It’s one satisfying project you can DIY. Your home’s exterior needs TLC after a Wisconsin winter. But maybe this is the spring you give your home a fresh look. We’ve got you covered on this DIY. We’ll help you create the look you’re dreaming about without new siding and windows!

Let’s pick a new color for your shutters and front door. Next, we’ll choose lighting to welcome your friends and family to the front door, and lighting that makes the back door fun to use. Maybe we’ll choose a ceiling fan for the porch... We’ll help you plan it, this DIY to totally doable.

Start by a good cleansing: power wash the siding. (Wood shingles need a soft scrub, never power wash!) Rent a power washer and test its settings so you don’t damage the siding. Removing the grime makes your home look like new and encourages you to keep going. Just like a great photo on the ‘gram, contrast makes your home look more appealing. White house? Stick to your plan: Adding navy to your shutters and front door. Or a surprise shade of green like a mossy warm green instead of the expected cool-based evergreen? As Megan Johnson in Architectural Design explains, your front door is the passageway to the rest of your home. It’s both a focal point and it sets the tone for the exterior.

Let’s get to work. Take the shutters down, power wash them, prime and paint them. On a nice day, prop your front door open, scrub it down, let it dry and then give your front door the same coat of primer and paint. No need to take the door off its hinges, just tape off the hardware and hinges, and cover your floor.

Things look better already, right? Now, the lighting: Illuminate your front door with your new Madison Lighting carriage lights, then swap out that post light on the front walk. Add lighting outside the garage to bring your style to other areas of your home’s exterior and make it safer on the ice come winter. And don’t forget the back door, you use it constantly and should make that doorway feel special, too. If you have a porch, consider swapping that light in the ceiling with a wet or damp rated ceiling fan. You’ll enjoy that space a lot more with fan moving the air.

Don’t forget to let us know how your project goes. Hope you love it.