How would YOU improve the front of this house?

[TaylerM]

 

I need design help! We are trying to get our property ready to sell. We need to give the front of the house and the garden some TLC.

What minor improvements would you suggest doing to give the house more kerb appeal?

My current ideas

- GARDEN: raising the side with bricks, remulching & add new plants.

- GRASS : ripping up grass & laying stepping pavers to gain access to the side of the house, laying pebbles/rocks in gaps.

- FRONT : paint pillar similar colour to roof?

[JacobZ]

Hi @TaylerM,

A warm welcome to the Bunnings Workshop community and thank you for your question.

There are a wide variety of options, depending on what you are willing to spend, how much effort you are willing to put in and the timeframe you have.

You might like to start by checking out the following articles for some ideas and inspiration.

• Top 10 most popular front yard projects
   
• 10 ways to improve your home’s street appeal
   
• Top 10 most popular landscaping projects
   
• Top 10 most popular outdoor projects.

The ideas you have are solid and will certainly add curb appeal and value to the home.

You could use landscape blocks to build a small retaining wall along the back edge of the garden bed. This can then be filled with quality soil so you can plant a variety of beautiful native plants. Check out How to choose plants for your garden for some guidance on selecting the right plants for your project.

Ripping up the grass behind the garden bed and adding decorative stones and pavers leading to the side of the house will also be valuable. Check out How To Prepare And Lay a Base For Pavers and How To Lay Pavers for some guidance.

Improving the grass on the nature strip is an idea that would also be worthwhile. Check out How To Take Care Of Your Lawn for some guidance on improving the lawn on your nature strip.

Giving everything a good pressure clean would also be worthwhile to make everything look fresh and new.

A fresh coat of paint, wherever it is located will also improve the curb appeal. You could certainly change the colour of the column to match the roof. It would also be worthwhile painting the facade and even the front door to make everything shine a little bit more. Check out How To Paint Your House’s Exterior and How To Paint a Door for some guidance.

Allow me to tag @Dave-1, @prettyliving, @Nailbag and @RenoRach to see if they have any ideas they can offer.

Let me know what you think.

Jacob

[Dave-1]

Afternoon @TaylerM 

I was thinking about your question earlier today, had wild ideas of retaining walls ect and then I read properly what you were after

I like the strip garden you have, I would refresh it with new mulch with maybe some new shrubs for the area you live in.

I also would second @JacobZ's suggestion about the base area in particular pulling up the grass and replacing with pebbles and stepping stones. I wouldnt want to build up anything there as it looks like the area slopes towards the house.

Maybe instead of painting the piller the same as the roof, paint a small skirt on it either the height of a skirting board or the height of a high pot?

Maybe a trellis on the left of the window with a climbing plant bellow it?

With your grass on the footpath you could invest in some nutriants but all your neighbouses lawns look the same. Id be tempted maybe to get some higher shrubs on your fenceline? I do like the timber edge of the garden bed, simple and straight.

The last thing that I can think of is a birdbath of some sort, something low so no stand, with a little pump and teh gurgle of water  

Dave

[EricL]

Hello @TaylerM 

Just to add to the excellent recommendations that Jacob has suggested, here are some sample images of what you can accomplish with some basic paving and adding a retaining wall to the front of the house.

If you need further assistance, please let us know.

Eric

[Nailbag]

Hi @TaylerM 

These days one of my day jobs is providing a service to a realestate agent mate of min in preparing homes for sale. And getting that street/kerb appeal plays a very important role in getting those first impressions for potential buyers. @JacobZ has provided a great start in providing all those links for inspirational ideas.

You don't need to spend a lot of money to achieve your goal, but it will increase the chances of a quicker sale and potentially a higher price. Fortunately for you, the front yard is fairly basic, so not a lot of rework will be required. So this is what I would do. . . . 

The House

• Paint in-between the timber face battens black, which ties in with the window frames.
• Paint the column the same colourbond colour as the facia/guttering which looks like Woodland Grey.
• Hang a Coreten feature panel on the left front wall, which will tie in with the timber battens. Bunnings have lots of designs.
• Pot plant next to the front door
• Replace the door mat with a larger rectangular one

Garden

• Apply weed and feed to the nature-strip lawn, then start watering it every few days to green it up. 
• Maintain the nature strip with sharp edges to the driveway, kerb and garden edge
• Straighten the top edge and lift it if possible 50mm so it's higher than the lawn. Or replace it with something like this.
• Weed the garden and relocate the front right grass so its not clumped to the one besides it.
• Remove the lower garden edge, and relocate it as per the photo which will require you to shorten it.
• Remove the top level of grass/weeds/soil that was right of that garden edge to the house.
• Plant several lighter foliage semi-established plants taken from @JacobZ inspirational links. You don't need a lot. Maybe something tall top left near the fence. Keep them well watered.
• Breakaway the excess concrete at the base of the letterbox. Then if the letterbox is faded, respray it.
• Fill the garden with a thick (75mm) layer of mulch (not Black).
• Lay weed matting down between the relocated edge and house and fill with something like a small 10-15mm river pebble.
• Paint the fence and wall to match the facia/guttering.

Please share your after photos as I'm sure everyone will enjoy the transformations. And good luck selling the property.

Nailbag