What Adds Curb Appeal? 10 Expert Tips for a More Attractive Exterior

You’ve probably heard the adage you only get one chance to make a first impression. It’s true for your home, too. As residential architects, we’ve got all sorts of tricks to boost a home’s curb appeal. Read on for ten of our favorite ideas – you just might find one that’ll make yours the prettiest house on the block!

Add a front porch

Nothing beats a front porch for nostalgia. It’s the best way we know to create a welcome that says, stay a while. Along with adding character, a porch offers a convenient place to enjoy a breezy summer evening or even a gentle rain. Lemonade, anyone?

Support it

Whether classic or modern in design, columns and pillars lend visual strength as they define an entry. Often decorative rather than truly structural – and open to a wide range of design interpretations – they distinguish a home with undeniable elegance.

Upgrade the front door

Make your home stand out from the neighbors with a distinctive door. Solid wood, glass-paneled, or custom-designed doors all make a home look special. And if a new door isn’t in the budget, you can always opt for an unexpected paint color on your existing door. Red, blue, and black are some of our faves.

Embellish the roofline

Adding an addition, or building a new home? I highly encourage you to consider incorporating dormers, gables, or extended eaves. All are amazing ways to charm your home’s exterior.

Light it up

Longtime readers of this blog already know our mad love for lighting of all kinds. That’s true indoors, where the right light fixture can add the perfect touch to make a room sing – and it’s true outdoors, where well-placed landscape lighting can make all the difference. Step lights, up lights, and facade washes will all highlight your home’s structural elements at night and draw attention to focal points in your landscaping.

Accessorize your exterior

Nothing says charm like a flower-filled window box – or a beautiful shutter. Both are available in an almost limitless array of styles, making it easy to choose one ideally suited to your home. Think of them like finishing touches – a window box or a shutter can add depth, highlight symmetry, and give your home a thoughtfully polished appearance.

Mix materials

Who says a house has to be all brick, or all stone, or all anything? At Morgante Wilson, we like to mix things up for the greatest visual appeal. By combining a few different materials, colors, and textures, you can showcase particular architectural elements, such as a bay window, and create tremendous impact. (Pro tip: mixing materials can be a great way to get the most bang from your budget, too.)

Curves ahead

Who says the walk to your front door needs to follow a straight path? Sometimes we prefer to lead guests to the door with a thoughtful bend or a gentle curve. Whether laying your path with pavers, flagstones, stamped concrete, cobblestones, bluestone, or even pea gravel, why not turn the approach to your home into an interesting little journey?

Inside and out

We love to announce a building material outside and then carry it inside the house, too. Repetition of materials creates a soothing sense of continuity that tends to make people feel comfortable, even when they can’t exactly put their finger on the reason why. Consider adding a low stone wall in front of your home and then using the same stone on your great room fireplace, as just one example.

Surprise, surprise

One of our favorite ideas of all time was planting a “living” wall on the exterior of a home we designed in downtown Chicago. Lush with greenery and completely unexpected, it turned out to be the perfect way to introduce a natural element in an urban environment, and really set the home apart from every other building around it.

These are just some ideas for increasing your home’s curb appeal. Follow us on Instagram and Pinterest – and check out our website – for many more!