When it comes to selling your home, curb appeal is the name of the game.  The more appealing you can make your house from the road, the more likely you’ll attract visitors through your doors.  There are several little things that do not cost much and can be accomplished relatively quickly that offer wonders for curb appeal.  Follow these five easy tips to increase curb appeal and increase your property value!

 

Five Easy Tips to Increase Curb Appeal:

1. Beautifully Maintained Lawn

This may not always be the quickest step towards curb appeal, but it is rather easy.  There are a multitude of companies that offer varying degrees of service to help you achieve your budget’s look.  And depending on the time of year (fall here in Knoxville particularly), it can happen in as little as a month.  Having a professional spray weeds, aerate, overseed, and fertilize the turf can bring about rapid transformation.  Remember when choosing a company to look for license, charter, and discounts!  (We offer a 15% discount on aeration and overseeding early signups!)

2. Dressing up the Front Door

Adding a blast of color to the front door, or even replacing it with a new ornate wooden one can do wonders for the front of the house.  As you pull down the road you’ll notice the beautiful lawn.  As you make your way to the front of the house, a beautiful front door screams “Welcome!’  Perhaps red will offer a sharp contrast or the the warm notes of a natural mahogany will offer visitors with a sense of comfort and security.

3. Landscape Lighting

Landscape lighting has become one of my favorite accents over the last few years.  There’s not much you can see in a night time photograph of a house.  That being said, with the appropriate landscape lighting, the house can be seen in a whole new dimension.  Angles, depth, dimensions will stand out as never before and offer a view of your home far exceeding that of your neighbors.

3. Hardscapes

Hardscapes are one of our favorite projects at Outdoor Designs.  Very early into his career, Robert took to learning as much about preserving natural appearances while offer high aesthetic value utilizing stone.  Hardscapes offer a bit of color, but more character than anything.   Also, they serve a great function.  Hardscapes can be utilized as borders, walkways, or even driveways!  We recently completed a project where we pulled out a section of driveway and replaced it with permeable pavers.  The results were tremendous!

4. Outdoor Art

Outdoor art isn’t popular everywhere I’ve lived, but where I’ve seen it appropriately utilized, it’s been an invaluable feature.  Simple water fountains, metal cutouts, or even mossy rocks add spunk otherwise not available. Not only do fountains offer visual appeal, the soothing sounds are welcoming on a hot summer day.  When working with fountains, try to avoid placing them in range of leaves falling.

5. Add a New Planter Bed

Again, I typically recommend most homeowners to go with a respected, trusted landscaper when installing new beds.  The objective of a new bed is to add dimension, character, and visual appeal.  It is important when selecting the plants to go for colors with contrast compared to your home exterior.  Plants can be selected based on their seasonal color as well.  Depending on selection you can provide periods of blooms and beautiful colors year round.

As you can see there are several little things that can be done to improve curb appeal.  I asked my friend, commercial photographer Colby McLemore for tips on photographing your home when putting it on the market. He says, “When taking photos of your house make sure you photograph it immediately after sunset, right before sunrise or even a cloudy day. Most people photograph in the middle of a bright sunny day. This will give your pictures a beautiful soft look instead of nasty harsh shadows that ruin the beauty of any house and landscaping.”

Do you have tips of your own? Let us know in the comments below!