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What are the Best Tips for Curb Appeal Landscaping?
A helpful tip for curb appeal landscaping is to first create an overall design plan rather than take a piece by piece approach. Otherwise, it's easy to overdo both the design and the budget. The goal should be an attractive, well taken care of yard, rather than a jam-packed landscape that confuses the eye. For effective curb appeal landscaping, the best tip to follow is to accentuate the house's most attractive features and downplay or disguise its unattractive ones.
Needed repairs such as fixing a broken staircase railing or covering over a noticeable rust stain on house siding are important to do before adding plants or other finishing landscaping touches. This is one of the most crucial curb appeal landscaping tips because sometimes homeowners overlook things that need repairing in favor of beginning a large yard improvement project. Yet, for most potential house buyers, the front yard and how well it's cared for forms their first impression of the home. For example, if you create beautiful rock-edged planters of flowers near the front entrance of the house, but leave the grass overgrown and full of weeds, all of the effort you made is likely to go unappreciated.
If the property isn't level, but rather slopes awkwardly, it can be worthwhile to get the recommendations of several professional landscapers as well as pricing estimates. A rock staircase or other stand-out feature may make something like a sloping yard that was once unappealing, extremely appealing. Level properties are often much easier to accent to create curb appeal landscaping.
An excellent method of starting your design plan to make a landscaped yard with curb appeal is to stand out in front of the house and observe everything as you would a stranger's home. Imagining that you are a home buyer can help you come up with curb appeal landscaping ideas as well as notice any repairs that should be made. As you create your landscaping design plan, remember to consider the other houses and yards on your street and have yours be original looking, yet still in keeping with the overall positive effects of the neighborhood.
While curb appeal mainly concerns how a house looks from its front exterior, the backyard definitely also requires landscaping. Even if potential home buyers do start with the front yard, they will eventually see the back and aren't likely to feel that the house is well cared for if that area is run down in its appearance. Viewing the home not just in the daytime but in the evening as well is a good curb appeal landscaping tip, as it can serve as a guide for placing safety and accent outdoor lighting.
Discussion Comments
One of the best curb appeal landscaping pictures I've seen lately was of a 20 year old home around the corner with a new, brick paver driveway. It really added a punch of great design and color to the old front driveway.
Not only that, but the new owners loved the brick paved driveway design so much, they repeated it on the back porch and pool deck. It added so much zing to the home, we want to do the same thing with ours now.
The absolute best thing you can do to improve your home's curb appeal is to get other people's opinions; mostly realtors.
If you need to, get a landscaping company to come in and replant your grass if it's slowing disappearing. Put down a small brick paved back patio for impact and place a little table and chair set on it. Add some flowers and plants and voila, you've got a little oasis in the back yard.
Buyers will look at the good and the bad and as long as you put time and effort into adding something beautiful and substantial to your outdoor areas, the buyer will notice it and see themselves in it.
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