9 Quick & Easy Curb Appeal Ideas for Under $100

First impressions are huge. You can’t have a redo on the first look at your home from a potential buyer. Thank goodness it doesn’t cost a ton of money to put your best foot forward and have your house looking amazing. Let’s look at how little I spent to add a huge amount of curb appeal to our home with a few basic curb appeal ideas.

 

My shopping list:

Mulch	$29.55 (15 bags at $1.97 each)
Seasonal flowers	$20
Blue painter’s tape	$3
Front door exterior paint	$8
Foam paint roller	$5
Sponge brush	$1
Bleach	$3
Scrub brush	$2
New doormat	$10
Spray paint	$5
Stain	$8
Total:	$94.55

I spent less than $100 for all the supplies combined for these curb appeal ideas! Now let me show you what I did with those supplies.

9 Curb Appeal Ideas that Cost Me Less Than $100

1. Improve the Look of Landscaping with Fresh Mulch

Mulch is a must when addressing your home’s curb appeal. It adds so much to your landscaping, and it will help control weeds and keep your flower beds looking fantastic longer. I also like to put mulch around the base of my trees in the yard. Spring is a great time to get a good deal on mulch, too. Look for sales at your local home and garden stores. You can find mulch in so many colors like black, brown, natural or red. I like to get the year-long color mulch. It will keep its color longer, and your mulch will look fantastic for months.

2. Repaint Your Front Door

Painting your front door is another easy way to add curb appeal to your home. Don’t be intimidated! The worst thing that could happen is that you don’t like the color, and you’ll need to repaint. That’s why I always like to keep my door a “safe” color like black, red, white or dark brown. A bright, colorful door can add a much-needed pop of color though. So if you are braver than me, try one out! I bet it would look amazing. Let me share some of my favorite tips for painting your front door.

Tip #1: Choose your paint carefully!

You’ll want to make sure you use a paint suitable for the outdoors, durable and suitable for your door’s surface. Our door is wood, so this paint is perfect. Doors can also be metal or fiberglass.

You’ll also need to think about what sheen you want your paint to be. I generally use a glossy paint on my door. This type of paint is easy to clean with a rag and soap so you can scrub your door if you need to later on.

Tip #2: Use painter’s tape to mask off the door locks and handles.

Tip #3: Pay attention to the weather forecast.

When I decide to paint my door, I pick a day when the weather is going to be nice. Your front door will be wide open for an hour or two as the paint dries. Again, spring is a great time to tackle a door painting project as well. The weather is usually perfect for painting.

Tip #4 Protect your floors with cardboard.

To keep any paint drips off the floor, I slide a broken down cardboard box underneath the door. This method works awesome for protecting your floors!

Tip #5: The brush you use is so important.

I love using these smooth foam brushes to paint doors. They are amazing at getting a nice smooth finish. I love using them on furniture as well!

Tip #6: Smooth out drips before they dry.

After I’ve painted the entire door with the foam roller brush, I use a dry, cheap sponge brush to brush through any grooves or indentations to get any paint drips before it dries. Dried paint drips are the worse! You don’t want those. Let dry, and then do a second coat of paint. I told you it was easy!

3. Plant seasonal flowers in your flower beds, pots and window boxes.

Flowers add instant curb appeal and color to your home. Find out which flowers grow best in your part of the country. Where I live, petunias grow amazingly well. A tiny plant will soon become a huge mound of flowers in a short period of time. I love planting them in flower pots and letting them grow over the side. Be sure to keep them watered, fed and to pluck off any spent blooms. This will keep your flowers blooming for a long time.

4. Update your doormat.

This one was easy! Buy a cute, welcoming doormat for your front door. 🙂

5. Touch up your outdoor lighting.

Instead of replacing outdoor lights that have lost a little paint or have a few discolored spots, simply spray paint them. Your lights will look brand new at a fraction of the cost. Be sure to mask off any glass with painter’s tape before you start spraying! Our outdoor lights were black. With a can of spray paint, they looked as good as new in just a few minutes.

6. Clean windows, eaves, gutters and overhangs.

I’m sorry to have to show you this picture. It’s pretty nasty looking! Eaves and overhangs can get really dirty. This is right above our front door. It’s enough to scare any potential buyer away. Don’t you think? Thankfully, I have a simple solution!

Mix a couple of gallons of water with one cup of bleach. You could also add some dish soap if you would like. You’ll also need a ladder to get the job done. Simply scrub in the bleach solution with a sponge or scrubbing brush. Then rinse your eaves with water.

The difference it makes is amazing! In just a few minutes all the grime and dirt is gone.

7. Be sure to weed your flower beds.

Once you’ve weeded your flower beds, add Weed and Feed to your yard. Mow and weed eat everything. Pick up pet waste. Trim trees and bushes. Make sure you haven’t overlooked anything. Make a schedule of regular mowing. While our house is for sale, we are mowing every 3 to 4 days. Our grass is growing fast with the warmer weather!

8. Sweep your front porch, walkways and decks.

Make sure you get any spider webs out of the corners while you have the broom out, too! Power wash siding and decks.

9. Re-stain any wood furniture, shutters or window boxes.

Do you remember my huge farmhouse bench? It is holding up well after two years on my front porch. I pulled the bench into the yard. I re-stained the top and scrubbed the crates and the underneath parts with soapy water and rinsed it off with water. It still looks brand new! I washed the pillows in the washer on the gentle cycle with just a little bit of color safe bleach and let them air dry. They look brand new, too!