Tips for Making a Stunning Entryway

With every year comes a new opportunity to improve something around the house. One of the most fun and rewarding upgrades is to reinvent your home’s exterior. Since the front is the first thing both occupants and guests alike see, sprucing this area up makes a big difference.

Clean It Up

Before undertaking any other activities, take a good hard look to make sure there aren’t obvious issues. Cleaning and touching up the area can be some of the most effective exterior home projects to upgrade your façade. While sanding down chipped paint and sealing cracks isn’t necessarily the most exciting undertaking, it’ll have more impact when the cooler projects are done. No matter how awesome your other improvements, they’ll look absurd next to weathered paint, cracked siding, and broken concrete. So, don’t forget the essentials such as taking care of chipped paint and cracks. Power wash everything down once, consider a repaint, and make sure the hard fixtures are all straight and damage free.

Rethink the Lighting

Even when the lights aren’t lit, carefully selected light fixtures can subtly add to the house’s theme. With a wide array of modern, antique, and even more eccentric housing styles, lights are much more than just a convenience. There’s no reason to suffer a bare bulb or an outdated or boring light fixture. Additionally, lighting select areas of the front yard or walkways creates a great statement on areas of focus and how guests will be treated. A lighted path is much more welcoming for both the occupants and any visitors.

Upgrade the Entryway

One of the most fun exterior home projects to upgrade your facade is to revisit the entryway. As the gate into a home, a door sets the standard of what to expect. A shabby door makes for low expectations. There’s no reason to suffer through life with a basic slab. These days it isn’t too difficult or expensive to get a very ornate and complimentary entryway. For a handsome look, rustic alder wood doors and other species with a lot of texture can be stunning. You can choose any number of species, stains, finish, hardware options, windows, and sidelights.

Polish the Walkways

Aside from making sure the walkways are lit, touching them up is a great way to leave a lasting impression. Consider adding flora along the path or sprucing up existing beds with fresh mulch. Adding decorations such as miniature fencing on one side can make the edges of a path easier to maintain as well as visually interesting. Lastly, more interesting textures can be a great way to improve a path. Homemade concreate path stones, cut slate, cobblestone, and many more materials are great alternatives to boring concrete.

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