The quick access to the sea and relaxation on the sand make beachfront properties a desired commodity. There are numerous benefits to owning a beach house. However, one of the biggest negatives for most people is that it’s not always easy to maintain your beach paradise. Whether your goal with a beachfront house is to sell it, rent it, or enjoy it for yourself, you will be faced with the upkeep of a beachfront property's curb appeal.
Two factors have to be considered if you want the curb appeal of your beachfront property to look good. Firstly, it has to be smartly designed. Your exterior design should be a mix of aesthetic appeal and utility. Remember that one can’t go without the other. If your property’s exterior can be cleaned in 15 minutes but looks bland, you might as well save yourself the 15 minutes and vice versa. Secondly, you have to be frequent. Beachfront properties are more exposed to the elements than continental homes. This means that things like cleaning, inspections, and repairs have to be done on a much more regular basis.
Let’s go through a list of the best strategies and ideas which will help you achieve that perfect beachfront property paradise look.
1. Use a beachy color palette
Your home’s exterior wall color is the first thing a visitor sees. In any other context, colors such as light and vibrant blues, pinks, and yellows would come off as tacky and kitschy. But, in a beachfront setting, the story is completely different. Beach houses are in a league of their own. On its own, their location distinguishes them. So there’s no need to blend in or be modest with your color choices.
Classic nautical colors such as vibrant blues never disappoint. But a beachfront property allows you to be very creative. As long as it’s bright and colorful, the color will instantly increase your home’s curb appeal.
One thing to note, however, is that beachfront property owners commonly make the mistake of mixing up the idea of a light color and a vibrant color. Using colors that are too light (ex., pastels) can cause a maintenance nightmare. Since your home is always exposed to moisture and sand, walls can get dirty fast. And that dirt shows on pastel colors. On the other hand, vibrant colors show less dust buildup. This means that pressure washes will be less frequent.
Pro tip - You can incorporate pastels as smaller accents if you want to include them in your design.
2. Add nautical details
Another thing that can increase the curb appeal of your beachfront property or nautical details. These will help you make your beachfront home look like one of those dream homes from the magazines. Small touches like anchors, 2D sun sculptures, nautical ropes, etc., are all wonderful options to help you connect your home to the sea. This is your time to get truly creative. Just make sure not to clash with any colors or patterns. You can also benefit from this decorative step if you’re looking to sell or rent the place. Small things like these are great for attracting buyers or renters. People appreciate it when sellers show attention to detail. You shouldn’t underestimate the importance of the “beach house feel.”
However, a very important thing to remember is that it’s easy to go overboard with this. All of these things will collect dust and sand, and most of them will need to be cleaned regularly. If you deck out your home with too many tchotchkes will make it harder to maintain the beachfront property's curb appeal. Subsequently, this will also negate any appeal you gained from adding these details.
3. Create a welcoming and easily cleanable porch area
Your front porch area is the perfect example of mixing utility with aesthetic appeal. There are two main components to creating an excellent beachfront property porch, choosing the right materials and choosing the right seal/color.
First, let’s discuss your front door. The front door is the first thing a person sees when entering your home. Since it’s a natural material, the obvious and most common choice for material is wood. However, since beachfront properties are sometimes more easily accessible, they require stronger security. We recommend looking into reinforced doors and more powerful smart locks. A popular choice for front door coloring is to use a different color from the rest of the home’s exterior to make it pop. However, it’s always smarter to choose a darker color since it’s a lot easier to maintain and keep clean.
Secondly, there is the porch itself. Wooden planks are common, although concrete is also a possibility. Concrete is much better for maintenance since it’s a lot more durable and less sensitive to moisture and water. But it usually won’t look as nice. If you choose wood, you’ll have to make sure the stain and sealant are good quality. They’ll protect the wood from warping because of humidity. Both of these are fairly easily cleaned. A good sweep from time to time should be enough. You can also pressure wash them annually.
4. Utility-oriented landscaping that looks good
Great beach house landscaping comes down to two things - choosing local plants that make sense for the area and ease of maintenance. You should be decorating the landscape of your curb with plants, shrubs, and flowers that already naturally exist in the area. Not only will this make your curb seem more coherent with its surroundings, but it’ll also reduce gardening needs. Additionally, you could skip out on using seasonal flowers that have to be replanted often to simplify the maintenance of your beachfront property's curb appeal. Remember that potting your plants makes it easier to replace them later on.
Since garden maintenance will be more frequent, you’ll need all your gardening tools and supplies. If you don’t have a garden shed on your beachfront property but had one in your previous home, experts from Big Man's Moving Company recommend looking into ways to move your old shed to your new home.
5. Use simple and durable outdoor furniture
When picking out your outdoor furniture, you should mainly focus on durability and materials that are easy to clean. While it is important for it to go with the design of the rest of the house’s exterior, it’s much more important that it lasts. Let’s use porch chairs as an example. While you may prefer the look of a chair with leather-covered seating and pillows, it simply isn’t practical. No matter how durable the construction of this chair is, the traction created by sand and frequent use will quickly start to damage the leather.
Additionally, if it starts raining, you’ll have a problem there as well. A good rule of thumb to follow is “the simpler, the better.” Along with that, you should stick to three main materials - wood, plastic, and metal.
Pro tip - This advice should also be applied to your backyard. For example, if you want to create a fun playground for your kids there, you should use natural materials since they require much less upkeep.
6. Always cover your pool
A pool is a great amenity to have at your beachfront property, whether you’re looking to sell it or use it yourself. But it has to be well maintained. Cleaning it regularly will help. But it’s even more important to remember to cover it whenever it isn’t in use for a while and during every storm. Doing this reduces the likelihood of it suffering damage. And it will even reduce the need for frequent cleaning. Having a pool at your beachfront property can be the nail in the coffin for sellers to increase property value. Of course, there are some pros and cons of adding a swimming pool to a home you plan to sell, and you should carefully look at both sides. But, in most cases, the result will be that it’s a good idea.
Maintaining a beachfront property's curb appeal can be easy!
There are many pros and cons that come with buying a beach house. Maintaining the beachfront property's curb appeal is one of the biggest cons for most people. However, with a healthy mix of smart design choices and frequent upkeep, you can easily reduce the problems this con creates to nothing.
