If you are like most people, searching for that first home is like when I was a child my mother would take me to the donut shop and tell me to pick one. "One?", I would ask, but there's too many to choose from! Cake, French, buttermilk, raised, bars, eclairs, cinnamon rolls, scones, donut holes and all their variations plain, chocolate, raisins, sprinkels, maple, jelly, and on and on. To think I could only have one was torture! But somehow I survived. The same is true with having to choose just one house. Whether you use an agent or are determined enough to drive the community where you hope to live, the choices are seemingly endless and, for most of us, our wish list is greater than the depth of our wallet, or purse, as the case may be. But we eventually come back to reality and narrow our choice to the one that we are most comfortable with or that fits our budget the best. But somewhere in all our selection process we have created a picture of the home we desire, or hope it will become, in the not to distant future. What first attracts us to our home of choice is undoubtedly known as "curb appeal". To the first time buyer this may be the color, shape of the roof, flowers, a spacious lawn, the white picket fence or the double wide garage. For the "flipper" it may be the weathered roof, hanging gutter, dry landscape, cracked driveway or boarded up windows. You see it's all relative. It's how we imagine the house will be when we are through with our home improvements. In either case, what "is" and what "will be" is what helps us to generate our home improvement list. There is no doubt that when it comes time to sell, that element of "curb appeal" will carry a lot of weight. So what will make the exterior of your home most appealing? My recommendation would be to landscape your home well. Improvements that bring color and soften the sharp angles of the typical ranch style home will return bigger dollars than a home that, from the outside, looks like it is a candidate for the "flipper", who of course is expecting to pay the least because of its low curb appeal. But you say , "I don't know anything about plants or landscaping!" Well, surprise surprise your local nurseryman will be happy to give you a hand. The first thing you want to do is to take a picture of your home, have it scanned and blow it up to where you can have a size suitable to tape proportionally sized cut outs of plants in their mature state to its surface. If you are a visionary person and can see, in your minds eye, those plants in all their glory, you can get right to the digging, but for most of us it is helpful to have this front elevation to show your nurseryman. With scan in hand, approach your local nurseryman and in a very short time you will have a list of plants that can in one days time be the start of that picture you have created. With water and time your vision will become a reality.
Hand in hand with landscaping comes irrigation. Obviously, if you are going to invest in a landscape home improvement project you are going to want to protect that investment by installing an irrigation system. Here again your nurseryman can be very helpful. In addition the manufacturers of irrigation supplies are more than happy to provide you with a free irigation layout which includes everything from timers, to valves, to all the pop up heads and sprinklers based on the placement of your plants and their watering needs. Don't deny yourself this free planning service; it will save you a lot of money and expedite the completion of your home improvement project.
The great thing about landscape home improvement projects is the immediate gratification and value it brings to your home. Irrigation supplies are relatively inexpensive compared to any structural alterations you may plan for your interior, with the exception of drywall projects. A short word about the purchase of plants. If you are intending to stay in your home for awhile buy small specimens. Look for healthy 1 gallon specimens as opposed to the 5 gallon varieties. Most plants take the first year to devlope their root systems and then they begin to mature, so for the price you pay for having a single 5 gallon specimen you can buy 3 or 4 one gallon plants that, within a year, will be close in size to the 5 gallon. If you can afford to buy all your plants at the same time your nurseryman will undoubtedly give you a healthy discount, comparable to that given a professional landscaper. If you can buy at a wholesale nursery supplier you will save even more, enough perhaps to spruce up the back yard as well!
Other projects you might consider for the exterior include:
- Painting- your scanned picture will come in handy here as well.
- Pressure wash walkways and driveway
- Lighting both landscape and house fixtures.
- Entry door and lockset
- Mail box
- Water feature
- Fencing
- Architectural details such as a trellis, arbor, door and window trim, railings and ballasters or columns. Keep in mind the style of your home and current trends.
Interior home improvements lend themselves to the creature comforts we desire and those features that make a house a home. I think their is little doubt that the room most women would want to to have improved would be the kitchen and for the men ,their garage or the TV room. I would say most women would default the garage to their spouse, unless it also happens to house the laundry facilities, in which case there will be a necessary compromise. But let's assume you are new home buyers and the budget is maxed out just acquiring the property, what then? Well, in my opinion there is nothing like a fresh coat of paint to add value to your home. Running a close second, architectural upgrades, would be worth considering, i.e., baseboards, door casings, crown molding, and chair rails, where appropriate. Such home improvements do two immediate things: Create a "feeling" that is your own and updates to current trends. Before I would paint or remove trim I would head to the nearest model homes and consider the options they display both in terms of color selection and architectural trim. Remember they are displaying current market trends both in design and color. If you intend to "flip" your home then let this be your guide. If you intend to make this the home of your present and future, understand that what you see today may not be in style when you sell but at least you have updated to what was current when you purchased and if your neighbors have not done so, your house will look far better to a prospective buyer having to choose between your home and the neighbor who may not have upgraded yet. The colors you see in a model home may not suit your tastes but often they will show you how accent colors can punch up a decor and give you confidence to try something a bit "out of the box", if you will. If you chose to improve your moldings as well as the paint, you may need to borrow, rent or, for the long haul, purchase a miter saw. Here's where you will learn valuable skills and come to know the carpenters matra, "measure twice , cut once". Find a friend who has done this before or "Google" crown molding installation tips and you will save yourself a lot of trim. There is an art to this process. Feel free to contact me for more details. A few other interior home improvement projects you might consider on a shoe string budget include:
- Lighting fixtures- here again check out the model homes for current trends.
- Bathroom accessories- towel bars, shower curtains
- Interior doors & locksets
Good luck with these high return home improvement projects!
