Ideas for Renovating your Home’s Exterior

From decks to greenery, these exterior home renovations ideas will give your house extra charm.

When you think about home renovations, there’s a good chance you’re thinking of sawdust, tearing down walls and ripping up floors. However, some of the best ways to renovate your home are waiting just outside your front door. Whether you’re thinking about building a deck or a patio or even giving your lawn a facelift with some new landscaping, these ideas for renovating your home’s exterior will elevate your house to new levels.

Spruce up your yard

One of the easiest ways to add value and beauty to your home is through a little landscaping. From choosing new plants and flowers to even building a stone walkway, landscaping adds a special touch.

• Add a new walkway: Using stone, brick or gravel, you can easily construct a walkway that adds depth and creativity to your front or back yard. Creating a new path is a relatively inexpensive project, and it’s an easy exterior renovation that can change the vibe and appearance of your lawn.
• Get creative with new plants: Colour goes a long way in helping to renovate your home without a bunch of legwork. When choosing plants and flowers for your garden, lawn and even windowsills, low-maintenance options can give you the best bang for your buck. Look for options like cotoneaster, boxwoods and blue spruce for beautiful plants that will hold up come winter.
• Brighten with a coat of paint: There’s simply no renovation as easy, as eye-catching and as powerful as a fresh coat of paint. Whether you change the colour of cracked shutters, add a fresh new pigment to your front door or touch up peeling paint on house pillars, you’ll be able to completely change the exterior with just a bucket and a brush.

Get crafty

Whether you want to embrace a beautiful view with a deck or add a place for entertaining with a patio and a fire pit, it’s fairly simple to add a whole new dimension to your home with some outdoor accoutrements.

• Build a deck: If you have a stunning view of trees or a lake from your home, building a deck may be just the exterior home renovation you need. You may need to check zoning laws to ensure that you can add a deck, but one can add storage space and depth to your home.
• Consider a patio: Whether you’re into entertaining large crowds or simply wanting a place to lay out in the sun, the addition of a patio can add a lot of value to your property. Choose either stone, brick or concrete for your new addition — you can’t go wrong.
• Put in a fire pit: A fire pit is an instant centrepiece for everything from late-night conversations to s’mores cookouts, and it’s easy to boot. You can buy a fire pit or build one, but either way, the easy exterior renovation helps to turn your outdoors into a little refuge.

Prove your chops (literally)

With the addition of an outdoor kitchen, you can show off your grill master chops and cook for crowds from the comfort of your own backyard while adding to the value of your home.

• Build an outdoor kitchen: Adding a kitchen to the exterior of your home can be a pricy renovation, but can also be a great investment in your home. You’ll need to do some research and be willing to uproot your backyard space since gas lines and kitchen appliances will become your new normal for a few months. However, the added space for you to hone your culinary chops and entertain guests is a great way to invest in your real estate and in yourself.

Whether you’re wanting to add a simple splash of colour or get crafty by building something new, exterior home renovations are an ideal way to add value, coziness and aesthetics to your home. For more involved exterior renovations, the team at Gilbert + Burke is there to help your dreams come true.