Add Some Curb Appeal ~ My Exterior Front Renovation Project Finally Complete

I wanted to finally write a blog post on my front exterior renovation project for you all. This has been a long process and I am happy it is almost finished. Well finished enough that I can share what we did with you, we still have a small wall on the side yard to stone but the front is DONE.
1970's Makeover In Need of Some Serious Curb Appeal!
Below is my house just after we moved in a few years ago, a 1979 2 storey house that is all original!! Right out of the 70's! Just like I like them, original and old, with so much potential.
You can see the beautiful white siding and 70's red brick we had, I am so glad it is gone now. In the photo below part of the yard is complete but it is hard to see the beautiful yard in this photo because of all the snow, and that is after 4 feet already melted! I will show you the yard afters photos later in this post.
The thing that made me fall in love with this house was that it was in a mature neighbourhood, with already established trees. I also find that in older homes like this one, the houses are wider and there is a lot more room between the houses, not like some of the houses in newer areas. This house is also located in a bay which is great for no traffic and we are blessed with having 2 yards. One on the left side which we use for the dogs, bikes and garden tools and the yard on the right side of the house is my yard which backs onto a golf course. I will show you that yard in a later post, I am still working on a pond, stream and a garden but it is a work in progress.


Before this house we had a newer home, maybe only 5 years old when we bought it, NO yard, NO trees, NO character and NO curb appeal but it was all we could find at the time. We would sit on the deck and we could see directly into all our neighbours’ yards, NOT fun or relaxing. So when this house came back on the market we jumped on it.
You can tell this house is right out of the 70's, brown eavestroughing and before we started the windows were brown too. In the photo below we already upgraded the windows to a black window frame with bronze glass. It is nice to have a husband that has a window company, with 30 windows alone not including doors and basement windows we were able to save a lot of money!
Most of the houses in my neighbourhood are like mine was; they have the funny shape to the garage door opening. Not sure how this could have ever been a style that people liked but it was the 70's, all we knew was that it had to go.
Below is a good picture of the wonderful red brick that was on the house. When I say "wonderful" I mean UGLY! I am sure it was nice in its time as the house was really well built but now it just looked outdated. The old brick did not go to waste though, I posted on kijiji and a lady came and picked it all up for her yard. Win for both of us, I did not have to go to the dump. I mean my husband does not have to go to the dump :). This saved him a trip to the dump and the used building material got a second life.
I do not miss my old porch one bit. This area was so overgrown and the whole garden really had to go!
Add Real Stone To Add Curb Appeal


For the front porch we removed all the bush and overgrown garden to extend the deck out 3 extra feet. This really made a difference sitting out front, from having only room for a few chairs side by side to a full sitting area. The whole house including the front porch was covered with real stone that we purchased at Blanchette Slate. We decided on this black color with a few brown accents stones. It was a custom order that took 4 months to get but well worth the wait.
Here is the after for the front porch. What do you think?
Completed After
I had a bubbler rock installed with a nice curved shape that attracts all sizes of birds during the summer months. We used a mixture of brown natural colored rocks 1/2" & 1"-2", 2"-3" grey stones with a few white thrown in and black mulch to create this rock garden. We placed a few larger rocks around the yard and planted shade loving perennials to finish off the yard.
I should have taken pictures during the install of this rock, but I never thought about that at the time. I am sure if you search “bubbler rock install instructions” you can find instructions on how to install one. We even were able to tie the water supply to the pond with the underground sprinkler system. Now when the water gets low the water turns on and fills to the required level.
This is now going on the 3rd summer renovating the exterior of my house, and it feels like it has been going on forever!! Well it kind of has. We have short summers here in Alberta and my husband works in window renovations so summer time is one of his busiest times of the year. So our outdoor projects are not the first thing on his to do list.
CreativeHatt.com
Want more details about this and other DIY projects? Check out my blog post!
Go
Frequently asked questions
Have a question about this project?
  1 question
  • Mssmatch Mssmatch on Nov 30, 2015
    From the street what does the front look like now?
Comments
Join the conversation
2 of 74 comments
  • Elizabeth Sagarminaga Elizabeth Sagarminaga on Nov 12, 2015
    Very nice transformation. You have not only put in your ideas to the project but also implemented them accurately. Great job. You can add a water feature or some flowering plants to the outdoor space to bring in more liveliness to it.
  • Snapoutofit Snapoutofit on Nov 29, 2015
    Beautiful home. Great job. If you can afford it, I would have the large fur trees removed. (don't hate me) They are blocking your lovely home and can became a big mess with falling needles (sidewalk and roof). I would find a maple tree or flowering tree that coordinates with your the grey stone...Thinking a Pink Dogwood? Hmmmm - It would soften it up a bit. Lovely though, very lovely
Next