A Curb Appeal Redo

It amazes me how much you can change the look of a house.  Here was the house we started with on Cambridge.

It's a cute bungalow except for the dingy screened porch and boring paint scheme.  But we had big plans for this one.

First - the destruction of the screens.  It made the brick pillars show up and instantly lightened the entire house.  This may have been the most transforming two hours of the entire renovation.

Next came paint.   I love that paint.  The yellow came across so generic - it didn't help that three other houses on the block were painted the exact same color.  The white trim was in good shape and matched the (unpaintable) vinyl windows pretty perfectly, so all that needed painting was the brick and front door.

Finally I limbed up the tree in the front yard.  Actually took out a huge, but skinny limb.  It was also a really easy afternoon project.  This made a much bigger impact than I anticipated - totally should have done it sooner.

Here's the porch "after."  The door is painted a Martha Stewart color called "Falling Leaves."

Can you believe the change?  The amazing thing is the only part that cost anything was the exterior paint, and, because we didn't paint the trim, that wasn't too bad.

My biggest take away was limbing the tree.  If a house looks dark from the front, or if a tree is looking sickly or a bit wily, try giving it a haircut.  It's amazing what it will do for the curb appeal.