house with stone walk & flag

By John Balentine

Improving a home’s curb appeal – that first impression seen from the street or driveway – is not only vital to sellers wanting to maximize the value of their property, it also has the net effect of maximizing enjoyment while still living in the home.

Many folks often regret not making upgrades sooner. They keep putting off projects that eventually need to be done prior to putting the house on the market. Rather than wait, why not do those projects now? Sure, it takes a little effort and a little money to spruce things up, but with the winter’s snow piles melted and temperatures becoming cooperative for the do-it-yourselfer, early spring is the best time to make those little changes around the house, especially since the bugs are (mostly) still hibernating and home improvement stores are offering sweet deals.

And let’s face it: some homes in Maine need some help. Did a plow truck driver slam into your mailbox or front wall during the winter? Is a broken branch dangling from your tree? What about that front walkway? After another season of freezing and melting, is it cracked, chipped and disintegrating?

Well, now’s the time to take care of these items, since completing them will not only increase the beauty of your property but your pride in, and enjoyment of, your castle.

According to local home and landscape experts, the front yard is the place to start.

Jeff O’Donal, of O’Donal’s Nursery in Gorham, says the first thing you want to do is buy a few bags of mulch and an edger. You can buy a motorized edger, or you can buy a simple spade. Either way, you want to put a fresh edge on any garden beds or walkways and cover those beds with new mulch. With an afternoon’s labor, curb appeal, and your pride, will skyrocket.

“You want to dress up your front yard,” O’Donal said. “No. 1, you want to clean out the weeds and dead stuff and just mulch it. Put down a new batch of mulch and you’ll look complete.”

So, after the mulch is down and beds are edged, the next step, O’Donal said, is to add a little seasonal color to the front yard.

“Everyone in Maine probably has some evergreens, flowering shrubs, maybe some lilacs in their yards. These might flower for two weeks a year, which isn’t much. Instead, what you want to do is carve out a piece of ground or even cut up the lawn in front of those plants and install a combination of perennials, annuals and bulbs,” O’Donal recommends. “For cheap money you can greatly increase the impact of your landscape.”

His third suggestion is to improve approaches to the home. Edge or put a border on the driveway, and make sure you attend to any walkways.

Walkways are like an extended welcome mat for your home, welcoming you and newcomers. Most homes have them, but few maximize their visual impact. If you don’t have a walkway, or it is an unsightly mess of cracking and flaking concrete, install a new one using flagstone, pavers or bricks, depending on what fits in with your landscape, O’Donal said.

“Do it right, though, especially here in Maine. Whatever you put on top, I recommend going down 8 to 10 inches and putting a base of gravel,” O’Donal said.

John Jacques, manager of Genest Landscape and Masonry Center on Enterprise Drive in North Windham, is an expert on improving the look of a home by means of stone.

He said the materials and designs that can be used for creating walkways are extensive. Cobblestones are a “virtually bullet-proof” walkway material, as are concrete pavers, that come in a variety of styles.

“Make sure they meet specs,” Jacques said, however. “Pavers you see on DIY shows may do fine in South Carolina, but here in Maine you need thicker materials which can handle the freeze-thaw cycles.”

For those wanting to do more than the usual quick-hit, low-cost, high-impact projects to add a splash to the yard, Jacques recommends water features and fire pits, both of which, he said, are selling well.

With water features, which have a unique visual and auditory impact with the sound of trickling waterfalls, Jacques sells everything from simple re-circulating container waterfalls to full-blown water gardens and pondless waterfalls running down a slope, complete with liners, pumps and filters.

Firepits range in complexity and size as well. Genest sells everything from a steel fire ring for less than $150 “all the way up to a modular concrete circular pit with steel liner for $425,” Jacques said. And if you want to go even bigger, Genest recommends backyard fireplaces and chimney packages as well as brick ovens starting at $1,500 so you, your family and friends can enjoy homemade pizza instead of traditional barbecue.

“These are very popular in Europe – pizza ovens right in your backyard,” Jacques said.

For Jacques, increasing curb appeal and beautifying the yardscape is a movement gaining popularity as people aim to maximize the use of their own property.

“Even in a down economy, people still want to feel good about their homes and to make an investment in them, especially since it’s something you will see a return on. But more than that, they want to enjoy it,” he said.

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A CLOSER LOOK

According to Ask.com, there are many ways to improve your home’s curb appeal not only for higher resale but, more importantly, enhanced enjoyment of your property. These include:

GREEN HEALTHY LAWN Edge your lawn. ?If your lawn is dead or just looks weed-infested and lifeless, it may be worth the money to have new sod laid down. The positive visual impact of a lush green lawn that has been freshly edged is significant.

NICE LANDSCAPING A pop of color goes a long way from the curb. Planting some colorful annuals and ground cover around trees looks great. If your home has no foundation plantings, try to add something at the front of the house. A home with ?no landscaping looks uninviting.

FRESH PAINT A freshly painted front door is inviting. A freshly painted house, more inviting. Freshly painted trim makes a house look very ?sharp and clean.

CLEAN WINDOWS Make them shine. Dirty windows in springtime (or anytime for

that matter) make a home look unkempt.

Genest Landscape & Masonry, based in North Windham, recently completed this project in southern Maine. Note how the walkway and shrubs dramatically increase the curb appeal of the home. This spring, you, too, can increase the curb appeal of your home with a few days of labor and a little money.