How to create curb appeal in your new home!

We’ve all been there scrolling through right move the internal shots of the house look good the asking price is an absolute bargain and then the final shot on the estate agents picture reel is the front of the house and your like ugggh! That is why it's so cheap.

It's unloved and unkempt from the damaged driveway to the unkempt garden to rotted facia to the damaged roof! The curb appeal is zero! Now in our modern world what it looks like from the outside shouldn’t matter we all know it's what’s on the inside that counts however you want to pull up on your driveway and think yasss, this home is loved. Should you want to sell your house you definitely need to invest in curb appeal.

What is curb appeal?

Curb appeal is a term used to describe the general attractiveness of a house or other piece of property from the road to a prospective buyer. When looking at our house 3 years ago, it had a dated curb appeal and a kinda stayed vibe, the paintwork had been updated but the years of additional external wiring, damaged single glazed windows, and multiple unused sky dishes and alarms fixed from various points around the house. However, the first thing that caught my eye was the 90s extension to the right side. This had been added somewhat sympathetically and in an attempt to add original character the timber-clad was added to replicate the left side of the house. However, this was at a quarter of the thickness of the original timbers, in a nutshell, it looked low budget and basic!

So I set about researching period properties and created a lookbook, I wanted to emulate the Tudor references but make it feel a little more contemporary. We settled on the image above and went about the interior renovations. 2 years later I revised my initial moods, but they weren’t gelling with the age of the house, it was the exposed brickwork that caught my eye. The brickwork didn’t boast the grey tones of the imagery I had collated, our brickwork was yellow and red in places, resembling a 1930s style.

With this in mind, I sought to find reclaimed brick to create herringbone style panels in-between the timbers as seen in my inspiration, however, the bricks were rare and came with a hefty price tag. That’s when I found reclaimed brick tile, they had a great selection of pre-cut slips that could be assembled in the pattern directly on the fascia of the house, The color match was 80%. Working with our installer we decided that cutting out the existing render within these panels would be the best plan of attack, then tile in the herringbone. Once set we then grouted this with a sand heavy materiel so effectively it created a yellow wash over the tiles. Bingo, it worked a treat. Paired with the heritage colors from Little green paints Pompeian ash and Lute the results are outstanding.

The old wiring was removed along with the alarm boxes and exterior style searchlights! Replaced with feature wall-mounted box lighting that is reminiscent of the period yet in an aged bronze to complement the tomes of the aluminum windows. We feel the house has curb appeal fitting of 2022.

With this experience in mind, my advice to the client would be to consider your surroundings, your house wants to stand out in the street for the right reasons, you don’t want it to look like an architectural box in a row of Victorian houses. Work with the natural surroundings, look to emulate nature's colors, and inject a splash of the interior style of your house to the exterior. Here are a few of my favorite front door styles, they show the owner's personality.

Quick tips :

1. Fix the broken gates & gutters, it is surprising how much of an impact these have.

2. Paint the front door and order up some shiny new brassware

3. Rework the front garden into low maintenance but the high-impact vibe, by looking at evergreen shrubs and perennials.

4. Hide the bins, it’s the last thing visitors want to see is your overflowing recycling. several housings can now be purchased online these can be painted the same color as the fencing to be lost in the eye line.

Good luck and tag us in your before and after pictures were on Instagram @ emma.merry.styling!

As always this can seem a little daunting and If you've read this far you are probably feeling overwhelmed and I don't blame you as a studio we create on average 24 room designs every year and we learn something new every day. This is why we are so proud to launch our new service the pre-build consultancy, we aim to highlight the potential pitfalls when undertaking a house extension /renovation before you start. Within this session, we examine the architect's plans, with a view to futureproofing your home. Focusing on how you will live in the space on a daily basis.

Our key objective is to ensure each room scheme works together with design continuity. Once the session concludes we send you over a full video link to watch back at your leisure as the information comes thick and fast and we don't want you to miss a beat.Head over to our services page and hit the contact us tab to book your session and get your project underway.

That’s all folks! I really hope you found the piece interesting, and as always I’m happy to answer any further questions you may have or head over to email – emma@EmmaMerryStyling.com. All images & mood board copyright are owned by Emma merry styling except where noted. Please make sure you credit and tag if you use them. Thank you. x