5 Fast Steps to up Your Curb Appeal When You Are on a Budget

Sharing before and after photos including all the details you need to DIY your way from a dated, blah exterior to perfectly contrasted curb appeal. I promise, I am no one special. Just your average gal with a full time 40+ hour/week job doing home improvements as a creative outlet. Read on to learn how to up your curb appeal even when you are on a budget.

This post contains affiliate links for your convenience which may reward me in the event of a sale. Note that I only recommend tools and products I have personally used and loved.

Curb Appeal Table of Contents

– Project 1: Wood Look Front Door

– Project 2: Wood Look Posts and Bench

– Project 3: Paint Vinyl Shutters

– Project 4: Garage Door Details

– Project 5: Modern House Number Sign Build

Project 1: Front Door

Welcome to one of the very first DIY projects I attempted on our Riverdale Ranch. My family looked at me like I was crazy when I proclaimed that I wanted to turn our red painted door into wood using paint and gel stain… Despite sounding crazy, this project is amazing and the huge results gave me the DIY bug. I was hooked, no nook or cranny was safe from my DIY eye after that. Read my step by step tutorial here to learn how I tuned our front door into a wooden wonder.

Project 2: Wood look beams and bench

The front door paint and gel stain technique worked so well, I decided to apply it to our blue painted posts on the front porch to continue to up our curb appeal on a budget.. I used the same step by step technique to transform our three front posts and a bench I bought second hand from a neighbor on the NextDoor app that started as raw wood. See how repeating the faux wood technique added warmth and pulled together elements to up our curb appeal very affordable.

Project 3: Shutters

Our red shutters no longer had a partner on the front of the house since I did away with the red painted door. I thought about purchasing new wooden shutters, but that is expensive. I took a chance on spray paint, and it paid off. Read the tutorial here to learn how I painted our red, vinyl shutters black for under $20. A year later, and they have held up great. No complaints here! This is a great project to up your curb appeal even when you’re on a budget.

Project 4: Garage Door

Now that the shutters were black, I wanted another black accent on the exterior. I thought about upgrading to a brand new garage door, but hello expensive option (notice a trend here?). I decided on this inexpensive hardware from Amazon that magnetically attach to your garage door. Again, almost a year later they have held up great and add so much charm for only $20.

Project 5: House Numbers

There was nothing wrong with our old house numbers, but remember I told you I caught the DIY bug? I found a few tutorials to build your own modern house numbers and thought I would give it a try since I had leftover supplies from the front door project and spray painting my shutters. Follow along here for my step by step tutorial.

What do you think of our curb appeal now? One year and five projects later, without the help of any professionals we have very inexpensively improved the look of our front exterior. Professional landscaping would be nice, and updating our mailbox. That DIY will be coming soon, stay tuned on Instagram! Any other ideas for how to continue to up our curb appeal on a budget? Let me know!