Increase Home Appeal 5 Ways

In Lacey most home prices are based on square footage.  But whether or not your home sells quickly often depends on curb appeal and what your home has that others don’t.  The best thing you can do is make your home so desirable that a bidding war ensues and you walk away with more than you expected from the sale of your home.  Here are some wonderful ideas for increasing the curb appeal of your home.

1. Extra Parking

Most homes in Lacey are part of a homeowners association or HOA as they are known.  HOAs have strict rules about parking.  You’re allowed to park in your driveway, but not on the street.  Street parking can be fined as much as $175 per incident.  That adds up quickly if you have teenagers or lots of parties.  But there’s a solution to that.

Here’s a wonderful DIY Video on creating a gravel parking cutout.

You can place a gravel parking cutout just about anywhere that leads to the street.  Obviously you wouldn’t want to place it next to a curb because it would require driving over the curb which may violate city ordinances.  But if you have a spot with easy access to the street or your driveway, call up the city, see if you need a permit, and design your gravel parking cutout. In the DIY video above, he creates the gravel parking cutout right beside his house and even designs a gutter drainage field under the gravel parking cutout.  That’s pretty clever.  The same concept would apply for sprinklers.

If you want a more refined look, you can create a tiled parking cutout.  And remember, there are a lot of landscapers who can include parking in landscaping designs.  Keep that in mind if you’re planning on landscaping your home as well.

2.  Covered Walkway

In Washington, it rains.  In fact, it rains most of the year.  A covered walkway to your front door is valuable.  It’s also an excellent way to landscape your front and back yard, providing a dry, shaded spot to sit out the weather whether it’s a hot sunny day or a rainy one.  Here are just a few ideas for store-bought solutions to covered walkways:

1. • Pergolas lined together over a walkway (purchased from a home improvement store like Home Depot or Lowes)
   • Arbors lined together over a walkway and draped with trailing plants (please don’t use ivy as it is invasive and destructive)
   • DIY built arbors or pergolas (arbors tend to be rounded and narrower while pergolas are wider and square)

Pay attention to how other people pave the walkway that’s covered.  Flagstones, cedar wood planks, even concrete slabs all work.  Gravel, rocks, mulch, or even sand would work.  It depends on what look you’re going for and your budget.  Don’t count out anything until you’ve explored all the options.

3.  Polyvinyl Fence

I’ve always wanted a home with a white picket fence.  In fact, I’m not alone.  A lot of homeowners are looking for that straight-out-of-a-magazine home with a white picket fence around it.  Now it’s not only affordable, but easy to do it yourself.  Polyvinyl fencing is available at most home improvement stores like Home Depot or Lowes.  Most brands require a few simple steps to install:

1. 1. Put together panels according to instructions.
   2. Layout panels inserted into posts to get an idea of where you will place everything.  Read the instructions.
   3. Dig holes for posts and fill with quick concrete.
   4. Insert panels and attach connectors.
   5. If you left space for a gate, connect that in the same way you connected the panels.
   6. Done. 😉

There are usually people available to help you at the store if you have questions, but I’ve found the most help comes from the reviews left for the products.

A few things to note about polyvinyl fencing:

1. 1. It is easy to cut the fence panels to adjust for hills, slopes, and dips in the terrain.
   2. It’s completely weatherproof.
   3. If a panel is somehow damaged from weather, vandalism, or whatever, it is super easy to replace just the panel without changing anything else.
   4. It’s extremely affordable.  We did our backyard for less than $700.
   5. The gates are more durable than wooden ones which tend to sag from the weight of the wood.
   6. They last forever and always look brand new.
   7. If they get dirty just wash with Dawn dishwashing soap and water.

4.  Landscaping

When you use the word landscaping it brings to mind different things for different people.  Some people automatically think “water conservation“.  Others think “Japanese garden“.  Still others think “functionality“.  No matter what you’re thinking, any type of landscaping adds curb appeal to your home.  And while you’re at it, do something with that backyard too.  There are so many possibilities and when a family comes to look at your home and sees the love and care you’ve put into it, they’ll want to move right in, and pay more to do it.

A few things to note about landscaping in Washington:

1. 1. Plants, bushes, and trees do better planted in the spring or fall, not the summer.
   2. We are zone 8 in Lacey, Washington.  We are close to the Pacific Ocean and Puget Sound which gives us a temperate climate.
   3. There are more nurseries in Oregon than in Washington.  You can drive to Oregon and buy some, but it’s better to buy local.  Plan to order online or stake out the home improvement stores so you’ll get there before they’re gone.
   4. Farm supply stores have the best deals on dirt, sand, and mulch.  It pays to shop around and get a truckload rather than buy the large bags at the home improvement store.
   5. Flag stones break.  Consider one of the Rubberific pavers.  They’re lightweight, weatherproof, durable, and movable.  They also flip over for a different pattern and come in colors.  The brick color is especially attractive and sold at Lowes home improvement store.

5.  Security Screen Door

One of the first things that surprised me about Washington is that no one seems to have screen doors.  Not even the new construction homes.  If you come from the Midwest or the South this is kind of shocking because how do you keep the mosquitoes out when you open the door?  Or the moths if you have a light right outside your door?  Well, you don’t.  They fly right in.  So I love screen doors.  And I’m not alone.

My favorite screen doors are called security screen doors.  These are the ones that lock and are sturdy.  When you open your door to greet whoever is knocking, be safe.  Make sure your kids are safe, with a security screen door.  You can talk through it and keep it locked while you send away that solicitor that looks like a PSE guy with the fluorescent work vest (Yes, they do that).  They also keep debris from filling your doorway during windy days.

There are all kinds of things you can do with a screen door.  I mean that decoratively.  So make sure you check out the decorative designs before you decide on a door.  Most home improvement stores have a wide selection of screen doors.  If the one near you doesn’t then check out having one shipped from another store.  This is usually free.  🙂

I hope you’ve enjoyed this article about improving the curb appeal and value of your home.  Even in a competitive market like Lacey, houses are more than just real estate.  They’re homes, where people live, and that means we want them to be functional, but beautiful too.