wood shed plans

Instead of calling it “curb appeal,” I’m going to call it “front yard glamour.” Sound sexier?

Whatever you call it, the front of your home is the king pin of home staging.Its usually your MLS profile shot and how buyers judge your home when they spy it for the first time.

Summers over and the real estate market might slow down, but thats all the more reason to have your home looking more attractive than ever from the outside. Here’s how:

If you do nothing else, and before you do anything else, remove debris from around your home. Get rid of what’s accumulated from previous seasons. There might be things like plants past their summer prime, tree limbs left from summer storms, and leaves that have blown into the yard.  

Already, you’ve made a huge difference!

If you’re a gardener, selling a home and moving gets complicated, because you’ll want to take some plants with you to your next home. Fall is the time to divide those perennials like hostas, ferns, irises, and daylilies, to pot them up or store them in peat moss to make the move with you. You can also collect seeds from plants you love, and dig up tender bulbs and tubers from cannas, gladiolas, lilies, dahlias, caladiums, and elephant ears.

Give your yard an up-to-the-minute look by putting into storage empty flower pots, fountains, summer sports equipment, cushions, hoses, pool toys, and umbrellas. I like to leave out some outdoor furniture so buyers are reminded of outdoor features like a patio, porch, or deck.

If you have a bare spot in the lawn where a kiddie pool was all summer, can you convert it to a fire pit? If your flower boxes are empty, can you fill them with evergreen boughs?   

If you live where winters are severe, you’ll winterize your pool. If you live where winters are warm, leaving a pool uncovered provides an outdoor focal point that’s a selling feature to most buyers, but only if you are willing to maintain it through the winter.

Most pools are situated behind a house, but sometimes they are still visible from the street.  This home in Florida is located on the Intracoastal Waterway,  so the pool is part of a different kind of curb appeal, or "canal appeal."

While there’s still some foliage on shrubbery and trees is a good time to prune. You’ll be able to spot any dead or diseased branches, making sensible pruning easier. Dont prune shrubs that flower in early spring, including azaleas and hydrangeas, because youll remove the flower buds that set over the summer.  

Keep shrubs from crowding walkways. Keep them from blocking views from inside the house. Prune them back hard if they are getting leggy. Prune them so they’re wider at the bottom than at the top, so that sunlight can reach lower branches.   

 

 

Autumn’s the time to purchase and plant bulbs that will bloom in the spring. You can buy them locally at nurseries, garden centers and big box stores, but I like to get mine from a long-established company like Terra Ceia or Brecks where I know I’ll get my money’s worth in large and healthy bulbs.

Plan right, and there will be something blooming every month, possibly beginning even as early as February with plants such as snowdrops and narcissi. And squirrels dont like either of these bulbs. You will thank me for this advice, and you are welcome!   

Mulch is to your landscape what paint is to your home’s interior – the quickest and cheapest way to make everything else look better!

Whatever you use for mulch -- wood chips or bark, compost, or pine straw -- get out there and refresh it. If your mulch is stone, gravel, or rocks, make sure it’s free of weeds and other junk. I don’t recommend cocoa hulls because they are toxic to pets, and I don’t recommend cypress because harvesting it can deplete cypress swamps.  

Any plant requires frequent watering when it’s just settling in. That’s why planting shrubs in the fall makes more sense than in springtime, when the warmer weather makes more demands on a plant.

Planting now gives any new small trees or shrubs a chance to establish their root systems before the ground cools during the winter. And you might get better deals on prices in the fall than in the spring.

I know it sounds geeky, but a soil test will let you know how to fertilize your lawn and ornamental areas, and what plants will thrive where you live.

Did you know that we homeowners typically over-use chemicals on our yards and gardens? Save money and save the environment by using only what your soil needs. Start by testing your soil.

Most USstates offers this service for a small fee, as a function of your local county extension service. Here’s more information on soil testing:

One thing the serious turf aficionados talk about is aeration. What it amounts to is putting lots of holes in the lawn -- holes that are not easily visible but allow the lawn to perk better. Aerating a lawn lets water, fertilizers, and air to move into the soil to encourage healthier grass. The opposite of an aerated lawn is a compacted lawn and we all know how that looks – bare! If you have compacted areas due to foot traffic, create a path of stepping stones to protect the lawn.

If your lawn is a warm season grass, aeration should be done in the spring. Cool season grass? Do it now. Here is more information on aeration.

This one is a little trickier than the others, because when you fertilize depends on where you live, what kind of grass you have, and what else you are growing.

Best bet: check with dependable sources of information for your area, not people with vested interests such as chemical salesmen and lawn services. State universities and colleges, especially agricultural colleges, will give you impartial and current advice, so go to the websites for the these institutions in your state.

Now that your front yard is uncluttered and clean (just like your home’s interior) you can bring out a little winter decor. Maybe a solar-heated birdbath would enliven the front yard. If you live where winters arent severe, you may be able to introduce winter color with annuals like pansies and flowering kale. And for the ultimate touch of front yard glamour, don’t forget to give a nod to the season with a front door winter wreath, maybe one youve made yourself from rags, or pine cones. 

My $4.99 eBook, DIY Home Staging Tips to Sell Your Home Fast and For Top Dollar, includes one entire chapter on exterior home staging. If you have a home on the market, you cant afford to be without it. I guarantee it will help you sell your home!