Whats the first thing people see when they pull up to your home? The outside of course. Is it bland? Does it set it's self apart from other homes? What are a few things people notice? The paint, yep, what else? Landscaping? Yep, and sometimes that's the deal killer right there. When people pull up in front of your home, what do they see? Weedy gardens? No color? A bland yard? That's not the first impression you want to give is it? Even if your not selling your home, wouldn't you like your friends to see a nice house when they come to visit? It's really not that expensive or hard to turn bland into something special. You use color friends, it's so easy.
Also, outside living areas. Many people love to enjoy the yard as well as the inside of the home, and having areas they can relax in or reflect in are important to them. Maybe it's just a little quiet get away, where it's nice to sit and read a book, or just watch the birds and butterfly's. I hear you giggle, but for many that's very important. Why risk not being able to get top dollar on your sale because you wouldn't invest in a few hours work and 100 bucks in flowers? Why miss that potential buyer because of something so simple as a row of Petunias?
If you read my post on fixing up the outside of the house, there was a couple things we did at that time that made a world of difference. One was we replaced the back fence with a nice cedar fencing, wow was that huge in the visual sense. Another thing we did was to put in a patio on the shady side of the house where there was only a walk way and a garden area that was too shady for most plants to thrive in. This was some of the best money we ever spent on our home, we love having the new outside living space to have our fire pit, an outdoor living room really. Also there's a lot more entertaining area for having friends over.
We have a huge Yucca plant as well in the corner of the yard. It's really big, and I didn't know what to do with it, they are very hard to get rid of once they are so well established. So...I learned to live with it and built a garden around it with ground cover and a red rose bush. Now it's no longer something that we feel was an eyesore and a big weed, but a part of the landscaping.
In the front yard after I finished the house, the house looked great, but there was no "splash", nothing to really draw the eye, so I put in a nice garden in front of the garage. I lined it with Petunias, which were cheap, an Arctic White Rose which blooms constantly and at times has 100's of blooms, and a couple of low maintenance shrubs. All the materials including the boarder and plants were right around 150 bucks, yeah...kinda cheap. It added not only sell ability to the house, but added a huge amount of curb appeal as well, and if your thinking of selling that's one of the most important things you can do. You only get one chance at a first impression.
Here's a series of photos of a few of the projects we did and some of the plants we put in to add that color splash. First the concrete work and the fence.
Next I put in the garden in the front of the house
The Petunias are now gone, but the shrubs are much larger and pretty much fill in the garden, the mulch really helps in weed control so the area is almost maintenance free, with an occasional trimming of the shrubs.Here's a few more colorful plants we have put in in the back yard as well to brighten it up and make it more enjoyable to use the area as a living space.
These are Geraniums, they now cover an area about 8 times what you see here, they cost me about $2.50 for the plant. A great investment in color, I have a Scarlet Red one as well in another garden area.
One of my favorites because the leaves are colorful as well as the the flowers are my Tropicana's. The multi blooms of bright oranges really stand out and the leaves are incredible.
Ahh, these are wonderful with their shiny green leaves and beautiful smelling flowers, my Gardenias.They take a long time to get big, are easy to care for and the flowers smell up the entire back yard, very nice plants!
The Coleus, these grew big and round. The colors are bright and vibrant as well. I was stunned how fast they got big and they were beautiful!
These are a type of Trumpet Vine, more of shrub with this variety, I get blooms from early spring until late fall.
A smaller rose plant that takes well to being potted
This is the rose plant I put by the Yucca tree, it blooms profusely in the spring and summer and adds that touch of color by our patio.
Another plotted plant is this daisy, I have also planted one in another garden area and it has grown to about 2 feet high and 4 feet round and has a zillion blooms on it
Remember my Yucca? I couldn't get rid of this plant either, it kept coming back no matter how much I dug out...so i learned to live with it and it is awesome at this point. I trim it back to nothing every year and it comes back with huge green leaves and these sword type flowers for the summer. Don't ask me what it is because I have no idea, but I know at this point that I like it and I'm glad to have it as part of the landscape.
Oh, and one of my personal favorites, my Calla Lily. This dies out at the end of it's season and I cut it to the ground, and in the spring it comes back bigger every year with more of these large bright yellow flowers. This one also has great leaves. Very large dark green with these white speckles allover them.
Putting in these plants did take a little sweat equity, and time, and of course a few bucks. But do a little at a time, maybe one thing a week end for a couple of months and you'll have the curb appeal so people love your house before they ever see the inside. I hope you find these posts with the tips encouraging, and useful. And when the time comes, give me a call and give me the opportunity to be your Realtor. Thanks for dropping in, I hope you enjoyed the tips as much as I have enjoyed sharing them with you!
