Freshen Up Your Curb Appeal For Spring

A Spring Wreath that Will Add Life to Your Front Door

They say: “Home is where the heart is,” but your front door communicates the opposite, with its tarnished doorknob and cracked old paint. The walkway’s seen better days, and the shrubs are overgrown. How does your home welcome anyone in this state?

Brighten up the gateway to your home. Add life to your front door with a few simple changes, and an inviting dash of spring on the front door in the form of a wreath.

Fixing Up the Walkway

Worn and torn walkways distract the eye from the home and pose hazards for those trying to make their way to the front door. Landscape remodelers can tackle larger walkway projects that may require handicap access, for example, but many walkways are easily fixed up with a DIY approach.

Doctor a traditional gravel walkway by adding decorative stone chips and edging, with Eden dimension stones as a landing and focal point. Herbs in small planters can also line the edge. Gravel is inexpensive to add or replace, and potted plants are less hassle to maintain.

Cleaning Up Yard and Landscaping

A messy yard is another distraction to viewers from taking in your beautiful home. Rake leaves and pick up stray branches, along with toys and tools. Mow the lawn and trim back the hedges — which may provide cover for robbers if not tended to and cut back.

Once your yard is cleaned up, you may feel inspired to add new landscaping designs to your yard, such as myrtle trees or a small garden labyrinth.

Add a Coat of Paint

A coat of paint gives your front door vibrancy, such as purple, yellow or red. Consider painting your front door a show-stopping color to up your home’s sense of warm invitation.

Ever driven by a red door and wondered what it means? As soon as you spot one, you see more red doors every few houses that you pass by. Red doors have multiple meanings across cultural traditions, and in Feng Shui, red doors mean “welcome” to visitors. In early American periods, a red door signaled a safe stay for travelers to park their buggy, and in Scotland, a red door meant the home dwellers were officially homeowners since they paid the mortgage off! What a way to celebrate a milestone!

Before you paint the front door, look for signs of aging since the door may be better off getting replaced first. Installing a new door saves you more money over time since about 20 percent of home energy is lost to a poorly insulated exterior door. Check your door for poor insulation, dents, rot and insect damage. If the damage is minimal, repaint the door.
Shining the Knob

When did you last clean the doorknob, much less give it a good polish? Greasy and grubby hands stain doorknobs over the years, making the front door look more aged than it really is.

Shine up the doorknob so that it catches the sunlight. For a natural mixture, combine equal parts, flour, salt and vinegar to clean tarnish from brass, and leave it for ten minutes. Alternative cleaners include ammonia or brash polish. Polishing your doorknob an instant hack for making your front door look brand new that takes minutes to complete.

Hang a Wreath

The simplest final touch to add life to your front door is hanging a spring wreath. It’s the perfect symbol of returning life, with crocuses and daffodils now signally the return of the warm season.

You could pick up a plastic wreath in the home decor section of most stores, or commission a wreath from your local florist — making a wreath yourself is best.

Homemade spring wreaths are an unique way to reflect the personality of your home externally, such as tulips wrapped around one side of the wreath and a kind “hello” banner. Buy a small twig branch wreath and use floral tape, wire or hot glue to secure clipped real/plastic flowers to one side of the wreath. Twig branch wreaths make securing flowers between the branches easier. Alternate various flowers for visual balance and increase the amount as you like.

Start with a small simple wreath, and you can make bigger ones over time. It will still have a major impact on your home’s appeal. A small ribbon or piece of yarn tied to the back will secure the wreath on your hanger or a nail.

Flowers represent various elements of love and kindness, such as yellow roses gifted among friends. Hang a wreath to say “welcome” to one and all.

Your front door is the gateway into your home. When visitors encounter your front door, you want them to feel automatically welcomed as they knock to let you know they arrived safely.

Set the tone for family-friendly gatherings and offering kindness to strangers in need with these simple changes to add life to your front door — a happy knock away from “Hello, please come in.”