Are you complacent about curb appeal in the winter? If you’re a savvy homeowner you know better. While it is more of a challenge in the colder months to keep your home’s exterior as fresh as a daisy, it’s really about keeping things tidy and getting creative.
Clean Up Clutter
Got kids and sleds? Make a designated place in your garage or mudroom where they can be stored. Same goes for your snow shovels, brooms, and ice scrapers. (Leaning them up alongside the front door is a curb appeal detractor.) There are many great organizing systems available for all of your prime storage areas, which can help keep even the not so little snow boots free from being trampled underfoot in hallways and walkways.
Winter-Up Your Window Box
It certainly doesn’t need to be summer to have inviting, decorative window boxes. Many plants like evergreens, winterberries, holly, bayberries, boxwood, and pine are winter-worthy and suitable for display. Get creative with other elements: Use moss as a decorative base and pine cones as filler; wrap branch ends in burlap and tie with rustic ribbon. If you don’t have window boxes, consider adding a small or dwarf tree to an ornamental pot, sturdy basket, or a hollowed-out log, and place near your front step or door.
Welcome Winter Birds
Adding a squirrel-proof bird feeder can help add color and life to the season’s dreary days. Place your feeder near trees and bushes, but not so close that squirrels can easily jump to them. Experts recommend you keep them 10 feet from tree trunks and branches. Fill with a good, quality seed to attract a wide variety of birds and consider buying some suet, or cake of hard fat mixed with seeds and grains, to attract colorful birds such as cardinals, chickadees, and nuthatches. Adding a bird house can also be charming and actually does help shelter birds during the winter months.
Light the Way
Add some free-standing lanterns to your front door area. Ambient lighting is a gray day’s best friend. Lanterns come in many styles, from traditional to modern, contemporary looks. Fill with today’s amazing realistic battery-powered candles and lend a pop of panache to your porch.
Keep Walkways Clear
Snow and ice are not kind to your UGGS’ not to mention your limbs should you take a tumble on a slick patch. Be smart and clear snow as soon as possible after it stops, or get out there in the middle of a storm if a lot of heavy snow is expected. Snow coats over and becomes icy quickly. Sometimes ice is unavoidable, but if you have it, resist treating it with rock salt (sodium chloride). It is harsh to walkway surfaces and may damage them over time. It also contaminates soil and local water supplies. It irritates the skin on pet paws and can make them sick should pets lick their paws and ingest it. Ask your veterinarian about safer rock salt alternatives.
