4 Charming Curb Appeal Ideas to Steal from the South (8-Foot Porches, Anyone?)
If your neighborhood has an HOA or a design review board, you might be familiar with some landscaping and architecture rules and regulations. The rules might include things like no chain-link fences, a set mailbox for the whole neighborhood, or side-entry driveways, for example.
I recently visited the Palmetto Bluff neighborhood in Bluffton, South Carolina, and the Design Review Board there was truly a level above what I’d ever seen before. To give you some context: The lots are priced in the half-millions and the homes are priced in the multi-millions. Justin and Hailey Bieber got married there. It is fancy and beautiful, and the Design Review Board reflects that.
The more I learned about the design rules, though — the emphasis on using neutral colors, plus the prioritization of authenticity (hello, functional gas lanterns) — the more I realized that a lot of them were worth copying.
The design rules are meant to stay true to the Lowcountry region and highlight the landscape, according to Palmetto Bluff’s Director of Design, Stephanie Gentemann, but they’d also bring a luxe look to houses just about anywhere. Here are a few that stood out to me for their Southern charm and style and are worth trying out yourself.
Get shutters that actually work.
There are none of those glued-on-to-the-siding, not-wide-enough-for-the-windows shutters for appearances only. If a home in Palmetto Bluff has shutters, they must fully function — and that’s in part to follow architectural tradition, and in part to keep homes efficient and cool in the warmer months. (Save this idea for next summer!)
Gentemann says the windows of the homes also have to have square or vertical panes. “Windows are typically larger on the first floor, and then as you go up levels, they get smaller,” she adds. “So there’s a hierarchy to the size, and we stick to that pretty strictly.”
Make your porch an actual hangout.
Southern homes are often known for wraparound porches spacious enough for a ceiling fan or a statement haint blue ceiling, and the porches of Palmetto Bluff are required to be 8 feet deep.
OK, this one is pure luxury — but adding a couple of cafe chairs around a little table to the front of your home can give it a welcoming vibe without a lot of work.
Choose facades that feel natural to the area.
You won’t find a stone facade at Palmetto Bluff. “It was not a regionally accessible material back in the day when people were first building,” Gentemann says. Instead, the masonry materials are local to the South Carolina area: tabby stucco (stucco that incorporates beachy finds like oyster shells, definitely regionally accessible!), wood (and now, wood alternatives), and brick.
It’s hard (and expensive!) to make changes to the material of your home’s siding once it’s been built, but it’s worth keeping this in mind if you have any renovations planned. Sticking to materials that feel local helps give your home some quiet luxury.
Work around the trees.
This Palmetto Bluff rule is my favorite: Architectural plans must work around established trees (anything 24 inches and above), so you might see a sidewalk that curves around a magnolia, live oak, or pine tree in the development.
The Design Review Board also requires homeowners to work with landscape architects to plant a certain number of understory trees, grasses, flowering bushes, and foundation plantings. (You might see yaupon holly, saw palmetto, wax myrtle, muhly grass, or jasmine in the landscaping, for example.)
“All of the homes are tucked under these tree canopies,” Gentemann says, so they look like they’ve been there a long time (but really the oldest homes in the neighborhood are about 20 years old) — and that’s the point for many of these rules, she says. That, and to celebrate and preserve the gorgeous landscape.
In your own front yard, consider planning a mix of plants in a variety of heights to help add visual interest. Even better: Choose plants with differing bloom times so you always have something fresh to look at, no matter the season.