5 TIPS TO IMPROVE YOUR CURB APPEAL

Want to improve your curb appeal? We have put together a list of 5 quick ways to improve your curb appeal. You can do these things yourself or request an estimate and we can help you with them.

1. Landscape Clean-Up

This is often one of the least expensive yet most significant things you can do to improve the look of your home. Simply picking up the front yard, putting away unused items (such as lawn furniture) and pressure cleaning the driveway can make a world of difference. 

2. Add Color

Free standing flowering plants are the fastest way to add color and texture to your landscaping. Choose flower type based on your sunlight, shade and water restrictions. Container Gardens add a welcoming feel and colorful appeal quickly and affordably. You can buy ready-made containers from garden centers or create your own with your favorite plants. Window Boxes are another way to bring color and charm to your home exterior. Choose boxes made from copper or iron for a traditional look, or painted wood for a cottage feel. Mix and match flowers and plants to suit your lighting conditions and color scheme.

3. Landscape Shaded Areas

Many people tend to leave shaded areas bare and boring. Take your landscape to all new levels by putting shade-tolerant plants in the areas under trees where other plants won't grow. This will leave your lawn looking full and appealing.

4. Add New Mulch to Your Beds

Get landscape beds into shape by pruning growth, pulling weeds, and adding new mulch to restore color that was taken away by sunlight and harsh weather. Mulch holds in moisture and prevents weed growth, and makes beds easier to maintain. There are different looks that come with mulch. Wood mulch comes in different sizes and types of wood, it also comes dyed for a eye popping look.

5. Raise Tree Canopies

The tree canopy, if too low, can block sun from getting to your lawn grass and cause it to decline.It also can block the veiw of the home and make it look uncared for. By removing the lower branches, you can raise the canopy of your tree. Just follow a left – to-center, and center-to-right arc. Raising your tree canopy will allow more sun to get to your grass, you can walk under it without getting hit in the head and the tree will look much better from the street.

The Importance of Landscaping in Home Buying

The right landscaping is a critical factor when it comes to home sales, for both the buyer and the seller. For the seller of the home, enhancing the landscaping can lead to a faster sale, and even to a higher selling price. For the buyer, the right landscaping can serve as an assurance that the home is worth the price being asked, and it can help to ensure that the home will retain its value as long as the landscape is maintained in its current condition.

On the other hand, many price conscious buyers and those seeking investment properties will specifically look for those homes whose landscaping is not up to neighborhood standards. The nature of the landscaping can reveal a great deal about the home and its current occupants, and those investors who are able to apply a critical eye to the landscape may be able to land some real bargains.
When it comes to looking critically at the landscape, however, it is important to keep in mind that every buyer and seller will have a different vision of what constitutes the perfect landscape. For some the perfect landscape may be a hillside covered with wildflowers and native species of plants. For others a meticulously groomed and manicured formal garden represents the epitome of class and style. Still others may prefer to incorporate water elements, such as ponds, waterfalls and fountains, into their dream landscape.

It is important, therefore, to distinguish between a neglected landscape and one that simply does not represent your tastes. While a landscape overgrown with weeds can indicate a sloppy homeowner, and perhaps other problems lurking inside the home, On the other hand, a well kept landscape that is, to your eye, in bad taste, may simply mean that the home and its interior is not in your style. This kind of problem is easy to fix, so be sure to consider the nature of the problem as you shop for the perfect home.

Of course you may be lucky enough to find the perfect home with the perfect landscape already in place. While this is not an everyday occurrence, it certainly does happen, and in fact it is the landscaping that leads many home buyers to the home of their dreams.

If, on the other hand, the home is perfect but the landscaping is not, it is important to visualize your dream landscape as you would like it to be. The first step is to sketch out the elements of the landscape as they are now, and then to mark down the changes you would like to make. If you need to remove trees, bushes or other permanent elements of the landscape, be sure to note that as you go. Having a visual representation of the perfect landscape will make it much easier as the landscape redesign goes forward.

As you visualize your perfect landscape, be sure to remember the importance of a good view. It is not enough for the landscape to be attractive to passing motorists and pedestrians; it is essential that the landscape provide you and your family with a pleasant view of the outside world. Considering how the landscape looks, from both inside and outside the home, will help you visualize, and create, the landscape of your dreams.

Landscaping: Pro vs. Joe

Going to the grocery store without a list – especially if you're hungry – is inadvisable, according to both financial and nutritional experts. You can end up with a mishmash of ingredients that look good but don't go together, returning home over budget and without a proper meal. 

The same can be true when you're hungry for a great landscape. The journey from blank slate of a yard to lush personal oasis can be fraught with as much danger as a trip down the potato chip and pop aisle. 

JOE - DIY (Do It Yourself) MEANS PATIENCE

Some homeowners opt to do it themselves. These dedicated DIYers must be prepared to have plenty of patience and be willing to learn along the way, while suffering the occasional failure, if they start without a plan. 

One of these daring folks is Julie Comfort, an avid DIY gardener and gardening guru to her friends. This green thumber started out with no skills, little plant knowledge, and definitely no plan 29 years ago, when her young family purchased their first home. 

"We bought a house with a yard that was yuck," she said with a laugh. 

Wishing to make this a place where she could entertain and where her young children could play, Comfort set out to learn all she could, devouring gardening magazines and consuming books recommended in their reading lists. 

With her children grown, she moved out of that home 25 years later. Its front yard was a grass-free homage to colour and the backyard a lush landscape surrounded by large trees, featuring a small pond. 

"If you don't know a lot about plants, then read, read, read. You also must have patience because it's all trial and error," said Comfort. She estimates that she lost one in four plants over the years. "Walk your garden regularly to see what's struggling and what's thriving. That tells you a lot about your choices." 


PRO - SAVING TIME AND MONEY

Howard and Marie* did just the opposite. After living in their home for five years, it was time to redo the deck and spruce up the backyard. 

"For any type of renovation, we would hire a professional. We just don't have those kinds of skills," said Howard. 

From the three quotes they received, the couple chose Grant Harrison and his company Escapes Outdoor Living Designs. A professionally rendered plan is one of the benefits of dealing with a professional. The homeowners worked with Harrison and his landscape designer Michelle Schinkel to come up with a design that worked. "We had an idea of what we wanted and he came back with a plan. We massaged it and came up with one we loved," Howard says. 

According to Howard, Harrison and his crew were able to make recommendations and offer ideas that the couple wouldn't have thought of on their own. For instance, there was an existing cedar shed that the couple was concerned about matching. Harrison's research revealed that using a special type of stained pressure-treated wood would answer all of their concerns: colour matching and colour retention (natural cedar goes grey with age), as well as durability. 

Privacy and soundproofing were also an issue, as the couple was looking for a more secluded environment after a neighbour installed a pool. 

"Grant came up with the idea of planting cedars," said Howard. Placed along part of the side and rear fences, these trees will grow into a hedge that ensures privacy and offers some sound buffering. Schinkel designed planting beds that would work under the shade of the existing trees and the cedars, and others that could deal with the almost full-sun areas surrounding the deck. Harrison and Schinkel included extra seating in the plans for the deck by adding bench seats along the rails. 


"We would have never thought of that, but it makes it much more usable," Howard enthuses. 

This is in stark contrast to the experience that some homeowners have had when they've discovered that the landscape they wanted doesn't really work. Mike Pascoe, with Kernow Gardens, has been called in to rescue yards gone wrong – those that started without a plan and ended in the wrong place. "They've futzed around with it for a long time and I've had to go in and cut it down anyway. Sometimes there are 30-year-old trees that are just wrong for the landscape." 

Pascoe estimated that homeowners should spend 10% of the house's value on landscaping their outdoor spaces for maximum resale value. This cost will be recouped when selling your home. 

"A lot of people balk at hiring a professional, but I can almost guarantee that you'll save money because you'll avoid a lot of foolish mistakes," said Pascoe.

Before

In the Process

Finished

Drawing