5 Simple Ways to Make Your Property Look More Inviting to Visitors

Courtesy of flickr

Times are hard at the moment. Doom and gloom surrounds us at every turn. We are underpaid and overworked. Surviving another working week and trudging home in the pouring rain on Friday is the best we can hope for.

But wait a minute, now it is a weekend! Time to forget about working for someone else and have some fun improving our own beloved homes. The place where we are secure and happy.

So Saturday morning arrives, and the hangover is beginning to diminish. A great project for the weekend is to tittivate the frontages of our property. I don’t mean going to the trouble of repainting the window frames, that is just boring. Let’s take a look at a few jobs you can do that will make your property appear more welcoming.

Garden

It is probably part of your weekend maintenance routine already. Mow the lawn and dig a few weeds out of the borders. Also stand back and take a critical look at your bushes and shrubs. Do they need a trim with the garden shears? Often we do not notice when they are becoming too big because it is a slow process.

Driveway

One sure way to make your house look tired is to neglect the driveway. Buying or renting a pressure washer can make your driveway gleam like new in just half an hour.

• Concrete drives may be blasted at full pressure.

• Remove all the green slime from flagstones at high pressure

• Refresh your block paved driveway by washing it over on a medium pressure. Buy some sand to brush back into the joints from your local builders merchants.

• Use a good strong path clearing weed killer to get rid of unwanted greenery. Driveways look nasty when weeds are forcing their way out of the cracks.

Building Frontage

Fetch your drill out of the shed and fix a few hanging baskets on the wall. Another trick to make your frontage more welcoming is to fix a front door canopy in place. Visitors can keep dry while waiting for you to answer the door. A canopy will also help to stop water finding its way into your house. There are hundreds of attractive designs on the market these days from wood to plastic.

Gates and Railings

If you have ironwork, it may need a quick coat of paint to make it shine again. This could be more than you want to do on a relaxing weekend. However, if there is only a little bit to do, it won’t take long. Alternatively, a wooden gate could be re-stained or varnished. Think about building a new one if the existing one is too far past it’s best.

Pots

Plant pots are the most useful items in your garden. Get them planted up with some pretty flowers, water well, and wait for them to do their thing. A planter with daffodil and tulip bulbs planted densely  will give years of good service. Maybe you could purchase a couple of pieces of topiary to place either side of your front door. Or maybe just one larger piece. They are a real talking point.

Soon enough, the front of your home will look rejuvenated and happy. Now is the time to put the NO SALES OR RELIGION sign on the door. We don’t want to be too welcoming now do we?