Exterior Curb Appeal {Before & After}

SPRING 2017: FOR UPDATED EXTERIOR INFORMATION AND PHOTOS, LOOK HERE!

As evidenced by this little blog, we’ve spent the last four years working room by room to update and decorate our forty-something year old house.  On the inside.  We tried (kind of) to keep the exterior looking as tidy as possible, but there was just no getting away from the dead grass, peeling paint or rotting side doors.    Well, the curb appeal project is *finally* complete and really, truly, we couldn’t love it more.
beforeafterhouse
The key items on our Project Curb Appeal list included:

1. Painting the facade
housepaintcolors2

2. Updating the front portico and adding two mini porticos over the side doors off of the playroom and garage.  I printed out a bunch of copies of our house with a transparent rectangle over the top to dull out the image.  I then set to work with a sharpie drawing out various versions of the new front portico.  It was a great way to gauge the scale and how it would look overall.  This is the one we went with…

photo 1 (5)

3. Landscaping the yard.  We took out 29 trees between the front and back yards (many were dead or leaning or hazardous or some sort of a weed that grew into a tree) and tore everything out of every bed over the course of the last two years (front yard this year, back yard last year).

With that, I think I’ll just let you sit back and enjoy a series of before and after photos!

FRONT VIEW

March 2013 668 copy

July 2013 174 copy

 

FRONT CLOSE UP

 

March 2013 668 copy

July 2013 191 copy

July 2013 194 copy

SIDE VIEW

March 2013 671

July 2013 180 copy

FRONT PORCH

April 2012 300

July 2013 193 copy

July 2013 198 copy

July 2013 199 copy

July 2013 178 copy

SIDE ENTRY

March 2013 674

July 2013 176 copy

July 2013 161 copy

July 2013 177 copy

GARAGE

February 2011 001 (3)

July 2013 188 copy

July 2013 169 copy

July 2013 150 copy

BACK PORCH / YARD

February 2012 512

July 2013 151 copy

July 2013 182 copy

July 2013 183 copy

July 2013 184 copy

July 2013 186 copy

July 2013 187 copy

More details:
The Garage
Driveway
Porticos
Paint
Landscaping
Southern Porch
Contractor – Shawn Reuter / SLR Construction / 706-254-0231
Exterior Lighting – Concord 1, 2 and 3 light sconces from Ballard Designs
Garage Lighting – All Weather Gooseneck by Barn Light Electric

I love it when my neighbors stop to say how much better it looks and when our friends stop to say that it just looks like us now.  That’s the biggest compliment of all.  Oh, and if I could finally score the coveted “yard of the month” sign for once in my lifetime.
xoxo

Flattered for the mentions at House of RoseElizabeth and Co.Belclaire House and By Stephanie Lynn!!

59 thoughts on “Exterior Curb Appeal {Before & After}

  1. The difference is remarkable! It was a beautiful house before, but now with the updates it shows your sophisticated style & is just lovely. Congratulations on your beautiful home!

  2. Gorgeous! Gorgeous! You already know how much I love your porch. I can't wait for us to work on our curb appeal.

  3. You took an already beautiful home and turned it into an exquisite show-house! Seriously Amanda, it's just stunning and completely captures your style! You must be so proud to pull in your driveway!
    Cheers! – Shelley

  4. Looks so welcoming, my friend! Now, get out in that yard and enjoy it. If you knew how much I missed my Atlanta yard….. I do miss it so much!!!! BEAUTIFUL:)
    Jon Malmin would be proud!!!! LOL

  5. A beautiful transformation! I love the outside as much as the inside. It's amazing what some paint, grass & new shrubs can do. Just curious – what room does the side door enter? Had you ever thought about closing it off? Just found it interesting that there would be another door by the front door entrance.

    1. The developer of our neighborhood built the house for his family in the 60s. The side door went directly to his office that we now use as a playroom. It offers so much light and character and I love the history behind it so I wouldn't close it off. :-)

  6. Its absolutely breath-taking! Beautiful transformation and I know you all are proud of all that hard work! My husband is a landscape architect and he said it was "beautifully done"!! The only comment he made was that you have a very contemporary front door on a very traditional house, was that intentional? Love all the colors…now enjoy it for all of us!

    1. Thank you! I'm surprised he thinks the door is contemporary. We had it made to be a standard 6 panel front door but put glass in the panels rather than making it solid wood.

  7. ohh amanda!!! you are 4 years on the done side of what i am dreaming to do with our new space. may have lots of questions along the way. our style is SOOOO similar its crazy! someone walked in connors room yesterday and said, "wow, you really like beachy stuff dont you?" umm always have and always will. i leave my heart with my toes in the sand. haha! in the words of mary poppins your home is "practically perfect in every way"

  8. Beautiful transformation, you all should be proud of your hard work and it was so much fun to follow right along! It has a nice touch of lowcountry now :-) Can you tell me what you planted on your backyard trellis? I'd like to have a trellis or some sort of ironwork on our new home.

  9. Perfectly lovely Amanda! I never realized what an expanse of yard you have. Enjoy the beautiful home you've worked so hard to create….are there any spaces left you haven't touched..haha:)

    Hugs-
    Amelia

  10. Ok Amanda, I am going to fess up. When you first started talking about painting your house and the colors were posted I was a doubter. I loved the dark gray and black combo BUT I must say seeing the end results, I LOVE it. I especially like the blue for the door…such a calming lovely color. Congrats on a great job inside and out!!

  11. Fab job Amanda as making a house a home. Love love love the house colors, might have to steal them as we're "almost"done with finalizing our house plans.
    Would you be able to telk me the size of your garage? Might be a "Honey" question.
    Thanks again for your blogging,
    Amber

  12. Your home is absolutely stunning and the new color and details make it so perfect, I adore the colors you chose and I love the landscaping…so so pretty…love the balcony above the front door..one question, will you be changing that window that leads to the balcony to french doors so you can go out on the balcony? Either way it looks stunning and the huge space is so great…

  13. WOWZERS!!! I'm so impressed with how you've totally reinvented your exterior from top to bottom! It's absolutely stunning. I can't pick a favorite thing, it's all so well done. I'm definitely a fan of your front door, and you have my vote for yard of the month! :-)

  14. I noticed the back porch door color is different to the other outer door color. Is there much difference in real life? I have been searching for that perfect not too green and not too blue for our front door. We ended up with a Martha Stewart color for the kitchen it is almost the color I envisioned but not exactly.

    1. It is a shade lighter on the porch doors. If I had it to do over I'd go with the darker color there too just because I like consistency. The lighter shade looked a little too washed out on the front door with the full sun hitting it. It seems to have a little more green in it and I like it a little better. Hope that helps!

  15. Wonderful transformation. The house looks so light and grand. I love your choice of colors. You should be very proud of your accomplishment. By the way, I popped over from the No Minimalist Here Open House. Have a great week. :)

  16. WOW! What a stunning transformation! I love it all, especially the pop of aqua with the doors. I popped over from Inspire Me Please–thanks for sharing!

    ~Abby =)

  17. Oh my! What a lovely house. Your hard work has truly paid off wonderfully. I know it was very hard work but what a joy to enjoy it all now that it's done. Thank you for a delightful visit.

  18. Amazing results for all of your hard work!!! Looks FABULOUS! Why in the world I never thought to paint the garage door the same color as the body of the house is beyond me….showing your garage and side door pictures to my husband pronto!

  19. Love, love, love the transformation of the outside of your home. It's absolutely stunning. The little details really add such charm. I'm loving the portico and fence style. I love it all!! Great job!

  20. So your door color is Grenada Villa? It looks so much lighter on the door than on the swatch. I even went to get the paper swatch and it doesn't look the same at all! I love it on the door!

  21. Hi there! Flash forward a year – this makeover has been our inspiration on a much smaller scale. I'd love to send you before and after pics! One quick question: we're keeping our mailbox, porch light, and railing black. What finish did you use on your door knobs? I don't want them to clash with the black of the other accessories.

  22. Just came across your blog…what a beautiful home! We are deciding on a fun accent front door color and we have a storm door with glass panes like you do on the front and then a regular thick door behind it. Did you leave your original door dark behind the new blue door with glass?

  23. Your home is beautiful! I found your pics on pinterest while researching for my own home. I love the shade of blue that you chose for your doors but discovered they were more green on the swatch…. were the photos enhanced in anyway? Thank you for sharing! I don't think I would have thought of this color scheme for my home on my own!

  24. Thank you! They were not enhanced. It definitely looks more green in different lights. My front door is pretty much full sun all day and it leans a lighter blue. I did paint test patches up for all of my colors and lived with them for a few weeks in different lights before deciding.

  25. Could you note a source for your front door? Or was it there when you bought the house? Thanks!

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