6 Kerb Appeal Ideas to Enhance Your Property

“An Englishman’s home is his castle” – so goes the age-old saying; and despite property prices being sky-high, acquiring your own home remains one of the top aspirations in the UK today.

It’s such a good feeling to have a place of your own: somewhere to put your stamp on, to make comfortable, a place you can call home. But life gets busy, work can be stressful, families grow, time is precious and all too frequently, the first thing to be neglected is your home. Before you know it, your former pride and joy begins to look very run down and the warm glow it used to generate during that first flush of ownership is gone.

If this is you, don’t despair: having your home back looking spick and span need not be expensive or particularly onerous. With a bit of TLC, it will soon be looking its best again, you’ll be the envy of your neighbours – and you’ll boost its retail value too!

So, without further ado, let’s have a look at some ideas to inspire you and add significant kerb appeal to your property.

Kerb Appeal Ideas for your Property – Garden

Having your own bit of green to look out on and come home to is a real bonus for property owners. But nature in a confined space needs tending carefully otherwise, in next to no time, you’ll be over-run with weeds and your tiny bit of paradise will have become an unruly and unsightly jungle! On the whole, weeds are not deep-rooted and can easily be pulled out. Consider laying mulch or wood chippings on damp patches to prevent prolific weed growth. Plant evergreen shrubs to give a constancy of colour and structure to your front garden throughout the whole year. Then, select an array of colourful, seasonal perennials so that your garden is in bloom year after year.

If you are looking for an immediate fix once the weeding has been done, purchase a couple of containers and fill with colourful flowers. Not only will they add a colourful and welcoming touch to the front of your property, but they also come in very handy in terms of covering unsightly manhole covers or other blots on your frontage.

Front Door

Your front door is the focal point of your property, the entrance to your castle. As such, look after it – it doesn’t take much effort but failure to do so will very soon have it looking shoddy as the elements take their toll. A front door can quickly be spruced up simply by giving it a good wash down. But you might also like to consider repainting or re-varnishing it if it is made of wood. Striking colours such as red, navy or racing green are very much the vogue right now and will immediately provide kerb appeal to your property.

Polish handles, knockers, letter boxes or replace with new ones if they are really looking beyond their best. You’ll find so much to choose from in any hardware store and careful selection can instantly add stylistic flair to your front door.

Windows and Window Frames

First and foremost, get the windows cleaned. Get rid of the dust, cobwebs, and anything else unsightly that may have been deposited over the months and years that you’ve never got round to shifting. The effect will be dramatic both inside and out as light finally filters through again. If your UVPC frames are looking discoloured, invest in a proper cleaning detergent: they’ll come up good as new. If your frames are timber, treat or paint them: this will swiftly tidy up worn looking features and create a fresh new look that helps make a world of difference to the appearance of your home.

Drives and Pathways

Be it a first-time visitor or a potential buyer, first impressions are lasting impressions so make sure it’s a good one. Drives and pathways are designed to be durable, but years of traffic be it from cars or footfall will take their toll. Consider installing block paving or a feature resin drive to add noticeable kerb appeal and value to the property. But if funds don’t stretch that far, invest in or borrow a high-pressure washer to remove the build-up of years of hardened algae and ingrained dirt. The results will be dramatic and leave you amazed at the new and fresh brightness to your front.

Lighting

With such a plethora of lighting permutations and possibilities on the market, here is a fantastic way to highlight all the best features of your house frontage without breaking the bank. If access to a mains’ source is difficult, look at solar powered options: there really are so many to choose from. Use individual lamps to line and mark out clearly the path to the front door, drape solar strings from trees or shrubs to add a twinkle of magic or place around flowerbeds to add a welcoming touch to your front.

Keep an eye on porch lighting too: remove any creepy-crawlies that have ended entombed in the casing. That can be a real turn-off for anyone glancing up! And of course, consider replacing with a more modern and stylistic fixture if you really want to create a “Wow” factor.

Cladding

If the exterior walls of your home are beginning to look the worst for wear – perhaps they’ve been pebble-dashed in the past or painted with masonry paint – cladding can afford a superb solution. Cladding involves applying an extra layer to the outside of a building, protecting the wall beneath, enhancing insulation properties and creating a stunning appearance. A number of materials can be used including PVC, glass and metal but at NORclad, we specialise in timber cladding and think the properties and finish you get with timber is unrivalled compared to other cladding materials.

For inspiration, check out our case studies for recent projects we’ve worked on using timber cladding.

Learn More with NORclad

Enhancing the kerb appeal of your home not only makes you feel proud but can also significantly add to the retail value of your property should you be considering selling. We hope the above has given you a few tips on how to achieve this.

If you’d like to find out more about how we at NORclad can improve your property, please don’t hesitate to get in touch today.