Landscaping 101

Posted on March 29, 2012 by Michelle Eging

Spring is here! Which means longer days, outdoor parties, and warm weather! While Winter is still loosening its hold on the temperature, now is a perfect time to begin imagining and budgeting this year’s landscaping feats. Whether you’re looking to increase the real estate value of your home or create a paradise for relaxation, here are some tips you can follow to achieve your vision.

Photo courtesy of Timeless Landscaping, Ltd.

Step 1: Research and budget. Measure everything, from the dimensions of your flower beds, to the size of your front yard so you can proceed with accuracy. Here are some questions to consider:

  • Do you want an English garden? Or a Zen garden? Or a vegetable garden? Will your entire landscape fall under a unified theme, or are you taking it one flowerbed at a time?
  • Is the precipitation in your area conducive to roses? Or would cacti have a better chance of surviving in your yard? Drought resistant plants are a great way to add greenery without spiking your water bill.
  • How much spacing will the plants you have in mind require?
  • How much sun does your yard receive? Which areas are mostly shade? This will determine which plants will grow best in certains areas of your yard.
  • How does the temperature alter with each season? Plants that thrive in the mild warmth of spring can fry in the heat-waves of summer. HGTV has useful posts on multi-seasonal gardens for each US region.
  • What animals are native to your area and are there any plants that would help support your local bird population? Do you need to watch out for deer, rabbits, or other herbivores?
  • What kind of soil is your house built on and will you need to buy dirt?
  • Do you want to build a gazebo? Or a path? Or install a fountain? It helps to know which projects you can do yourself and which you should hire help for.

And always keep in mind how much you can afford to do this year. Planning ahead will enable you to work piece by piece, year by year, towards achieving your ideal landscape.

Step 2: Map it out. If you can, get a map of your property, then trace it onto grid or blank paper. This will enable you to keep the grander perspective of what you want to achieve in mind and also enable you to break it up into manageable projects. Once you have an idea of the atmosphere you wish to create, as well as what kind of plants will grow best, it’s time to start mapping out where everything is going to go. Don’t forget to sketch details such as paths, gazebos, fountains, and plant spacing. This will also help stop you from overspending since you won’t be making impulse buys and you’ll know exactly how much of everything you’ll need.

Photo courtesy of Idea Spectrum

Step 3: Calendar it out. You need to juggle both the improvements you have in mind as well as the upkeep. For instance, you might need to water your garden twice a day, and weed it every other day. Your path might take three weekends to create and your fountain might only take one day to install. It is must easier to see a project through to completion if you can plan out as many of the details as possible. So, print off a monthly calendar and that will remind you which days to purchase materials, when to upkeep the landscaping you already have, and when to alter it. Everything will feel a lot less overwhelming.

Photo courtesy of Garden Guides

Step 4: Purchase needed materials. You can get 10 free trees by signing up for a membership with Arborday.org. Talk to your neighbors– they might be willing to buy supplies with you in bulk, which will keep costs down. Keep an eye on Craigslist postings and Classifieds for people looking to get rid of the materials you need. Msn’s 17 Ways to Landscape on the Cheap has useful tips to help you cut costs as much as possible.

Photo courtesy of Thriftyfun

DIY How-Tos:

Here are some photos to help you imagine the possibilites for your yard. Happy landscaping!

Photo courtesy of HGTV

Photo courtesy of Garden Guides

Photo courtesy of Havasu Magazine

Photo courtesy of The Gardening Experts

Photo courtesy of Sunset

Photo courtesy of Backyard Landscaping

Photo courtesy of Free Backyard Landscaping Ideas

Photo courtesy of Landscape Design

Photo courtesy of Garden Landscaping Ideas

Photo courtesy of landscaping ideas

 

 

 

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Increase the Real Estate Value of Your Home: Exterior

Posted on March 22, 2012 by Michelle Eging

Last week I wrote about what you can do to increase the real estate value of your home through interior design. This week will continue on that theme, focusing instead on the exterior. While these ideas are good for helping your house sell, they are also useful for making your home more enjoyable to live in period. Some of these projects you can do yourself with ease, some might take a bit of research or hiring a professional.

Photo courtesy of Home Design Software

In General– The exterior of your home if the first thing any potential buyer will see, which means buyers will have already begun forming impressions before even entering your home. So, when choosing which renovations to make to prepare your house for the market, try to strike a balance fixing both the exterior and interior. Even if your house’s interior would make Martha Stewart proud, you don’t want people entering your home thinking its a dump because you’ve got weeds, peeling paint, and litter.

Clutter and Cleanliness. Keep your grass mowed, clean your gutters and windows, pick up stray garbage, weed your flower beds, clean up after pets, and put clutter away. Also, if you have patio furniture that’s seen better days, repair what you can and get rid of the rest.  Remember, you want to help prospective buyers envision living in your home, which is difficult to do if your yard looks like the carnival came to town and camped out on your grass.

Photo courtesy of Fort Wayne Real Estate

Paint. Unless you want people to think you live in a run down shack that’s haunted by a past owner’s pet dog that’s buried in the yard…somewhere, you want your paint to be fresh and neat. Not peeling or chipping away. Also, just like painting the interior of your home, updating the color of your exterior can make it stand apart from every house on your street–in a good way. Not only that, but, like with interiors, light colors will make the exterior of your home look bigger while dark will make them look smaller (which can be useful if you have a big house on a small lot). If you can’t afford to paint your whole house, you could focus on just one aspect of the exterior, such as siding, trim, and the shutters. Reader’s Digest has an article on 10 Ways to Increase Home Value with Exterior Paint that provides helpful ideas and tips. For a step by step break-down of how to paint the exterior of your home, read This Old House’s The $500 Makeover: How to Paint Your Exterior.

Photo courtesy of Key Person of Influence

Photo courtesy of This Old House

Powerwash. Removing the layers of dirt, cobwebs, dust, mildew, and mold that might have gathered on your home will make the presentation of your home more welcoming and maintained. DIY Network has some pressure washer tips to consider should you choose to power wash your home yourself.

Embrace the greenery. You want your yard to be a flourishing paradise, not a shriveled wasteland. Planting trees, flowers, herbs, and hostas will make your yard aesthetically pleasing as well as beautiful smelling. If you’re worried about increasing your water bill, try to pick plants native to your region. These will be accustomed to the natural cycle of precipitation of your area and won’t necessarily require extra water.

Photo courtesy of Garden Daddy

Landscaping. While growing plants is a part of this, landscaping also includes elements such as mulch, paths, fountains, decorative rocks, statues, etc. Next week’s post is called Landscaping 101 and I’ll discuss this in further detail then. However, in the meantime, Handy American has great advice on landscaping.

Photo courtesy of Arch Zine

 Specific Improvements

Build or restain your deck/porch. Decks and porches are luxury items that incur visions of reading in wicker chairs, barbecues, and summer parties. If you don’t have one and you have the budget, building one will definitely attract buyer attention. This Old House shows how to build a simple desk. If you do have a deck, just like every other part of your house, you want it clean, in good repair, and presentable. If it’s looking weathered, restaining and powerwashing will bring back lost vitality. Lowe’s offers an in-depth break down of how to clean and stain a deck.

Photo courtesy of My Backyard Projects

Repaint and/or replace your front door. Not to sound dramatic, but your front foor is the gateway by which buyers will enter your home. Much like the opening sentence to a novel, you want it to grab your buyer’s attention with the promise of wonderful things to come. We have a post on How to Give Your Front Door a European Makeover that provides helpful tips and inspiration to make your door pop.

Photo courtesy of Simply Elegant

Replace damaged siding and trim. The primary visual real estate of the actual home exterior is the siding. Make that space count by having everything in good repair. If you wish to do this yourself, here’s about.com’s top 5 exterior house siding and repair tutorials.

Repair/replace your roof. The secondary visual real estate of your home is the roof. Buyers aren’t going to be very interested in roofs that leak or look like they’ve survived a tornado. This Old House has an article on fixing damaged roof shingles that you might find helpful if you decide to do this yourself.

Paint or replace your garage doors. Painting your garage doors a shade other than the standard white is a great way to go above and beyond expectations, giving your exterior an extra “umph”. The HousingForum gives pertinent advice on how to paint a garage door.

Photo courtesy of Carriage House Door

Photo courtesy of Home Style Choices

Accessories. Little details add up, which is why it is just as important to accessorize your exterior as it is for the interior. Our post Transform your Deck, Porch, or Patio into a Comfortable Oasis covers details such as patio furniture, potted plants, lighting, etc. However, in addition to what you find in that post, you should also consider sculptures,  door knobs, wind chimes, etc.

Photo courtesy of Joys of Home

Photo courtesy of Suitcase Vignettes

Photo courtesy of Find Something Precious Today

 

 

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Increase the Real Estate Value of Your Home: Interior

Posted on March 15, 2012 by Michelle Eging

In the past twenty-four years I have moved at least twenty times. For most of my life, I have gone through the stress and hassle of getting a house ready for the market and then keeping it pristine until it is bought. There are some tricks you pick up along the way– such as keeping your shower curtain closed, taking the dogs out of the house, wiping out the stainless steel sink after each use, and hiding clutter in random drawers–to keep your house presentable. If you’re looking to sell your house, or just want to renovate it so it’s like living somewhere new, here are some tips that will both increase the real estate value of your home and the pleasure of living inside it.

Photo courtesy of Avro Moving

For this post, I’ll cover things you can do to improve the interior of your home. Next week’s will discuss the exterior.

In General–

Clutter and cleanliness: I wish I was joking when I said that once I looked at a home for sale where a pet has soiled the carpet and no one cleaned it up. Words cannot describe how disgusting that was (well, ok, they can, but I’ll spare you the details) and, as you can guess, we did not buy the house. Before putting your house on the market, de-clutter your home by either getting rid of excess junk or packing away what you are not immediately using. You want to make your home seem as large as possible and the more visual space you can open, the larger it will seem. Also, keep everything immaculately clean. You might want to consider hiring housecleaners to perform one major scrub down which you can then maintain for however long your house is on the market. For tips on how to organize your home, read our post 8 Ways To De-clutter Your House and Re-master Your Life!

Photo courtesy of Janitorial

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Tastefully Use the Color Pink in Your Home

Posted on March 8, 2012 by Michelle Eging

Pinks seems to be a color that people either love to teeny weenie bits or that they loath with every fiber of their soul. Growing up, I used to insist that I couldn’t stand the color pink. Then, as I got a little older, I found it creeping into my wardrobe, first a pair of highheels, next a headband, and finally culminating with a pink sweater. Now, I realize it isn’t the color I hate so much as the saccarine sweet girly girl associations that came with it.

But pink is more than unicorns and glitter. It can bring either a calm or quirky energy to a space depending on the shade. It can soften or embolden, accent or be the star of the show, add a touch of class or a touch of sass. Here are some color combinations you might want to consider when working pink into the interior of your home.

Photo courtesy of Elements of Style

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Recaulk the Bathroom: Winter Home Decorating Project

Posted on March 1, 2012 by Michelle Eging

Cleanliness and a home in good repair go a long way towards making staying indoors bearable. Due to moisture, bathrooms can dilapidate into mold and cracked caulking faster than you know it. Repairing the caulk in your bathroom is another perfect weekend project that will brighten the snowy days and check off one more week until spring!

Photo courtesy of Something To Chase

If you don’t want to stop at just the caulking, you might find our post Decorating on a Budget: Bathroom helpful.

Your first question might be, how do I know if the caulk needs repaired? If there are a lot of black spots that you can’t clean or if the rubbery material is fraying, then replacing it would both stop the mold in its tracks and protect your tub, etc from water damage.

Photo courtesy of Home Repair Handyman.com

To replace your caulk, you will need:

  • silicon caulk remover
  • utility knife or razor blade
  • new caulk (you can find caulk meant especially for bathrooms)
  • painter’s tape

How to remove caulk:

First, you will need to remove the caulk currently around your tub or shower. Use the utility knife or razor blade to cut off as much of the caulk as you can. Then, spread silicon caulk remover over the remaining caulk and the seam between tub and wall (follow the instructions on the packaging). After you’ve let it sit the appropriate amount of time, use your putty knife to scrape off the rest of the caulk.

Photo courtesy of DoItYourself

Cleaning the seam:

After the old caulk has been stripped away, clean the seam to make sure you kill all the mold. Rubbing alcohol or a bleach-water mixture should so the trick. Allow this to dry before proceeding.

Prep for caulking:

Apply the painters tape about 1/4 inch above the seam you are going to recaulk. Fill the tub with water. This might sound strange, but it weighs down the tub so you have the maximum amount of space in your seam to fill with caulk.

Apply caulking:

Apply caulk from one corner to the other along your first seam. Make sure there are no gaps– I find it’s better to apply a thick amount rather than be skimpy. Be sure to keep the pressure on the trigger constant and then release the trigger when you get to the end of your first strip. Clean the tip of the caulking gun with a damp rag and then repeat for each wall you’d like to do.

Photo courtesy of This Old House

With a damp finger, run your fingertip along the caulk. This helps push it into the seam and makes it even. Don’t worry, it washes from your skin easy enough.

Photo courtesy of Dover Projects

After about 10-15 minutes, remove the painter tape, stripping it away at a 45 degree angle.

Allow the caulk to set for 24 hours before using your tub or shower.

Yep, it really is that easy. If you’re still looking for more insight, here’s a great tutorial by gloriaoquendorealtor on YouTube. Now you don’t have to put on blinders whenever you take a bath and rest your head next to that ominous looking strip of caulk (or maybe that’s just my experience as an apartment renter).

Photo courtesy of Young House Love

 

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