The Importance of a Well-Maintained Exterior Home
Maintaining an exterior home helps combat the elements, improve energy efficiency, and boost curb appeal. It also offers aesthetically pleasing outdoor spaces, which boost emotional well-being. Choose the best painters in Scottsdale, Arizona.
Acing aesthetic harmony demonstrates homeowner pride and provides visual equilibrium for exterior materials such as stone, vinyl, fiber cement, brick, or wood. Brush up on your terminology so you can speak confidently to your general contractor.
Paint
Repainting the exterior of your home might seem like a minor improvement, but it can have a significant effect on curb appeal and give your house an individualistic character. The painting also highlights architectural details like trim work and windows.
Finding the ideal paint shade can be challenging, but taking the time to select an appealing hue that complements your brick, landscape, and neighborhood is worth the effort. Our professional home painters are here to assist you in selecting one that is both attractive and suitable for your architectural style, age, and location. They also provide suggestions based on current trends.
A fresh coat of paint protects your home’s surfaces from harsh weather conditions and sunlight, acts as a moisture blocker, and prolongs their lives. Furthermore, modern paints contain lower off-gassing levels compared to older varieties—helping the environment along the way!
When it comes time to sell your home, an attractive exterior can attract potential buyers and increase its overall value. This can save money in the long run while enabling you to upgrade or replace interior features without incurring more expense than needed on new exterior features.
Paint is one of the easiest, cost-effective improvements you can make to your home, adding both curb appeal and value. Contact us now for a complimentary quote on your exterior painting project!
Shutters
Exterior window shutters add a decorative and functional element to your home while offering privacy and protection from the elements. When combined with an attractive door, exterior shutters can transform an ordinary house into something extraordinary. While blinds, drapes, and curtains also work to cover windows effectively during storms, shutters provide extra layers of security that deflect falling tree limbs or debris away.
As with anything, finding the appropriate shutter style depends on your goals for your home. While functional designs allow for simple adjustments of thin slats with your hand, more air circulation while keeping out rain or substantial winds might be preferable. Other considerations may include the type of wood used, size and color preferences, and your home style, which all affect how finished shutters will appear.
Your online search can bring up many styles and sizes of exterior shutters for your home, from louvered to raised panel designs that fit most homes perfectly. There may even be notable additions like gable vents, window headers, and shutter tops to add extra details to its appearance.
Considerations when selecting shutter materials include aesthetic, durability, and maintenance requirements. Pine shutters may be appropriate in regions with mild temperatures with few temperature fluctuations; however, their softwood can expand and contract more than other woods when exposed to moisture, leaving them more vulnerable to water damage. An excellent alternative to pine is Red Grandis hardwood, which features tight graining that naturally resists moisture while remaining dimensionally stable and moistureproof.
Decorative Shingles
Roof shingles play a pivotal role in a home’s appearance. Not only are they visually appealing, but they also protect materials beneath, such as plywood and vapor barriers, from damage.
Decorative shingles add an eye-catching element to any home. However, they are most effective in cottages, coastal-style houses, Nantucket-style cottages, and New England shingle houses. Although shingles come in any color imaginable, most often they’re painted to match clapboard or trim on the house; good carpentry will usually place horizontal trim pieces between decorative shingles and the siding to achieve a balanced appearance and allow a separate paint color for the body of the home.
For an eye-catching rustic aesthetic, heavy split and resawn shake shingles that feature highly textured surfaces are often employed. This style can usually be found on historic remodels that aim to restore their original beauty; lighter split and resawn shakes can also achieve this same effect but with more contemporary appeal.
Shingle-style homes can use exterior doors and shutters to accent the shingles by selecting colors that complement both siding and shingle colors to draw more attention to these features. Terracotta and olive green hues work exceptionally well, while red, navy blue, and forest green complement dark charcoal gray shingles beautifully.
Roof shingles are typically made of high-grade cedar wood. This species of wood naturally resists rot and has an open cell structure that helps insulate your home and prevents cold air from entering during winter and hot air from escaping in summer.
Driveways
Home exterior features such as doors, windows, and landscaping may receive most of the attention when designing home exteriors, but driveways and walkways should not be disregarded either. They set the mood for what lies within and may even increase property values.
The best driveways are neutral in appearance and blend in seamlessly with their natural surroundings. Sage green makes an eye-catching statement against lush, green landscapes; other popular colors include taupe and grey. If you want something darker for your driveway, use shale or slate pavers for texture to give visual interest while simultaneously being less slippery in wet conditions.
While aesthetics play an integral part in how potential buyers view your home, a visually appealing driveway can actually help boost physical health and mental well-being. Living in a beautiful environment has been proven to reduce stress while increasing happiness.
No matter whether you are improving the exterior of your own home or prepping it for sale, an attractive driveway and pathway is an innovative and cost-effective investment. Achieve curb appeal that encourages guests to spend more time exploring outdoor spaces around your driveway/path, which will enable guests to spend time enjoying them, increasing the odds they’ll purchase your house! Furthermore, an organized path makes coming home an enjoyable journey by eliminating obstacles or potential turnoffs that might discourage people from visiting in the first place – this way ensures no guests become deterred by potential turnoffs that would stop people from coming into your home in the first place!
Garages
Garages are essential structures for homeowners, regardless of car ownership status. Used to store vehicles and equipment and as an area to pursue hobbies on weekends and in their free time, garages make an impactful statement about home curb appeal. There are various kinds of garages, ranging from those placed directly in front or behind your house to ones situated further out on your property—the critical factor when choosing this structure should be where its placement will lie on the property.
Front-of-home garages often boast more traditional aesthetics, being visible to passersby. Furthermore, these garages tend to be considered more streamlined than exotically placed ones as they don’t detract from overall home design. Front garages can often be found in modern homes, too, and may provide a good solution if space or budget limitations prevent the construction of an outdoor garage.
However, they can also be detrimental for some as they can quickly overwhelm a living area and reduce curb appeal. If they’re poorly maintained, any rust spot or chip visible throughout a neighborhood could become even more troublesome.
For homeowners with front-facing garages, landscaping around their entrances may help make it less noticeable. Planting flowers around this space can draw focus away from its proximity and create an appealing visual contrast between the living areas and the garage. It’s an easy and cost-effective way to boost curb appeal and may even increase property values when it comes time to sell!