The front of your house is the first thing everyone sees when they come to visit, and it’s the first thing you see when you come home, so it’s only natural that you want it to be as nice as possible! How attractive your home looks from the outside is known as its kerb appeal, and there’s a lot more that goes into it than you might first think.
At SL Wrought Iron, we specialise in manufacturing decorative metal gates and wall top railings, and we’ve been helping our customers improve the front of their homes for years, so we know what a difference the right details can make.
If you’re on a mission to improve your kerb appeal, we’ve put together eight ideas to help you get the front of your home looking its best.
1. Clean your driveway and paths
Your driveway takes up a significant portion of the front of your property, so if it’s looking a little lacklustre, it’s going to draw attention. You’d be surprised at just how much a clean driveway can transform the look of the whole front of your house, particularly if moss, weeds and stains have gradually built up over the years without you really noticing.
Depending on what your driveway is made from, a pressure washer can make light work of built-up dirt and moss – just make sure the pressure isn’t too high or you could damage the surface or pointing. Pull up any weeds growing between paving stones, sweep away leaves and debris and have a look for cracked flags, loose edging or other little areas that could do with some attention. The same goes for any paths leading up to the house. You don’t necessarily need to replace your driveway to make it look better; sometimes a proper clean and a few small repairs are enough to make the whole thing look completely different.
2. Freshen up your front door and the exterior of your house
When we say exterior, we mean the walls, windows, roof, gutters and everything else on show. It might sound like a laborious job when you list it all together, but you don’t have to do everything at once. Think about it in the same way you would giving the inside of your home a spruce up every so often.
Giving your windows a good clean is an ideal place to start – and don’t forget about the windowsills and frames. If your brickwork is looking a little worse for wear, a good clean can make a surprising difference, or if your home is painted, a fresh coat can give the whole exterior a lift.
Then there are the bits that aren’t quite as exciting, like the gutters and fascias. They’re probably not the first things you think of when it comes to kerb appeal, but they’re all part of the bigger picture. A house can have a lovely garden and a spotless driveway, but if the gutters are overflowing with leaves or the fascias have seen better days, your eye is probably going to find them.
And then there’s the front door. A fresh coat of paint can completely change how the front of your house looks, especially if you fancy trying a new colour. You could also add a new doormat, a couple of planters, some outdoor lighting or new door furniture if you want to give the entrance a bit more personality.
3. Tidy up your front garden
You don’t need to have a huge front garden or spend every weekend tending to it for it to add to your home’s kerb appeal. Even a fairly small space can make the front of your house look much more attractive, especially when there’s a bit of greenery and colour to break up all the brick, paving and concrete.
If you do have a lawn, hedges or borders, keeping them looking tidy will naturally help, but you can also have a bit of fun with the space. Pots around the front door, window boxes or a couple of larger planters can add colour without needing a complete garden makeover. If you don’t fancy having to replace everything once summer disappears, mixing in a few evergreens will give you something to look at all year round – particularly during those long, grey British winters.
It’s also worth thinking about the size of the space you have. Filling a small front garden with lots of different pots, ornaments and plants can sometimes make it feel smaller, whereas a few larger plants might suit it much better. There aren’t really any hard and fast rules here; it’s your garden, after all, so go with what works for your home and how much gardening you actually want to do.
4. Hide wheelie bins and other clutter
This one goes without saying. Bins. We all have them, we all use them, but that doesn’t mean they need to be on show 24/7 – especially at the front of the house.
You don’t have to banish them to the back garden either. There are plenty of ways to conceal wheelie bins these days, from purpose-built bin stores to creating a designated spot down the side of the house. If you have enough space, plants or screening can help hide them from view too, without making getting them out on bin day a complete nightmare.
It’s not just the bins, either. Bikes, recycling boxes, children’s toys and all those other things that somehow end up living outside can quickly make the front of a house feel cluttered. Finding somewhere for them to live leaves a bit more room for the parts of your home you actually want people to notice.
5. Make your boundaries part of the design
When you’re thinking about how to improve kerb appeal, your walls, fencing and boundaries might not be the first things that spring to mind, but they frame the whole front of your property. If everything else is looking lovely but the fence is leaning or the wall has seen better days, it can let the side down a little.
If you already have a low brick or stone wall, you could make more of it by adding wall top railings. They add a bit of height and interest to the boundary without completely hiding your home away, and there are plenty of different styles to choose from depending on the look you’re going for.
A traditional property might suit something with a little more decoration, such as scrollwork or finials, whereas cleaner lines can work really well against a more contemporary home. You can also take your cue from details that are already there. If you have existing metalwork, a particular style of gate or period features around the house, choosing railings that complement them can bring everything together nicely.
6. Make more of your entrance with decorative metal gates
We couldn’t write a blog about making the front of your house as beautiful as possible and not include this one! Gates have a practical job to do, of course, but they also take up a fair amount of visual space at the front of a property, so they’re a great opportunity to add a bit more character.
There’s no shortage of choice when it comes to decorative metal gates, and this is where the style of your home really comes into it. If you have an older or more traditional property, you might love the look of scrollwork, decorative finials and curved details. On a newer home, something with straighter lines and less decoration might be more your thing. And if you fall somewhere in the middle, there’s plenty of room to mix the two.
It’s not only about choosing a design you like on its own, though. Think about how it will look with the house behind it, the height of your walls or railings and the width of the entrance. The right gates should feel like part of the property rather than something that has just been added in front of it.
Our gates are handcrafted here at our Lancashire factory, and we have a huge choice of traditional and contemporary styles to choose from. We can also make bespoke alterations, so if you’ve found something you love but want to change some of the details to better suit your home, there’s plenty of scope to make it your own.
7. Match your gates and railings for a coordinated frontage
Once you’ve spent time choosing gates or railings that look just right outside your home, you’re going to want them to stay looking that way. And with the amount of rain we get here in the UK, the finish you choose is definitely something worth thinking about.
One option is to have your metalwork galvanised, which is what we recommend to all of our customers. Hot-dip galvanisation involves coating the steel in zinc, which protects it against rust and corrosion. Our galvanised gates and railings are galvanised to EN ISO 1461 before being powder coated, so you get the colour and finish you want along with that added protection underneath.
We also offer primed gates and railings if you’d prefer to paint and maintain them yourself. Some people enjoy being able to repaint their metalwork and change the finish over the years, whereas others would rather have something that requires less maintenance. It really comes down to what works best for you.
It’s easy to get carried away looking at designs, but thinking about the finish at the same time means you can choose something that suits both the look of your home and how much upkeep you want to do in the years ahead.
8. Look at the front of your home as a whole
Sometimes you can spend so much time looking at individual bits of your home that you stop seeing how everything works together. Walk out towards the road and have a look back at the entire picture. You might spot something you’ve walked past hundreds of times without giving it a second thought.
It could be that your house number is difficult to see, one side of the garden looks a little bare or the outdoor lighting has seen better days. You might realise that the style of your existing gate doesn’t really work with the railings, or that repeating the same metalwork across your driveway gate, pedestrian gate and wall would give the whole frontage a more coordinated look.
None of that means everything has to match perfectly. In fact, trying too hard to match every last detail can have the opposite effect. It’s more about making sure the different parts of the front of your home feel like they belong together.
What devalues a house and damages its kerb appeal?
If you’re thinking about selling your home in the future, kerb appeal can take on a bit more importance. Potential buyers are going to see the outside before anything else, whether that’s when they arrive for a viewing or when they first spot the property online.
There are lots of things that can devalue a house, and many of them have nothing to do with kerb appeal, so we’re not going to pretend a new front door or a tidy garden can suddenly change the value of your property! That said, when it comes to that first impression, visible signs of poor maintenance certainly aren’t going to help. Peeling paint, damaged fencing, broken paving, overgrown gardens and an exterior that generally looks like it needs some attention can all distract from what’s great about the house.
The same can be true of changes that don’t really suit the property. If you have a lovely traditional home with plenty of original character, for example, replacing everything outside with ultra-modern features might not show it at its best. That’s why we’re such big believers in choosing gates and railings to suit the house they’re going in front of rather than assuming one style will work everywhere.
How to improve your kerb appeal without changing everything
If there’s one thing to take away from all of these kerb appeal ideas, it’s that you don’t have to completely transform the front of your house to make a difference. A clean driveway, a fresh front door, a tidier garden or even finally finding somewhere to hide those bins can change how the whole place feels from the road.
Then, if you do fancy making a bigger change, features like gates and railings can help finish everything off. The style you choose, how it works with your property and even the finish of the metalwork all play a part in the end result.
Speaking of gates and railings, if they sound like the missing piece at the front of your home, why not have a look around? We have a huge selection of handcrafted traditional and contemporary designs, including decorative metal gates and wall top railings, all manufactured by our team right here in Lancashire.
If you’d like some advice on finding the right style for your home, get in touch with our team today on 01254 236994 or email info@slwroughtiron.co.uk, and we’d be happy to help!
