14 Apr

A great looking house gives you a feeling of pride and joy every time you come home. It can feel daunting to know where to start to make improvements but it doesn’t have to take much or cost you loads.

Here are some of the best and easiest ways to add value and street appeal to your house.

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Front Door Upgrade

Make the first impression a good one by upgrading your front door.

• If the front door is not original in a period home, is in poor condition or was never a highlight of the home, it might be worthwhile changing the door.
• Glass to the entry should generally obscure vision inside to ensure privacy. This can be with leadlighting for a traditional home, or an obscured etch effect.
• A fresh coat of paint in a bold colour for a period home, or a rich timber oversized door for a modern home is inviting. This year’s colour trends are bolder use of colour with warm ochre pinks, rich golds and velvety greens.

 

Exterior Lighting

Well-placed outdoor lighting can add warmth and elegance to your home’s exterior.

•  Add lighting to the garden, illuminate the path and have a cool light at the front door.
• modern LED strip lighting is now highly weather resistant and costs have come down tremendously. Low voltage kits can even allow for handyman installations.

Fresh Paint

Renovation in a can, quite literally the easiest and best way to improve a home.

• Focus on key areas such as the front facade, trim, gates and fences.
• Be brave with your colour choice! If it isn’t right it is easy to paint over and start again.

Clean and Repair

A good clean can make the world of difference to the appearance of your house, with very little money to spend. You’ll be amazed at how much pollution can collect on a building, particularly if you live near a busy road or under a flight path.

• Thoroughly clean the exterior of your home, including windows, gutters, and pathways. A high pressure water cleaner can be really useful, but test it on an area not super noticeable before letting it rip.
• Write up a list of any damage, such as cracked paths, broken fence palings etc, and rank them in order of most prominent to least problematic, then complete and tick them off one at a time.

Letterbox

Always forgotten, the letterbox is often the last item to be considered, but it is quite literally front and centre to your arrival.

• Remember, your home is a highly valuable asset, don’t spend a fortune renovating or building then installing a $30 mailbox in front of it
• There are so many good choices to reflect the individual character of your home. Search for unique options that suit the style of your home and landscaping rather than sticking to a generic version from Bunnings.

Landscaping

If you have ever spent any time talking to a landscape designer you will be familiar with their lament that theirs is always the forgotten budget.

Some easy items to address for little cost and maximum impact are:

• Tidying up existing trees and shrubs with thoughtful pruning to shape and let in more light, mowing the lawn, weeding, mulching and feeding the garden goes a long way.
• Consider hard landscaping – adding garden edges, low walls and installing a path adds structure and order.
• Giving a tired fence a water blast and repaint can make for a huge visual improvement.
• Don’t have much money for plants? Native tube stock is a cost effective way to get significant plant value, but you will need to be patient as they start small. It also is the best way to ensure healthy natives as they generally don’t like their roots disturbed. You should also consider plants that multiply as they grow, such as liriope and clivias, or creep and trail to cover lots of ground in a hurry. Star jasmine and plectranthus are great options.

Landscaping to the max. For anyone who has been to Mollymook in the last few years, you may be familiar with this beachside gem. Unfortunately not one of mine, but we are always open to admiring and learning from the craft of others. Star jasmine is an effective and fast growing ground cover while cycads, palms, dracaena and other strappy plants make dramatic statements.

Ready to take that next step? We can help!

If a quick spruce up is not enough, that’s when we come in. We are here to help you create a home that will make you proud.
From a small interior renovation, to a brand new home, and everything else in-between.
Send us an email and let’s chat.