The most inexpensive way to refresh your house is to plant annuals out front. All you need is a small tiller, some top soil, and flowers. Use the tiller to turn the top soil into your existing soil. Most top soil mixes usually come pre-treated with fertilizer so all you have to do is water. Put the flowers into the ground, and you’re ready to go! Changing the colors each year can make it even more noticeable, especially if you match the colors of the flowers to different parts of your house. Plant purple pansies to bring out your shutters or white to accent your front porch.

Repaint a Room $100

Picking an up-to-date color scheme can breathe new life into an old room. Changing the colors in a room can give it a whole new feel and reflect your personality. Choose vibrant, fun, woodsy, open, happy... whatever best fits your style. Help get that pesky wallpaper off with a wall paper steamer.

Pressure Wash your House and Driveway $100/$300

Every year dirt and grime build up on your house and concrete areas. You can have a professional wash everything for you for about $300, or do it yourself and pay only $100 for a pressure washer and driveway attachment. You will notice the biggest change in your driveway, which will really draw eyes when it is sparkling white. Be careful not to create stripes, which can detract from the look. Using a driveway attachment will prevent this and can save a lot of time. One other common mistake is using bleach on your house around plant life. Make sure the cleaning solution you choose is biodegradable so that it does not disturb your landscape!

Repaint/ Re-stain Porches and Decks $200

Grab a pressure washer and clean the mildew and grime off your old porches and decks. Give it a few days to fully dry, then come back with a fresh coat of paint, or try a coat of transparent or semi-transparent stain for natural wood decks. A stain can bring a lot of color back into your wood and give it a new look. Use a paint sprayer on large decks and porches to speed up the process. Just make sure you cover what you don’t want painted!

Remove Trees and
Underbrush $400-500

It doesn’t matter how green your grass is if it’s surrounded by weeds! Removing small trees and underbrush can give your house a nice finished look. To clear heavily weeded areas and small trees easily, pick up a small landscape loader, which won’t damage grass. After you have removed the debris, spray season-long weed killer to prevent recurrence. Then go back and cover the area with a few bales of fresh pine straw and you can have the intricately manicured landscape your grass deserves.