Curb Appeal Idea Book

At first blush, every house has something to say to passersby. It's warm and inviting. Quaint and colorful. Charming with a touch of elegance.

From the outside, your home has a look and feel that can be as unique as you are. With distinctive flourishes and artful ideas that express your sense of style. A style that can make people slow down to take it all in.

When you flip through the pages of this colorful idea book, you'll discover hundreds of ways to transform the outer look of your home. Here are some of the delightful ways this engaging volume will help you enhance your curb appeal.

• Style on the Outside -- Discover the elements of style that can make your home more inviting, like a broad, open porch just waiting for visitors
• Exterior Appearances -- How to accentuate your home's best features and use architectural elements to transform its look, such as clustering windows together to create a large picturesque span that lets the sun shine in
• The Entry -- Strategies for making your entryway more welcoming, from rustic to contemporary front doors, and ways to make your porch more appealing with charming lanterns and unique accents
• The Approach -- Creative ways to make the path to your front door a journey of small pleasures with artful walkways, colorful gardens and dramatic lighting
• Supporting Players -- How the right design ideas like a white picket fence, dry-stacked stone wall, or brick driveway can enhance the look of your home
With its own breezy charm and over 300 lovely photographs, here's a book that will spark your imagination -- and inspire you to make your home more beautiful from the outside in.

Chapter 1: Style on the Outside
A Face to the World

Chapter 2: Exterior Appearances
Playing Up Your Home's Best Features
Architectural Elements
Transforming an Exterior

Chapter 3: The Entry
The Front Door
The Right Accents
Landings and Porches

Chapter 4: The Approach
Shaping the Landscape
Walks and Paths
Lighting the Landscape

Chapter 5: Supporting Players
Fences, Walls, and Gates
Driveways
Garages

When I agreed to write the Curb Appeal Idea Book, I lived in a house that practically defined curb appeal: It was an adorable brick cottage with a riot of gingerbread trim, a welcoming side porch, and beautiful sidelights around the front door. For personal reasons, I decided to move. And although I've lived in more houses than I can count, my current dwelling is a one-bedroom apartment. It has an incredible view, but the building, a mid-20th-century monolithic slab, definitely comes up short in the curb appeal department.

Though I can't change the exterior of my apartment building, obviously, you can change the looks of your home - whether you own or rent - and the options are all but limitless. Before making plans to change the outside appearance of your home, however, it's a good idea to take some time to decide what you want it to convey. Do you want a new paint scheme that honors its architectural roots? Will updating and enlarging the front stoop provide a more welcoming entry to guests? Are the foundation shrubs planted 40 years ago overgrown and just begging to be replaced?

Even if you are on a tight budget there are dozens if not hundreds of ways to give the exterior of your home a facelift, whether it's painting just the trim, updating the door hardware, adding container plantings of flowers around the front door, or simply weeding the yard. From curbside to the garage, the front entry, and every place in between, adding curb appeal will create a great first - and lasting - impression of your home. Use the ideas in this book to help you put on the face you want people to see.