Exterior Home Remodel: Tips, Tricks, & Hottest Designs

You’ve heard it said time and time again: curb appeal is king when it comes to first impressions. Rather it is to passersby or potential buyers, the view of your home from the street can be a deal maker or a deal breaker. If you’re looking to sell your house or just trying to keep up with the Joneses, there are a number of simple exterior home remodeling tweaks to fit any budget that you can do to give your home’s exterior a visual boost.

Every successful home remodel begins with planning. If you don’t sit down and map out exactly what you want to do, you have no chance of knowing how much it will cost. So, before you even start to throw around numbers, you should put some real thought into exactly what you want to do.

Start by coming up with a vision of how you want the exterior of your house to look. A good way to do this is to browse through magazines or images online. It is also recommended that you take a walk or drive through your neighborhood to see what other have got going on their exteriors: this can be both inspirational and educational if “fitting in” is a concern of yours. Trust us on this piece of advice: don’t rush this stage of the project. Get it right. The clearer you can make your vision, the easier every step after is.

Once you have a vision, it’s time to talk budget. Setting a budget can be easy or hard: if you have a set amount you can spend, then that is your budget. You’re done. If you don’t have a set amount, then you’ll have to add up the expected costs as you go.

With a vision and budget in hand, it is now time to list out what needs to be done to transform your current exterior to the one you have pictured in your head. If you’re on a tight budget, avoid major projects like changing siding, roof color, or large-scale landscaping projects. Sometimes a little paint and the addition or swapping of accessories is all that is needed. You should concentrate and prioritize lighting and landscaping elements: the difference between professional and amateur remodels is in the details. Even if you fancy yourself a do-it-yourselfer, you might want to get some professional help at this stage. Employing a designer could be the difference between success or failure. A professional designer can help you get from your current exterior to your vision in the shortest, simplest route possible. That’s what they are good at.

Once you have a list of projects, you can decide which ones you think you can do yourself and which to hire out for. In both cases, our advice is simple: don’t rush. Be sure to allot enough time in your plan for any DIY projects, and take the time to find a trustworthy contractor.

So let’s recap: develop a vision of how you want your exterior to look, map the changes necessary to transform what you have to what you want, set a budget, figure out what you are capable of doing yourself and hire people to do the rest. If you follow these simple steps, your remodel is almost guaranteed to be a success.