Metrowest Real Estate: Curb Appeal

We say it is because for many of us you know it…when you see it. It can make or break the way a buyer feels before stepping inside. It can be the bridge between going to work and arriving home at the end of a long day. It can also have an impact on how your guests feel when being invited to your home.

Curb appeal is the combination of exterior architecture, both overall and the small details, in combination with the outdoor environment.

One of our first Contractor of the Year awards was for a Dutch colonial in Wellesley’s country club neighborhood that appeared to sit sideways on the lot- and it didn’t give a visitor a strong sense of where to enter. What’s worse than trying to make a grand entrance and not knowing where to enter! The addition we created provided a street front presence and along with the client’s landscape designer the final touch of a new walkway was added. See below, before and after.

Another instance of reinvigorating a home’s curb appeal came with this Newton contemporary. It began with the Owner’s inspiration photo for a new entry. To make the new entry blend with the existing and make the full statement the client wanted we added height to the covered entry and changed the windows above making them less choppy and a bolder impact. To push the clean lines we erased a jog at the garage door with a horizontal trim board and then softened the approach with a wider more inviting walkway. Small details like the stout metal rod supports and framing out the new doors with horizontal trim, and a whimsical rain chain made form meet function. Consider these before, progression and after photos of the evolution of this Newton remodel.

You can have total control over the way a guest enters your home and every style of architecture can have unique curb appeal; it is only a matter of creating a desirable and clear path of entry in tandem with the overall look of the home.