How to Increase Home Value and Curb Appeal

 

When it comes time to put your home on the market, you want to do all you can to maximize its curb appeal. Fortunately, there are many ways to increase home value with various interior and exterior projects. In this article, we’ll share some ofthe best ways to increase curb appeal and garner more value for your home.

How Repainting Your House Increases Home Value & Curb Appeal

A fresh coat of interior and exterior paint is worthwhile if you’re seeking value-adding property improvements that will help you sell your home sooner. Paint can quickly cover up superficial cosmetic flaws like scratches and cracks, enhance your interior atmosphere and boost curb appeal from the outside.

Before you start picking out new colors for your home, here’s everything you need to know about the significance of fresh paint and how to choose tones that can add maximum value.

The Significance of Fresh Paint on Home and Property Value

You could have generous square footage and a luxurious yard, but if the paint is peeling off the walls or the colors are faded and outdated, interested buyers might choose a property that requires less work before it’s move-in ready. Most homebuyers don’t want to spend additional time and money fixing up a house before settling in.

Many expert real estate agents recommend repainting to make homes more appealing. Freshly painted walls give the impression that a home is well-kept, leaving buyers confident that home maintenance has been a priority.

Does Painting a House Add Value?

While interior repainting can set a mood and create a pleasant atmosphere, you can manipulate the perception of a room by strategically repainting the interior walls. For example, you can use light and neutral colors to brighten a small room and make it look more spacious. Or, consider warmer and darker colors to make a large room seem cozier and less overwhelming. The proper techniques and color palette can create a visual illusion that raises or lowers the ceiling.

Manipulating your interior space enhances interior design, making a property more appealing to buyers.

A fresh coat of exterior paint can cover up all the cosmetic flaws that go unnoticed over time. While a faded, cracked and shabby exterior can degrade your home’s perceived value, fresh paint can do the opposite.

Curb appeal gives interested buyers a positive first impression, influencing their purchasing decisions. It’s difficult to measure the exact ROI of painting the exterior of your house because several components affect its resale value and the cost to paint it, including:

• The size of your home: You need enough paint and workers to finish your house effectively. The number of stories in your home will affect both the resale value and the amount you will spend to paint it.
• The colors you choose: Light gray, dark gray, blue or charcoal seem to be better home paint colors. Find a way to include these colors in your house for the highest ROI. Focus on a couple of colors instead of overwhelming the eye. Bold, eccentric colors can repel potential buyers. You should also note that if you’re going to switch from a darker to a lighter color, you may need to use two coats of paint. Our team at Shoreline Painting will provide you with more information about the best colors for your house.
• The location of your home: Property values vary depending on your home’s location. In popular areas, the resale value of your house might increase even without renovations. Your neighborhood also affects what colors you should paint your property. While your home can be unique, it should also blend in with the other dwellings on your block.
• Labor costs: Before booking a painting service, discuss what fees are included in the final price. The price to paint the exterior of your home involves the inspection, preparation, cleaning and painting of your house. By paying labor costs, you’re saving time and energy in exchange for high-quality service. At Shoreline Painting, we will discuss what the price of our painting services covers so that you know what to expect before hiring us.
• Additional painting materials: Aside from the paint itself and a paintbrush, you also want to consider other supplies necessary. If there are holes or cracks in your siding, you may need caulking materials. Painter’s tape and protective screening also ensure a clean look, especially when painting trims. When you choose us as your professional painting company, we will have these supplies on hand.
• The type of paint you use: Repainting your house adds value when you use high-quality paint. Choose a paint brand that lasts longer and is better for the environment. While top-notch brands may cost more money up front, you’ll have a better impact on potential homebuyers and may even get a higher offer for your house.
• The siding of your home: You can paint pretty much any type of siding, but some siding materials take better to paint than others. Even without coloring it, the new siding you choose for your home will affect its resale value. For example, replacing the fiber-cement siding on your home brings an ROI of 77.6%, while replacing vinyl siding has an ROI of 74.7%. If you’re simply painting your vinyl or fiber-cement siding, you could potentially achieve the same look without paying for new siding materials. Consider the type of siding you have to find out the current worth of your home and what it would cost to paint it. Generally, metal is the most affordable siding to paint, while concrete is the most expensive.
• What you paint: While you’ll get the most money out of painting the whole exterior of your property, you can sometimes get away with painting part of it to increase the resale value of your house. Adding a fresh color to the front door can draw attention to the center of the house and enhance your curb appeal. If you have brick accents or stone veneer on the front of your home, you can paint the rest of the house a neutral color to bring out the natural shades of the material.

Exterior vs. Interior — How Painting Increases a Home’s Value

Fresh paint is one of the savviest ways to increase any home’s value. HomeLight says repainting your exterior can net you up to a 152% return on investment. Meanwhile, a refreshed interior paint job can increase your home’s asking price by an estimated 1% to 3%.

Here are some of the ways that a fresh coat of paint enhances your house’s curb appeal.

1. Create a Better First Impression

The color and material of your siding are what potential homebuyers notice first when they pull up to the curb. Most homebuyers are on a tight schedule, so they often have an opinion about your house before they walk through the front door. A crisp coat of paint gives the impression that you put effort into keeping up your home over the years.

Neutral colors can accommodate the style of a wider audience so you can catch the eye of more people than a bright color would. Too many colors can make a house feel choppy, so stick with a few subtle colors for your home’s exterior. If you have a material like brick or stone, you can paint the additional siding or the door of your house a contrasting color, like light gray or dark brown.

2. Clean Up Worn-Out Siding

While high-quality paint can last for decades, over time, paint can chip off the siding panels. You would need to repaint your home if you notice paint missing from the siding. Chipped paint sends the message that you’re not proud of your living space. Potential homebuyers don’t want to do more work before they move in, so they’ll feel better about your property when the paint job is neat and fresh.

A fresh coat of paint gives your house a clean appearance. When the exterior of your house looks new, potential homebuyers believe that the interior of your home is updated and well-maintained. They’ll be more encouraged to walk through your house than if your exterior was worn-out and falling apart.

3. Show Your Appreciation for Your Living Space

The money you invest in your living space is evident in its appearance. Potential homebuyers like to move into a trustworthy property that won’t have problems down the road. When you apply a fresh coat of high-quality paint to your house, you show potential homebuyers that you’ve taken care of your property.

Potential homebuyers want to be able to imagine themselves living in their new home. Since they’re paying hundreds of thousands of dollars for your house, they’ll appreciate moving into a home with fewer cosmetic projects to undertake. If you’ve done an excellent job of taking care of your home over the years, they might feel confident enough in your property to make an offer.

4. Paint With Healthy, Eco-Friendly Materials

If your home was built before 1978 and it needs a paint job, you might have lead in your paint. Old, chipping paint could expose you and your family to this harmful material, which can cause learning difficulties and loss of appetite. If you haven’t applied a fresh coat in a while, you might have old paint chips containing lead in your yard.

Modern homes use eco-friendly paint that’s free of toxic chemicals and fumes. Brands made from plant-based balsam and other green materials are better for the environment as well as your family’s health. When you choose Shoreline Painting to paint the exterior of your home, we will replace the old, harmful substances with high-quality paint.

Choosing Paint Colors to Boost Your Home’s Market Value

The colors you select will influence your home’s aesthetic. You’ll want to avoid outdated interior hues like shades of gray and brilliant whites that may make rooms feel clinical or stiff. From satin and semi-gloss to matte and eggshell sheens, your chosen finish will also influence aesthetics and value.

Professional painters can help you determine which paint is best for your walls and how to pick a palette that appeals to the buyers’ market. The goal is to embrace modern trends without choosing something that will look outdated in a few years.

What Color Adds the Most Value to a Home?

In general, the best interior paint colors for selling your home are also neutrals, especially white and creams. These colors are easy to decorate with, no matter your decor style or personality, making it easier for potential buyers to envision the room as more of a blank canvas.

If you’re trying to figure out the best color to paint walls when selling a house, know that it can depend on the function of the room. Most people prefer neutral shades for spaces like the dining room and living room. In comparison, kids’ bedrooms, bathrooms and the basement may offer a more unique color array.

Additionally, think about any trim, woodwork, doors, fireplaces and built-ins. Choose coordinating shades for these extra features to keep a neutral palette. If you have built-in aspects of a room that aren’t painted, such as window blinds or a brick fireplace, take a cue from the undertones in these items when you choose your wall and trim colors.

To play it safe, most sellers repaint every room in one or two similar neutral colors, offering a clean slate so buyers can envision themselves in the home.

Best Interior Paint Colors

Interior wall color trends use the following color categories.

• Beige: Part of the brown-gray color family, beige is a welcoming color thanks to its yellow tints. This color family works well with most interior styles as a versatile choice.
• Tan: With a paler brown tone, tan is a warmer color family that complements luxury and minimalist interiors.
• Taupe: This neutral color family is a staple of minimalist and industrial-style interiors.
• Gold: Gold color palettes symbolize luxury, though this choice is more daring than other trends on our list.
• Greige: While shades of gray are gradually becoming outdated, greige, a color that combines beige and grey, is increasingly popular.

These warm, neutral colors give home buyers a fresh canvas to work with. They are also easier to match to almost anyone’s interior design preferences, so homebuyers can decorate the space with their existing furniture and knickknacks when they move in.

Here’s our room-by-room guide for the best interior paint colors:

• Common areas: Living rooms, hallways and other common areas do best with whites and very light colors, though soft shades of green and gray are also becoming increasingly popular for these rooms.
• Kitchens: Generally, the kitchen should be painted the same color as the common areas to create cohesion. Choosing a neutral shade can help you better feature cabinetry and countertops, both of which you can paint to create accents if you wish.
• Bathrooms: The best bathroom colors for resale are a bit more varied. Bathrooms are their own spaces you can close off from the rest of the home, so you can play around with color in these rooms if you prefer.
• Home offices: White is best for home office areas, allowing for a clean, professional look.
• Bedrooms: Personal style tends to show up more in bedrooms, as many people like to coordinate with their bedding or get a little more creative with decor. Depending on the style of your home, a pop of color might work well in the bedrooms.

Best Exterior Paint Colors

The first thing buyers will see when they approach your home is its exterior paint color. Most buyers are interested in warmth and neutrality in a home’s appearance. Ultimately, you want them to picture themselves living there, not wondering why the seller chose such a unique color.

Take some time to consider the style of your home and its size and location. Some colors work best on certain architectural styles or in various parts of the country. For example, a farmhouse style wouldn’t normally feature loud, eccentric colors, and coastal palettes work best for homes near the ocean.

You’ll also want to consider the trim, shutters and other architectural features of the home. Here, you may be tempted to go with a bold, unique color, but this can clash with the rest of the house and turn buyers away. If you’re a fan of color, the front door is the safest place to add in some personality. Navy blue is a popular choice, followed by meadow green and bright reds and yellows. The front door is a great place to have a little fun with your color choices.

Do some research into similar homes in your neighborhood that have recently sold to see how their external colors look. Additionally, note the undertones of any stone or brickwork and your trees and landscaping. The colors you choose shouldn’t clash with your home’s surrounding elements, so you can maintain cohesion and appeal.

If you’re wondering what exterior house color sells best in general, you have a few options. No matter where you’re located, soft neutrals do best. This category includes popular exterior house colors like creams, beiges, grays and earthy light browns. Additionally, white is one of the best house colors for resale, as it gives a fresh appearance to just about any type of home. If you want to add a little more color, most shades of blue and lighter yellows are preferred.

Just as there are favorite house colors among buyers, there are some that don’t fare as well. While it’s an up-and-coming, trendy color, black looks foreboding and isn’t popular enough to use for most homeowners. Other colors to avoid include anything bold, such as pinks, purples or bright greens, which are some of the colors that are hardest to sell.

Other Methods of Boosting Curb Appeal & Home Value

1. Clean Your Exterior

Before you have a professional paint the exterior of your home, you’ll likely want to arrange for a thorough facade cleaning. Exterior cleaning can wash away the dirt, mildew and other grunge from your home’s exterior. No matter whether your siding is wood, metal, vinyl, brick, stucco or fiber cement, a simple cleanup can make a noticeable difference in your home’s curb appeal.

It is recommended you hire a professional to wash the exterior of your home, especially if your home is multiple stories. At Shoreline Painting, we provide exterior washing and cleaning in the spring and fall as part of our exterior maintenance services. We remove mold, dirt or mildew that may have accumulated and ensure your gutters are free of debris.

Cleaning your exterior can revive your home’s appearance and serves as a helpful precursor to other home projects, like exterior painting.

Here are some ways to clean your house before painting or selling:

• Inspect for damage: Before you clean the exterior of your home, check for visible damage, like cracks or holes in the siding panels. Any gaps in your siding could let water into your home and damage your property, so these damaged pieces need to be replaced. You should also check your gutters for clogs that could damage your roof and siding. As professionals in the painting industry, we have the necessary tools to safely and accurately pinpoint areas of damage on your home’s exterior.
• Wash your siding: Be careful if you use a pressure washer to clean the side of your home. The water pressure might damage vinyl siding. Instead, wash the exterior of your house with a brush and mild soap and water. You should also pay special attention to stains that have developed on your siding. Our experts at Shoreline Painting know which siding materials can be power washed, and we will carefully clean your home.
• Clean out the gutters: Debris or water from the gutters can damage your siding, but you can take a brush and clear the leaves and gunk out of your gutters to effectively address this. Our professional painters can inspect and clean your gutters.
• Make cosmetic changes: While you’re cleaning your house, you should seal all the openings for energy efficiency and proper ventilation. After we clean the house, we will seal the gaps in your siding and trim. We will also weatherstrip any worn-out windows and apply a fresh coat of paint to those accent pieces.

2. Repair Your Roof

One aspect of your home that potential buyers immediately notice is your roof’s condition. If your shingles are curled, faded or missing, they are not contributing their full potential value to your home. If nearby homes feature new or well-maintained roofs, an outdated roof may look shabby in comparison.

Even if your roofing materials are still in good condition, they may have accumulated dirt, lichens, algae and moss, which can make a roof look like it is in a state of disrepair. By having your roof professionally cleaned or repaired, you can make it look new again.

3. Make Your Yard Neater

If you keep your lawn well-manicured — including pruning your shrubs and keeping your mulch fresh — you’re sure to boost your home’s curb appeal. For ideas on how to spruce up your yard, consider the following tips:

• Remove overgrown bushes and replace them with colorful annuals and leafy plants.
• Put reddish-brown bark mulch around your trees and bushes, which will give your yard a rich feel.
• Pull out weeds and invasive vines.
• Plant geraniums or other flowers in pots that you display.
• Make the edge of your garden beds crisp.
• Water and feed your grass with lawn food to green it up.
• Cover bare spots in your grass with sod and seeds.
• Remove crabgrass.
• Mow your lawn regularly.

If you’re planning to sell your property in the near future, the effort you put into your lawn now can pay off when it comes to the selling price of your home.

4. Install a Fence

Fences visually enhance your property, and appraisers will value them, given that they’re in good condition. If you have a fence already, ensure it’s in top condition and clean. If any gates are broken, replace them, and make sure to tighten any loose latches.

In addition to boosting your property’s curb appeal, benefits of installing a fence on your property include:

• Security: A strong fence can help prevent or deter intruders from gaining access to your property, thereby helping to protect your valuables and loved ones. Even if you have a security system installed, it’s still a good idea to install a fence for the extra layer of defense.
• Boundaries: If you have children and pets running around on your property, a fence can provide extra safety. As your kids and pets will not be able to go past the boundaries the fence sets, you won’t have to worry about them wandering off. Similarly, it prevents stray animals in the neighborhood from wandering onto your property.
• Noise reduction: A fence can be a great buffer against noise. If the area around your house is particularly noisy, building a fence can help shut this noise out.
• Privacy: If you would like to comfortably relax in your home, take a soothing bath or lounge outside undisturbed, you’ll want to ensure you’re in a private environment. A fence can facilitate this privacy. A fence also provides a feeling of seclusion, which is often greatly appreciated in times when you have to stay home.

5. Stay on Top of Maintenance

Unattractive sights from the curb include things like missing bricks, hanging gutters and peeling paint. Neglecting maintenance can damage your home and also decrease the value of your home significantly.

To boost your home’s curb appeal, we recommend the following maintenance chores:

• Refasten any gutters that are sagging.
• Repoint any bricks that have lost their mortar.
• Replace any cracked windows.
• Straighten your shutters.
• Reseal cracked asphalt.

6. Upgrade Your Mailbox

Another way to make your home stand out is with an upscale mailbox. You may also want to consider adding features like address plaques and architectural house numbers. You can opt for a high-end die-cast aluminum mailbox or an attractive hand-painted option based on what matches your home’s style and facade. If you’re not planning to upgrade your mailbox, consider repainting your existing one and giving it new house numbers.

For an added touch of curb appeal, consider planting flowers and greenery around the base of your mailbox. This is a simple yet effective way to add eye-catching detail to what may be a somewhat uninteresting part of the facade.

7. Keep Sidewalks, Walkways and Hardscape Areas Clean

While most homeowners think about their home’s landscaping, or “softscape,” they may spend less time maintaining the hardscape areas, which include walkways and the driveway. A good pressure washer cleaning can remove all the grime and dirt from these areas, making them look fresh and new again. We at Shoreline Painting are happy to complete this task for you as part of our exterior maintenance services.

Another way to tend to these areas is to ensure any stepping stones, bricks or paver stones are securely in their place, so pedestrians have a safe footing when going to and from the house.

8. Refinish Your Cabinets

Kitchen cabinets have the ability to completely transform your kitchen’s look and feel. Updating your cabinets doesn’t always require a complete hardware overhaul. If the cabinets in your kitchen are in good shape, then you can refinish them to give your kitchen a new appearance.

By refinishing your cabinets, you can improve your kitchen’s overall feel, make it appear bigger and boost your home’s overall value. All kitchens require updates every once in a while. Some of the top benefits of refinishing your cabinets include:

• It’s economical: Replacing all the cabinets in your kitchen can be costly and take a month to complete. Refinishing your cabinets, on the other hand, can cost less than half as much as replacing them. Refinishing is a great idea if, for example, your cabinets are in a good condition structurally but the doors need to be improved. With the right color and our attention to detail, your painted cabinets can revitalize the look of your kitchen at a fraction of the cost of replacements.
• It’s easy and convenient: Replacing your cabinets completely can be extremely time-consuming, which means a long downtime. Just imagine how inconvenient it would be to go without using your kitchen for an entire month. By having us refinish your cabinets instead, you can avoid this. Refinishing options like repainting are much easier to implement. Our refinishing services can be completed in a matter of days, and the cabinet doors are then reinstalled. What’s more — you’ll be able to use your kitchen throughout this time.
• Many options are available: When it comes to colors and finishes, you’ll have no shortage of options when we’re refinishing your cabinets. We can repaint your cabinets using a color that blends with the existing color scheme in your kitchen and your overall home decor, or you can opt for specific finishes such as glossing, glazing, antiquing and stressing. You don’t need to stick with the colors and designs that your manufacturer provided — instead, take this opportunity to add your own personal finish and style. If you want to make everything unique, you can add new hardware and trim as well.
• You can be eco-friendly: Many homeowners today are trying to lower their carbon footprint by reducing, reusing and recycling. Unless you’re altering your kitchen’s entire layout or your cabinets are in bad condition, it’s best to keep your existing cabinets, as it avoids contributing to the large amount of accumulating hazardous waste. The majority of kitchen cabinets contain formaldehyde, a material that is hazardous if it ends up in a landfill. If your existing cabinets have reached the end of their useful life, consider giving them to a company that does recycling.

9. Epoxy Your Garage Floor

Is your garage floor dirty, stained and generally unsightly? If so, you can revamp it with a durable coating of epoxy. Our professional garage floor epoxy coating can transform the look of your garage and provide an extremely durable, long-lasting surface. Though you’ll certainly enjoy these benefits, potential buyers may also find this coating valuable, thereby improving your home value.

The many advantages of epoxy floors include:

• Extreme durability: Garage floors coated with epoxy are notably durable and resilient, enabling them to stand up to high traffic and heavy machinery and equipment. The coating is also designed to withstand impacts and surface abrasions and is tough against chemicals. You’ll never need to worry about damaging your floor if you drop something heavy.
• Resistance to stains and moisture: Epoxy coatings are naturally resistant to moisture and stains, making them a wise choice for floors that regularly experience spills and leaks. Epoxy is also designed to be highly resistant to water and contaminants like deicing salts and petrochemicals. No matter what falls on the epoxy floor, you can easily wipe it up with some water and soap.
• Ability to repair: If your floor is cracked, stained or otherwise damaged, you can use epoxy to repair it. Epoxy coatings are self-leveling, delivering a polished, even finish that covers up any damage or marks on the floor.
• Unlimited design options: An epoxy coating works for both new and existing garage floors. The design options are virtually unlimited, allowing you to personalize your floor with any colors or patterns you like. If you’re a business, coatings even allow you to add a professional-looking logo.

Shoreline Painting Is Here for All Your Interior and Exterior Painting Needs

When it comes to painting intricate surfaces such as cabinets, you’ll want to hire our professionals to deliver the best results. For over three decades, we at Shoreline Painting have been providing superior exterior and interior painting services to homeowners of Fairfield County, Connecticut and Westchester County, New York.

We value expertise and integrity above all else, so you can rest assured that your job will be completed to the highest standards. Our professionals specialize in refinishing kitchen cabinets and painting interiors and exteriors to give a beautiful new look to your space.

If you’re looking for top-notch, professional results on your painting project, reach out to us online or by calling 203-302-1086.