Tag: garden

Whether you have a brand new home, investment property, or are thinking of selling  your family home, adding extra value where you can is always beneficial. While this may conjure up visions of expensive renovations, this doesn’t have to be the case. Regardless of your budget, adding extra value to your property is always possible. 

Our home improvement guide lists budget-friendly options along with some more expensive options that will help take your home to the next level and help improve sale price should you wish to sell. 

Budget-Friendly Options

1. PAINTING ROOMS

Simply enough, adding a new colour to the walls of a room can make the most dramatic change and add significant value to your home. It is quite simply the most effortless renovation you can make with the greatest return on investment. Colours have the power to influence moods and enhance wellbeing. Think of the vibe you want for your home and develop a colour scheme to match. This will provide your home with the makeover it deserves and bring out the traits of your personality. Painting your home can really refresh your house and make it more appealing. However, keep in mind if you are looking to sell your property that sticking to neutral colours will appeal to a broader audience.

2. LIGHT FIXTURES

Another area of home improvements often overlooked by homeowners, which can provide an impressive return on investment is lighting. Old-fashioned and outdated light fixtures can be detrimental to your home’s appearance. Using energy efficient light bulbs and fixtures will help to minimise energy consumption throughout your home. By replacing your less-appealing light fixture with a small modern chandelier, you can well and truly bring your home to life. Chandeliers bring forth elegance and beauty to any room. Fortunately, many lighting stores and even some hardware stores offer a large range of lighting options at affordable prices. You can also add other lighting fixtures such as wall-mounted lights to your bathroom to further enhance your home’s new vibe or use lighting to enhance and show off artworks throughout the home.

3. LANDSCAPING

Investing time into your front and backyard can be just as beneficial, if not more, than your interior. Having a landscaped garden can immediately add significant value as it majorly contributes to the external appearance of your home. No matter the extent of your budget, simple steps such as planting native trees or laying fresh turf can greatly improve your home’s appearance. You may also decide to invest in building a patio, creating the ideal area for outdoor entertainment with the potential to increase your homes overall value. Patios are estimated to generate approximately 100% ROI.

4. ENTRANCE UPDATES

The entrance to your home is crucial, and potentially one of the first areas you should consider updating in order to increase value to your home. While every home is different, the entrance is most commonly the first area people see and first impressions are vital, especially if you are considering selling. You can start by ensuring your front yard is well-maintained and neat, then observe other areas which may need attendance. Your fence may need replacing or repainting, perhaps your letterbox is a little outdated, or your driveway may need repairing. By ensuring the entrance to your home is kept neat and modern, you can instantly increase the worth of your home.

More Labour Intensive Options:

1. ROOF RESTORATION

Your roof is a critical section of your home, which can undoubtedly make or break your home’s external appearance. Most homeowners often overlook the significance of their roof and how one tiny crack could quite quickly lead to bigger problems and potentially put your safety at risk. As we are all well aware, Australia is known for beautiful yet dramatic weather. As such, roofs act as a shield protecting your home from storms and heatwaves. Perhaps all your roof needs is a few tiles replaced, a pressure wash and a repaint. By having a roof restoration, you can prolong the life of your entire house and prepare your home for all weather conditions, saving yourself from future headaches.  

2. WINDOW FURNISHINGS

Installing window furnishings such as roller shutters, plantation shutters, and louvre shutters are an affordable way to add value to your home. Depending on your choice of style, window furnishings can provide a timeless elegance and modern look for your home. Owning a home with shutters provides a sense of security and protection, so homeowners feel at ease knowing their families are provided with an extra element of safety. Shutters also assist in keeping your house cooler during hotter periods and warmer during colder periods, significantly reducing your electricity bills. Sleep peacefully at night with window furnishings which blur out any unnecessary noise or light which may interrupt your sleep. 

3. ADD A BALCONY

Installing a balcony in your home brings forth a number of benefits. Balconies are the ideal touch of sophistication in a home. Adding character, style, and providing access to beautiful views of your surrounding areas. Having a balcony in your home can also increase the value of your home if and when you decide to sell, as they are believed to acquire aesthetic value. You may even notice by having a balcony, the size of your home will appear significantly larger and provide an additional area to entertain guests. Balconies also offer a great source of natural lighting to brighten your entire home.

4. UPDATED KITCHEN

Investing time into updating your kitchen will certainly boost the value of your home. Whether you plan on hiring a professional to remodel your kitchen or you prefer to take on more of a D.I.Y. approach, kitchen upgrades are a high return on investment. If you do not have the finances to take on an entire kitchen makeover, simple steps can lead to big outcomes. Sometimes painting your cabinets and replacing outdated kitchen hardware can make an impressive impact on your kitchen’s overall appearance. 

5. BATHROOM MAKEOVER

A bathroom makeover or addition can significantly add value to your home. A clean and modern bathroom is always aesthetically pleasing to any potential home buyer or owner. Most bathrooms only require minor changes such as a fresh coat of paint, new showerheads, taps or faucets or perhaps a modern vanity. You can easily make most of these changes yourself without the need for an experienced plumber. Also, if you have the room and the finances, you could also consider installing an additional bathroom. The more bathrooms a property has, the greater the home is worth. 

HOW MUCH SHOULD YOU SPEND?

When updating your home to add value, it is crucial to create a budget and plan prior to making any changes.  You should create a budget based upon the market value of your home. Do not spend more than 10% of your homes market value on updates in order to obtain ROI.  Create a list of areas needing improvement in your home, then further define this list by indicating what is urgent and what is not so critical. Many home improvements can now be completed without the requirement of experienced tradespeople However, there are always some instances where it pays to bring in the experts. 

Speak to your local home improvement specialists to learn more about how they can help you add value to your home or investment property.  

If you live in a home with any type of garden, you’ll know that keeping your backyard in shape is one of the most overwhelming things to do. So, that’s why we’ve put together these tips to help cover what to clean this spring. From cleaning up fallen plants to a big wipedown, you’ll want to get started soon before the hot weather sets in. It’s always good to keep your plants in a healthy condition, hence why this guide will help you keep them looking their best.

Prune your shrubs

Get your shrubs pruned early on this season. Spring pruning helps trigger faster growth and helps keep diseases away. A good starting point for pruning any plant is to remove dead, diseased, or damaged stems as soon as you see them. Dead stems attract insects and cultivate diseases to start developing.

Removing the dead leaves from Winter

As the weather starts to warm up, you should remove the dead leaves that have fallen over the Winter period. Dead leaves can be a hub for fungus and unwanted insects to start building up in your garden, so it’s important to remove them in order to keep your plants healthy.

Regularly removing the branches and leaves that drop will keep the decomposing plants away from, so your garden is organically healthy and you won’t need external products to help maintain the quality of your garden.

Replant the vegetable garden

In order to ensure you have a good harvest the upcoming year, you should replant and revitalise your garden bed early on this Spring. Plant your first round of cool-season crops in late winter or early spring, about one-third of the total crop you plan to harvest in early summer. These crops can include lettuces and root vegetables. For existing crops, give them a fresh layer of soil and fertilise them as they sprout over Spring.

Tidy up your outdoor areas

With the warmer weather slowly coming, you’ll be spending more time in your backyard, so make sure you give the outdoor furniture a cool clean. From the outdoor lounges to the shutters, they probably haven’t been used over the Winter. Wash the hard to reach places to avoid any nasty surprises from spiders when you actually use it.

Sweep the pavement and other hard surfaces to remove all the accumulated leaves and dirt. Mossy or slippery paths can be cleaned and treated with a pressure washer.

Add mulch to your garden

A quick way to spruce up the garden, reduce weeds and save water all at once is to add a thick layer of mulch to your garden bed. With the summer heat coming soon, mulch provides a range of benefits for your plants such as shading roots on hot days, preventing moisture from evaporating and stopping weeds from taking root.

These are just a few of the tips you can follow to spruce up your garden. We know it can be an overwhelming task to bring your garden back up to an immaculate condition so take your time and work through them to slowly have your garden ready for you to invite friends over.