Don’t Leave Money on the Table: Boost Your Curb Appeal for Under $500 (Our Exact Recs for This Lakewood Home)

By Dana Gutwein, team designer + project manager

Curb appeal matters. In the minute or two that it takes for us to unlock the door, home buyers are looking around, taking the home in. They consciously or unconsciously notice the paint, the porch light, the lawn, the windows. None of it lands as neutral. It’s either working for the home or quietly working against it.

That moment is part of why curb appeal matters so much, and it’s the part most sellers don’t think about. Here’s why you should: investing even as little as $300–$500 can earn you up to 7% more and a faster offer, according to a widely cited 2020 study. A 2020 Journal of Real Estate Research study found that landscape and exterior improvements contribute 5.5–12.7% to home value. HomeLight’s annual agent survey puts the average closer to 7% — and 76% of top agents call curb appeal “essential” before listing.

• The front of your home is usually the “hero” photo or first photo online. Buyers scroll past dozens of listings in a sitting on their phones, and the exterior photo is what decides whether they pause on yours or keep going.
• The second is on the porch — their first real impression of the condition of your home and the first time they’re building a positive (or negative) emotional reaction.

Both happen before a buyer ever steps inside — and both shape how they feel about everything that comes next.

So how do you boost your curb appeal? Here’s what we’re recommending for the listing we’re prepping right now

This is the curb appeal package we put together for a Lakewood home heading to market this season. This home is well-maintained, features a gorgeous mature tree, beautiful flower beds. It’s early in the season, so the grass isn’t fully green yet, but, overall, this home already has charm.

Still, the sellers want to really maximize their impact, so here’s what we recommended for this home — all of it can be accomplished for around $500, and, depending on how handy you are, could be completed yourself.

• Front door — repaint. I love a black or a charcoal door. For this listing, I’m suggesting Sherwin-Williams Peppercorn (SW 7674) — the slight green undertone ties into the brick beautifully.
• Porch light — swap the builder-grade for a lantern. This porch light works, but it’s not doing anything for us. Under $100 at any hardware store — something like the Project Source black outdoor wall lantern at Lowe’s does the trick. I’ll probably grab one from Facebook Marketplace. Adds charm and character.
• House numbers — modern black floating numbers. I like to keep it simple, classic, nothing too trendy. Two I recommend: the Origin 21 Axel Park numbers at Lowe’s are a great cheap option (around $12 each); the Stand-Off Modern numbers at West Elm are a step up at $30–$60.
• Landscaping basics. Fresh mulch in the beds, fertilize the lawn, pull weeds, edge the borders.
• Pressure wash + window cleaning. Driveway, siding, walkways, and every street-facing window. This also really helps ensure the photos look fantastic.
• Fresh welcome mat. Again, I like to keep it simple and not too cheesy. Doesn’t need to be anything fancy here. A couple I like: a classic black-border Welcome mat from Lowe’s or a friendlier So Happy You’re Here mat from Target.

Total: roughly $300–$500.

This is a curb appeal recipe that works for your home

This same package works almost anywhere — a fresh coat of paint on the front door in a color that pops, a clean-up of the landscaping, a quick swap of the house numbers and light fixture for instant charm, and a quick exterior clean to make sure the home feels well-maintained.

A note before you list

If you’re thinking about selling and weighing where to spend your prep budget, we can help — from understanding the ROI of potential upgrades to getting quotes and making sure it’s all done on time. Reach out to LaDawn and we can walk through your home with you today.

Call or text LaDawn at 720-915-2619.

About Us

LaDawn Sperling, REALTOR® with Coldwell Banker Realty, provides full-service home staging and listing prep for her real estate clients across the west Denver metro area — including Lakewood, Wheat Ridge, Arvada, Littleton, Golden, Evergreen, Morrison, Englewood, Westminster, and Highlands Ranch. Home staging, design, and project management is led by Dana Gutwein, our team designer. Contact LaDawn with questions about how we can help prepare your home for success.