You wouldn’t leave your house in sweats for a job interview, would you? Landscaping can make a good or bad first impression on potential home buyers, guests, and neighbors. Unpruned shrubs, unattended vines, peeling paint, and patches of brown dying grass are unsightly and detract from the overall look and feel of your property. If you care about the curb appeal of your New England home, you will definitely want to inspect and assess your yard.
Another reason to consider time and cash investment in home landscaping is that it can add 15% to your home’s value. Some landscaping elements have been seen to boost the value more than others, and something can be done at any time during the year whether you’re selling in the spring, summer, fall, or winter.
Value boosting landscape elements include:
- Overall landscape design- creating a functional layout with flow, designated sitting and play areas, and gardens
- Plant size- varying heights and sizes can make your yard seem bigger
- Diversity of plants- colorful plants and green bushes that come back every year
- Outdoor lighting- solar lighting and exterior lights
Your yard is an extension of your home. You have opportunities galore to transform it into a highly aesthetic and functional space.
Tips To Help You Get Started
1. Start by looking at your landscape with a fresh pair of eyes
First, assess your landscape, and there are two ways to do this. One is to stand a couple of feet from it until you’re able to see all of it. Squint your eyes till the landscape blurs, and examine it once again. Some areas may look dark and overgrown, others may look untidy because there are too many plants or pots, one section may be empty while others may be overcrowded.
Another method is to take black-and-white photographs of your landscape. Without the color, the space can appear new and you can examine it more objectively.
2. Prune the overwhelming shrubs
You don’t have to go all out with the pruning. For a neat, well-kept look, skirt the shrubs by pruning around the base and removing branches located within six inches of the ground. Also, tend to any plants that are touching the house as this can cause the paint to chip off while also inviting mold and infestations. Ideally, plants should be pruned eight inches to one foot away from your home to open up the space and make it easy to paint or pressure wash your home’s exterior.
3. Incorporate colorful plants to make your landscape vibrant
The focal area of the yard that you want to accentuate, must be tastefully colorful. You can achieve this quite easily by adding a few container plantings in a color scheme that matches the stony exterior or color of your house, or the shrubs in the vicinity. If your patio furniture has faded, peeled, or chipped off, cleaning, painting, and staining them can invigorate the space as well.
4. Give a thought to the walkway
If you don’t have a walkway, you may want to consider one to increase the safety of your outdoor space. A clearly designated and brightly lit walkway can make it convenient for guests and visitors to make their way around your property, avoid foot traffic jams, and keep accidental injuries at bay. To get the best results from landscaping and take curb appeal to the next level, we recommend engaging a professional landscaping service.