Guest Blogger: Illuminating Signage to Add Curb Appeal

Guest Blog #47, Entry #437, March 4, 2011

The outside of your home is beginning to dethaw from the harsh winter and curb appeal is one of the forefront topics in Stagetecture’s – “Home Renewal’ month this March. This is the perfect time to start thinking about how to make your home look better, feel better, and welcome guests to your property.

Improve your home’s curb appeal with lighting and signage

Evening exterior address signage is not only important for guests to find your home, but in the evening time it can be the difference between your guests finding your home or not.

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Today, my Guest Blogger is Dan Springer, from EVERLITE Tile & Illuminated House Numbers of Lake Geneva, WI. Dan is going to outline tips for you to add curb appeal to your home and enhance your exteriors with their illuminated signage.  Their low voltage lighting and solar options are eco-friendly, and that means a win- win for you and the Earth!

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Everyone’s obsessed with adding value to their home.  Of course, this is a natural outgrowth of buying a home, and if you have one, you know exactly what I’m talking about.

Ask any decorator, and they’ll tell you that curb appeal is the first thing people notice about a home.  Or, in the case of all those poor delivery drivers schlepping antique furniture or that expensive new fridge with the brushed metal finish or whatever other item you obsessed over buying for months or even years to make the interior of your home an absolute delight, your home is literally getting passed up and probably cursed at.

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Wouldn’t it be the worst if you built a new staircase, added central heating and cooling, hand built a gorgeous library, added new marble countertops in your kitchen, painted every wall top-to-bottom, and absolutely broke your back adding real value to the interior of your home only to have a buyer pull up to the curb and grimace at the first sight of your shabby entryway?

Ouch.

Well, never fear!  There are several easy things to do for your home’s entryway that are very easy but highly valuable to the look of your home.

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Add Visibility!

Can anyone even see your house or is it just an inexpensive imitation of The Black Hole of Calcutta at night?  Do you notice your pizza orders always seem to be just a bit late rather than right on time?  It might not be the pizza guy’s fault.  A house’s address has got to be the number one curb appeal fail amongst homeowners.  Install a light that accents your door and cozies it up (or just buy a lamp and screw it in, lazy bones), get an exterior door with a large window for a more inviting “look inside” feel, or get more visible house numbers and replace numbers that are becoming an eye sore.   You could also illuminate your existing house numbers or replace them altogether with something totally new and stylish.

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Keep it tidy!

This is of course a basic rule, but the consequences of not sweeping up on a regular basis, cleaning the windows and dusting down things a bit out there can’t be underestimated.  Salt stains, gunky windows you can’t even see inside of, and other such sloppy hallmarks are all-too-common in a surprising number of entryways world-wide.  Get the broom and window cleaner out!

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Paint It, Stain It, Color It

This is one that’s very affordable and gets missed quite often.  It’s great that you have that freshly painted clean look inside, but treat the door to a nice little sprucing as well.  Paint that once-lovely trim while you’re at it!

Get Gardening!

A lot of stoops and entryways are blocked by shrubbery.  Cut it down and open it up.  On the other side of things, many entryways lack any form of life whatsoever and feel like walking into some kind of lifeless death trap.  Plant a shrub or add some potted plants near the door.  You could also plant some ivy at the base of the walls surrounding the door.

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Add Accents

Get a new doorbell and rip out that boring, dirty plastic thing that’s been there since you moved in.  The door bell is probably the first thing any visitor to your home will interact with, so change the button into something that reflects you.  Install something that shows your family’s heritage or artistic flair on the front door.

As any homeowner will tell you, it’s the little things that matter at home.  Getting the details right is important on every level from your kids to your relationships to your home’s value.  Touching up and conducting proper upkeep on the front door is one of those little things that’s obviously (excuse the pun) key, but people tend to overlook it whilst treating the interior like it’s a shrine to Isis.

Upgrade the entryway and who knows?  You might even get a nice wave from the delivery guy every so often.  Hell, he might even be able to find your house!

We invite you to view our product on our web site or at one of the fine distributors that can be located on-line. If you choose to purchase an EVERLITE®, we are certain that you will agree, this is not just a lighted address sign…
it’s an …

Dan Springer is the Office Manager at EVERLITE Tile & Illuminated House Numbers of Lake Geneva, WI. Follow us on Twitter. They can be found on the web at www.everlite.us,

For additional information contact EVERLITE at:

P.O. Box 878,

Lake Geneva, WI 53147

866-895-9172

Fax 262-248-1722

sales@everlite.us

For more Illuminating ideas on Stagetecture, click here.