DIY Weekend Curb Appeal Makeover Ideas

This 1948 ranch's classic brick exterior is packed with potential.

Decorative railings featuring intricate fretwork add architectural detail to a boring stoop. We used a mix of pressure-treated 6×6s, 2×4s, 2×2 spindles, and deck boards to construct these custom structures before priming and painting. We bolted them to the concrete and brick at the stoop and created footings in the ground for the bottom posts. Consult your local building codes before you start.

Versatile 4×8-inch Holland brick pavers are an inexpensive solution when you need to cover a lot of ground. (Ours cost less than 50 cents each on sale.) Start by deciding on a pattern. We chose a herringbone pattern with soldier courses on each side.

Lend classic appeal to characterless windows with house shutters. These cedar shutters are an easy-to-customize DIY project you can do with a few basic tools.

We built a window box from 1×12 cedar planks using the Kreg K4 Master System. Hide pocket holes on the inside when possible; fill holes with wood plugs when you can't. Drill holes for drainage. Apply sealer to protect the wood. Hang with 8-inch corner braces.

Obelisks -- built from 2x2s -- add height to a garden. Miter the post ends at 7-degree angles to achieve a trapezoidal shape with a square base. Top the structure with a cap made from scraps. 

Thread wire horizontally through screw eyes on a DIY garden obelisk for climbing vines.

Add pops of color to a twisted twig wreath from a crafts store. Wrap medium-weight yarn tightly around twigs within the wreath, securing the ends with a clear-drying crafts glue.

Disperse yarn colors throughout a store-bought twig wreath to greet guests in style.

Inspired by a vintage kilim rug, we gave a $10 IKEA welcome mat an eye-catching makeover. Create a stencil and fill the designs with varying combos of seven exterior paint colors. We used leftover paint from the shutters and obelisks, plus five Behr sample pots, which can be used outdoors.

Make a modern house plaque: Trim a 1×8 cedar board to the desired width. Using a brad nailer, attach 1×1-inch square dowels around the back perimeter of the board. Seal the front; let dry. Protect the front with painters tape, and paint the edges. Using the provided templates, drill holes for the metal house numbers (we painted ours teal). Apply clear silicone in each hole, and insert the numbers. When dry, mount a ledger board to the house, and install the plaque by driving screws through the top.

An old resin planter gets a major upgrade. Prime using a primer made for plastics, and spray-paint it black. Cut a kitchen sponge into a triangle, dip it into exterior latex paint, blot off the excess on a paper towel, and stamp around the rim.

Outside, it's a run-of-the-mill mailbox. Inside, it's anything but boring. Tape off the exterior with painters tape, and spray-paint the inside in a peppy hue. We designed a stencil using favorite fonts and cut it from vinyl using an electronic die-cutting machine, but you also could trim a phrase by hand. Remove the letters, position the stencil on the lid, and fill in with paint.

Bring the geometric trend home with a little exterior primer and paint. Tape off a fiberclay planter with flat sides from corner to corner on adjacent sides for an asymmetric look. We filled ours with "Little Lucky Peach Glow" lantana.

To corral a hose in style, set a 4x4 pressure-treated wood post a foot into the ground using fast-setting concrete. Top it with a post cap, paint the assembly glossy black, and install a wall-mounted metal hose rack.