Many homeowners and even real estate agents looking to flip a property tend to focus solely on the interior design of a house or apartment. While there is absolutely nothing wrong with sprucing up your interior and decorating it for comfort and beauty, it’s important to remember that the value of your property and its overall aesthetic appeal will be largely influenced by its curb appeal and highly useful house extensions like garden storage sheds.
Whether you’re trying to restore your property to its former shining glory or if you’re trying to upgrade it to maximize its value in the real estate market, the curb appeal will have a leading role to play. With that in mind, here are the four excellent ways you can improve the curb appeal to breathe new life into your home.
Start some ways away from the house
Curb appeal is not just about the quality of the paint job on the porch, or how beautiful your front garden is – it’s also about those distant elements you never even think about. You see, curb appeal starts some ways away from your property, at the furthest point from which people can see your house. This is usually, you guessed it, the curb at the far end of the street. This is where you need to start.
Inspect this area closely and look for any unsightly elements that might be hindering the aesthetic appeal of your property. Move the trashcans somewhere else, and look for any irregularities in the pavement such as potholes. Now work your way slowly towards the house and fix everything that needs fixing before you move on to the property itself.
Invest in some beautiful landscaping
Landscaping is one of the best and most effective ways to elevate the aesthetic appeal of your home’s exterior, and an excellent way to increase its market value at that. However, it’s not just about maintaining a tidy lawn or removing wild shrubbery on occasion; no, landscaping encompasses the calculated use of natural elements to frame the design of the entire property.
Some of the best low-maintenance design ideas for your garden and landscape, in general, include high-rise plants, trees, artificial grass, water features and ornaments, beautiful rockery, stepping stones, and more. All of these elements should work together to frame the design and lead the visitor on a beautiful path towards the porch and the house itself.
Join the LED revolution
The way you light your home’s exterior can make or break the entire aesthetic design of the property. But beyond pure aesthetics, outdoor lighting needs to be functional, as these features need to last a long time. This is why the LED industry has grown so much in the US in recent years, and across the globe as well. In Australia, for example, electricians specialize in outdoor lighting that boosts curb appeal aesthetics and functionality.
Down Under, homeowners spend a lot of time under the stars, on the front porch or enjoying quality time with their family on the front lawn in the evening, hence the need for an experienced electrician from Inner West to design the external lighting scheme using LED lights to illuminate the entire property and at the same time accentuate key features. Follow the same mindset and invest in LED lights yourself, and don’t forget to illuminate everything from the walkway to the front porch and all other outdoor areas on your property.
Rejuvenate the exterior with new paint
And finally, there’s nothing quite as refreshing and rewarding as the look of a fresh coat of paint adorning the exterior of your home. Repainting the walls and other features such as the front porch and the fence can help you elevate the value of the property in an affordable way, but most importantly, make the property feel more inviting and homier as well.
Depending on the size of the house and the scope of work in general, it shouldn’t take you more than a weekend to repaint the walls, the window frames, the porch, and fence. While you’re at it, be sure to upgrade all of the hardware and don’t forget to replace any corroded wood you might find – it will prolong the lifespan of the element and elevate the aesthetics in the process.
Final thoughts
The curb appeal is the crucial factor that will either deter or invite homebuyers to check out a property. What’s more, the curb appeal of your home has the power to influence your mindset and shape your perception significantly, making you feel positive as you’re approaching the front door. Be sure to tend to these quick-and-easy tips, and you will have created a beautiful curb appeal that will make your home that much more valuable.
In Gil Kenan’s 2006 animated film, “Monster House,” three puberty-stricken teenagers discover that a local bungalow, owned by crotchety old man Nebbercracker, is possessed by the vengeful spirit of Nebbercracker’s one-time bride. The youth realize that Nebbercracker’s trademark warning, “Get off my lawn!” is a veiled caution to keep away from the clutches of his vindictive house.
How many homeowners can empathize with old man Nebbercracker? Not for his jealous housewife, of course, but for the trap of home ownership. Research compiled by Trent Hamm at The Simple Dollar indicate that the average American household spends a whopping $17,000 per year on home ownership. Census figures reported by Terry Mulligan in his article, The Average Cost of Running a Home, estimate that monthly home utility, fuels and public services cost about $300.
No one magical solution can shrink the costs of home ownership. Instead, rescue $5 here, $10 there. You can improve your home’s energy efficiency, and here’s how.
Shop In a Different Aisle
Want to work smart, not hard? Go shopping. Seriously. Saving money can be as easy as spending it – provided you abide by these rules:
- Purchase fluorescent or LED lights rather than traditional halogen or incandescent bulbs. According to research conducted by the U.S. Energy Information Administration (EIA), lighting accounts for 11 percent of the energy consumed by the average American home.
- Substitute low-flow 1.5 GPM shower heads for conventional waterfall shower heads.
- Choose ENERGY STAR-certified clothes washers, dryers, refrigerators, space heaters and window air conditioners. When using a window air conditioner, ensure that the unit is set to Recirculation mode.
- Install window drapes or blinds to prevent solar heat gain during warm months and radiant heat loss during the cool season.
Hire a Contractor
Technically, if you want the most efficient home possible, you ought to build it. Use low-e argon-filled triple-pane windows, blown cellulose wall insulation, on-demand hot water heaters, rooftop solar panels, natural gas-powered clothes dryers, 3-foot roof overhangs, mini-split reversible A/C systems and so forth. Good luck!
Here in the real world, efficiency must balance cost. Sealing a drafty back door with a can of DOW Great Stuff expanding foam takes just $5 and five minutes. Recommended retrofits, as showcased in the case studies of Allyson Went’s Building Green article, “The Challenge of Existing Homes: Retrofitting for Dramatic Energy Savings,” include double-pane low-e windows, heat-recovery ventilation systems, passive solar thermal collectors and 16-SEER central A/C units.
Automate Electronics and Energy Systems
Purchasing energy-efficient appliances is sage advice. But here’s a dirty secret: Americans are using less energy for appliances and more for personal electronics. The television and entertainment system consumes about 6 percent of a home’s energy, says the EIA. Business laptops, personal smartphones, gaming PC’s, video game consoles and children’s tablets devour even more.
The obvious solution is to downsize. But what red-blooded American could scream and throw popcorn at an NFL game displayed one a pathetic 16-inch screen? There’s a better way: home automation.
Once the realm of science fiction writers, “smart” technology is now mainstream. The new wave of smart devices, like the iDevices Switch, allows homeowners to automate the use and charging of their appliances. Idevices Switch is one of many smart plugs on the market, most of which can be controlled with a smartphone app or platform hub such as Apple HomeKit, Nest Weave or Samsung SmartThings. Plug a device into Switch, and you can control it with a phone. So schedule your coffee in the morning. Activate the kid’s night light. Turn off the TV after midnight. Nice to be God, isn’t it?
Innovative companies have even created smart HVAC systems. Nest and Honeywell offer smart programmable thermostats that, when paired with motion sensors, determine acceptable temperature ranges depending on the weather and home occupancy. The Ecovent retrofits existing ducted A/C systems with programmable opening and closing air vents for a zoned heating and cooling system.
So start shopping. Pick up a hammer. Get geeky. You can escape the fiscal burden of home ownership – and you’ll save some trees while you’re at it.
