyway so an easy fix if just going with blinds.

2) Have the HUGE growth on the right (if facing the house) cut WAY, WAY back if not down all together so you can actually see the right hand side of the home. Overgrowth is a constant battle here in Florida and can quickly take over a yard & home. Best to stay on top of it but if not, hire a professional crew & get it done. ASAP!

3) IF budget allows, remove the palm tree to the left of the front door (if facing house) that doesn’t match anything in the yard and is adding no interest at all. Leave the other two palms. They aren’t planted in a way that it looks like they were intentionally trying to match them up so their placement works fine (once the middle one is gone).

4) Plant low growing & low maintenance flowers along the edge, right in front of each grouping of rounded scrubs. I wouldn’t plant anything all along the walkway (many times comes off as looking like a runway) but just in bunches right in front of the cluster of scrubs (either the three groupings OR just the two groups on either side of the front door step) just as an added accent to highlight the groupings while also adding some interest. White Lantana would work great here. It’s basically NO maintenance except for a bit of trimming back from time to time to keep it from getting too big & commingling with surrounding scrubs. It smells amazing too!

5) Replace the front door if at all possible with a glass door. It would make the entrance so much more inviting and open! Without having measured, it looks like with the existing door and its side panels gone, you could even install a double door here (still glass). If no budget for a new glass door, at least paint this door to match the shutters. Black. That’s right, black!

6) Place 1 tall, slender planter on the left side of the door with maybe some green sweet potato vine spilling out over one side nearest the wall and planting a white flower in the center to draw the eye up to the doorway. What you plant in a space like this will depend on the light you get, of course.

7) Place a nice, new welcome mat at front of the door. Depending on the size of the door you go with, choose your mat accordingly. Better to have a bigger mat than one too skimpy in my opinion.

8) For extra curb appeal bonus points (and cuteness), you could also always “carve” out a square or round area around your mailbox and add the same white planted flowers here too. White Lantana here would be great! You could even let it grow a bit larger around your mailbox for a touch of interest. Just take a spade & “carve out” an area (not too large) around your mailbox post. This also keeps the weeder/edger a good distance from your mailbox post so no accidental damage occurs.

This is one of my all time favorite houses in my area which I pass every single day. It’s oceanfront, grey with white trim & beautiful light blue shutters with a darker blue front door. It has a curved, gravel driveway…..what else could you want?

This home was on the market and got snapped up very quickly as most oceanfront homes do here in Florida. This home has great curb appeal which sadly my photo does not do it the greatest justice. This pic was taken on a cloudy day for one. It’s still a beauty though, right? Can you imagine the drama of the roaring ocean on a cloudy day such as this, all snuggled up inside with a great book & cup(s) of coffee. I’m pretty sure I’m really in love with this house. That’s not weird is it?

I would do just a couple of things to give this a bit better curb appeal. 1) I would pressure wash the white fence or paint it if needed to match the stunning, crisp white of the house trim. 2) I would plant either a ton of Plumbago in front of the fence replacing the red blooms OR White Lantana (me & my white lantana, right?). These two colors would soften the overall curb appeal and make it way more pleasing to the eye. If they were going for a red, white & blue vibe (which I’m all for!), add a couple of red blooming plants up on the front porch in the two tall planters and leave everything else blue & white.

One VERY IMPORTANT TIP——-DO NOT USE RED MULCH…EVER! Red mulch is SO distracting and not a color that does anything positive for any home. It’s such a jarring, unnatural color and no matter what the house color or the landscape or the flower colors used…NEVER USE RED MULCH! You can thank me later.

So there are just a few tips and examples of lovely homes & how even they can be improved upon with a bit of curb appeal SPRUCING! If your home needs a fresh set of eyes on your curb appeal…contact me. If you are in my area, I have limited spaces available. If you aren’t in my area…Curb Appeal SPRUCING can be done virtually. It’s easier than you could ever imagine and I can work with anyone within the US. Be in touch to find out how.

I’ll post more Curb Appeal suggestions along the way so be sure to sign up for SPRUCE Newsletters so you don’t miss anything. Follow along on IG & Pinterest @SpruceStudioShoppe too!

Happy Sprucing! ~ Scarlett

Good Curb Appeal: Whether Selling or Staying

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