What side of your house are you paying more attention to?

As my wife and I are in the market to purchase our first house, we have taken into account the curb appeal and how we would want to dress up the outside of a potential home for future resale value. We both enjoy being outside and have always wanted some sort of water feature in our backyard that we can relax by, however I realize the most important aspect when looking should be on the other side of the house. An article I found from curbappeals.com basically talked directly to us about what we wanted to do with our new home versus what we should actually do not only for better curb appeal but also for resale value down the road.

Project 1: Curb Appeal

FIRST IMPRESSIONS, AS anyone in the dating game will tell you, are key. So before you start designing that luxurious backyard koi pond, get the front of your house in order: mowing, weeding, trimming shrubs, putting in fresh sod if you need to. If you have a budget, it’s important to focus your landscaping around key areas. Something that’s going to be viewed a lot — like the front of the house.

When the no-brainers are done, you can start getting serious. The hot trend at the moment: beautiful pathways, made of brick or concrete pavers, winding from the street to the front door. You have to eliminate the ‘garage walk,’ or that 3-foot-wide path that routes visitors from the garage to the front door. Make the path slightly staggered or curved to give it some character. Place a wooden “pergola,” or archway, over the path to define an entranceway; one can be purchased at a home-improvement store for a few hundred dollars. Flank the path with Mediterranean-style pots featuring flowering container plants.

Next, add some light. Low-wattage ground lighting to sandwich the path is fairly easy to install and will boost the effect immeasurably in the evening hours (do-it-yourself kits are available from around $100). For showstopper trees, add one higher-wattage lamp beneath. It gives the whole front yard a soft glow.

Redoing the front of your home can have spectacular effects. But for landscaping to be a real asset to your house it has to have enough time to grow into something special.

Low-maintenance plant material is best. Buyers want the yard to look great, but they don’t want it to be labor-intensive. Otherwise, you may turn off buyers — particularly downsizers. Also keep in mind that trees and shrubs are going to grow by leaps and bounds, so you want to give them the space to do it. The biggest single mistake people make is overplanting, crowding two majestic oaks within 10 feet of each other. Plants grow. If you want instant impact, be prepared to have maintenance problems in a few years.

Since it is our first home we are in the market for, we are looking for some sort of fixer upper that we can improve the value and potentially make money on the house down the road. In going several open houses we have now switched gears from looking at what we could do to the back of the house to how we could improve the curb appeal for a nicer look. Depending on which house we end up purchasing this article will be something that we will look back on as a refresher on what we could do and also to help us stay focus with our goal of generating more curb appeal and enhancing the value of our home.

Source:

http://curbappeals.com/?page_id=6

The Garage: Man Cave or not it needs a women’s touch!

The past week it was apparent that something in the garage had to give. With the recent move still a part of the garage and STUFF scattered throughout it was time for my wife and a detailed plan to be put into action; an action involving all the men in the house to clean and organize.

I found the following plan at www.doityourself.com  website which was a great guide to planning and attacking the garage. So I decided to share it.

Get Your Garage Organized

by Murray Anderson

Garages are like Rodney Dangerfield, they just don't get any respect. Got some old sports equipment – into the garage, leftover paint, into the garage, same for power tools , garden equipment and virtually everything else that doesn't have a defined space inside the house. Before you know it, your garage is a disorganized collection of 'stuff' and there is no place to park your vehicle or use a workbench. Getting your garage organized may seem like a monumental task, but in truth, if you approach the job in small steps getting it organized is an achievable goal.

Keep it or dump it

• Probably the hardest thing to do when getting your garage organized is making deciding what to do with a lot of the 'stuff' in there. Many things end up in the garage, because there is no space for them in the house, but you might want to use them – sometime. You need to make some realistic decisions about things like those old golf clubs you haven't used for four years.

• Organize the things in your garage into a couple of groups – things you will keep and things you can dump. However, before just throwing things away, think about whether they can be donated or perhaps you could have a garage sale and pick up a few dollars.

Categorize the things you're keeping

• Once you know what you're keeping, sort it into categories that make sense to you such as power tools, sports equipment, yard tools and yard furniture.

Organize your things by season or function

• Create a work space /work bench so you'll have space to work on your projects.
• Allocate the storage space in your garage by season or function so you'll know where to find everything and won't need to hunt around the entire garage looking for the kid's basketball when the weather warms up, just don't forget to leave enough space so you can get your vehicle inside.

Decide how you are going to store your things

• When it comes to garage storage options you have all kinds of choices. At minimal cost you can build open shelves from wood by yourself, and simply install nails or hangers into the garage framing to keep tools up off the ground. Alternatively, storage cabinets available from home stores do a great job of storing things out of sight while protecting them from moisture and dust or open wire shelving can help store your gear in plain sight and easy reach without creating a dirt collection area.   
• It's best to use multipurpose storage solutions rather than single function solutions so your newly organized garage can evolve over the years as your storage requirements change. For example once the kids leave home will you really need that bike storage rack or would ceiling hooks be a good place to store bikes when needed, but also provide a way to hang a canoe or some skis later on?

Murray Anderson is a veteran freelancer whose work has been appeared in books, newspapers and newsletters as well as on numerous web sites in both the United States and Canada. He writes on a wide range of topics including home, consumer, and personal subjects as well as general business and Marketing specific topics.

  Read more: http://www.doityourself.com/stry/get-garage-organized#ixzz1Z57adPBX

Most of us guys know that the women in our lives are much more organized and efficient at projects such as organizing the garage and could have wrote an article just like the one reposted here. Take that quality and experience into any project that involves organization and better use of the space we have in our homes. The new wall shelves, shoe storage cubes and bench area made a huge difference and all had a women’ touch to them.

Improving Curb Appeal through Landscape

As we discuss the different aspects of curb appeal, generally the focus is on the house and the accents that can be added to boost the value and appearance of your home. Landscaping is an important feature that shouldn’t be overlooked when evaluating the appeal. An article posted on HouseLogic.com by Pat Curry discusses several areas of the landscaping design and elements that can contribute to an improved curb appeal and value. Several categories should be focused on when beginning to landscape your home, remember a poorly maintained landscape can be as much as a 5 to 10% deduction in home value.

1.       Green up the grass - If your house has a front yard, make sure it's neat and green. You don't want bare spots, sprawling weeds, or an untrimmed appearance. Weather it is just going to your local hardware store and fertilizing the yard every six weeks or maybe you need to invent in some sod if you have a scruffy lawn, doing your own labor can be another alternative that is not too costly. Depending on the area in which you live, turf grass is becoming more popular due to its low maintenance and durable materials.

2.       Add colorful planting beds-Flower beds add color and help enliven otherwise plain areas, such as along driveways and the edges of walkways. In general, annual flowers are a bit cheaper but must be replaced every year. Perennials cost a bit more but come back annually and usually get larger or spread with each growing season. If you're not sure what to plant, inquire at your local garden center. Often, they'll have a display of bedding plants chosen for their adaptability to your area.



3.       Add landscape lighting- For homeowners who have made a sizeable investment in landscaping, it makes sense to think about adding another 10% to 15% to the bill for professional lighting. Those looking to purchase a home do not always look in the middle of the day, once it reaches dusk having some lights can really help with the homes appeal. The cost of a system runs from $200 for a DIY installation to more than $4,000 for a professional job. If you're doing it on your own, the key is to light what you want people to see, such as mature trees and flowering shrubs.

4.       Plant a tree- The value of mature trees is particularly difficult to determine. In a relatively average market, mature trees contribute as much as 10% of a $100,000 property's overall value. In addition, a properly placed shade tree can shave as much as $32 a year on your energy bills. Expect to pay $50 to $100 for a young, 6- to 7-foot deciduous tree. You can make your own initial assessment of the value of your property's trees by visiting the National Tree Benefit Calculator (http://www.treebenefits.com/calculator/index.cfm). For example, a mature Southern red oak tree with a diameter of 36 inches in the front yard of a house in Augusta, Ga., would add $70 to the property value this year, according to the calculator.

These are just four key areas to give some extra attention to when evaluating the curb appeal of your home and determining what aspects to invest in. Keep in mind the importance of curb appeal and when a potential home buyer sees your house, this will be the first impression and may even determine if they end up calling a realtor for a look inside.

Source
http://www.kingsmillrealestate.com/articles/?article=19

Glass Bottle Sculpture

With the summer finally over and the cooler weather rapidly upon us, I find the outside of my house losing some of its curb appeal due to the flowers dying off and the leaves on the trees beginning to fall. My wife and I were away on our honeymoon to come back to our house that seemed so dull and lacked the color that was previously there due to bare flower pots lining the front of our entry way. As we looked at different products or ideas to increase the curb appeal and bring back the color, we came across a simple and rather cheap DIY project. Not only could this project be done in a short time frame but we already had half of the materials which would cut the cost even more. Rather than storing the flower pots away in the garage, we kept the leaves and soil in them and began to collect glass bottles for our new plant sculptures!

Materials Needed for Project:

·       Colorful Glass Bottles

·       Bamboo Stakes

Step-By-Step:

1.    Collect colorful bottles and peel off the labels. If there is residue on the bottles from the labels, use Goo Gone to remove any remaining sticky adhesive. Thoroughly wash the outside and inside of the bottles with warm soap and water.

2.    Place the bamboo stakes in the flower pots or beds however you want them configured to appeal to your liking. (Remember to put the stakes far enough in the ground to hold up the glass bottles.)

3.    Carefully, place the glass bottles upside down on the bamboo stakes.

Within no time you have transformed your dull and empty flower pots into a new work of art. The color will help boost the curb appeal and make your home stand out from the rest as they lose the flowers that once lined the front of their home. Have fun with this and try different color bottles or use all the same color; the options with this project are endless!

Source

http://www.diyideas.com/quickprojects/Outdoors/outdoorprojects_ss3.html

DIY Project - Portable Tub Fountain

My fiancé and I have been looking at different type of water features for her garden for quite some time but just have not found one we liked or that was size appropriately to fit in her garden and look half way decent. We both enjoy listening to fountains or little waterfalls when we are outside relaxing, however sometimes they are either too large or not affordable on our budget at the stores near our house. This week I was able to find a DIY project that combined a small scale water feature that would fit in her garden along with an affordable price tag.

The materials needed for the DIY project consist of:

·         Submersible fountain pump that has at least 2 feet of tubing

·         Galvanized tub (ours is about 18 inches square)

·         Several clay pots or other filler, such as aluminum cans or foam blocks

·         50 pounds of various-size river rock

·         Galvanized 10-inch-diameter bucket

·         Drill and bits

·         Hammer

·         Metal file

·         Ceramic or glass 6- to 8-inch-diameter gazing ball

Step-by-Step

1. Start by placing the pump, with tubing attached, in the bottom of the tub, making sure the intake faces downward. Fill the bottom of the tub with upside-down clay pots or other filler.

2. Place a layer of rocks over the pots, but don’t pile them all the way up to the tub’s rim yet. Make sure the tubing comes up where you plan to set the bucket. For example, if you intend to place the bucket in one corner of the tub, be sure that’s where the tubing is positioned so that you can easily run it up through the bucket when the time comes. Run the pump’s power cord up and out of the tub.

 3. Drill a hole for the tubing in the bottom of the bucket, close to the edge. The hole size will depend on the tubing and should be no larger than the minimum required. This could require a fairly large drill bit, perhaps 3⁄4 inch or more. If you don’t have that size bit, drill several smaller holes in a tight cluster, then use a hammer to drive a chisel through them. Be sure to file away any sharp points.

4. Run the tubing up through the hole in the bottom of the bucket. The end of the tubing should extend at least several inches above the bucket’s top rim. Place the bucket in the rock-filled tub. In our example, the bucket is in one corner, but you could also place it in the center. If you want to tilt the bucket so the water will spill over one side, place a rock or two under the bottom of the bucket to give it the desired tilt.

5. Fill the remainder of the tub and the bucket with rocks, being sure to keep the tubing in place. Set the gazing ball on top of the rocks in the bucket, running the tubing up the back side of the ball (opposite from where the fountain will be viewed).
  
6. Place the fountain in your favorite garden spot and fill the tub. After you’ve added water, plug in the fountain pump. Adjust the tubing so the water creates the pattern you like best. Use rocks to hold the tubing in place. Adjust the tubing to alter the fountain’s pattern and change the look, sound, and amount of splash produced.

In six quick steps you can have a unique and even personalized water feature that can be created on any budget. My fiancé actually found a rock with a “K” on it for our last name to replace the ceramic/gazing ball as our centerpiece of the tub fountain.  It looks great and fits perfectly in our rather small garden, yet gives us the sound and relaxation that we were looking for.

Source
http://www.diyideas.com/howto/Garden/portabletub_1.html

Recycled items in a DIY project.....Really?

Can you actually find yourself answering yes to that question? Recently we began working on an idea for a home improvement DIY project at our home in Florida. As we began creating the final plans we wanted; my wife Dana brought up an interesting point to me.

She asked me a series of questions.

1.    Can we somehow make this project "green"?

2.    Can we save some money looking for the ceramic tiles?

3.    Can we help out the local community where we live with this project?

In typical male fashion my response was “what are you talking about?"

Dana quickly informed me to hop in the car and we went for a short trip and ended up at the Habitat for Humanity Restore outlet.

Needless to say I was surprised after entering the store and compelled to know more. We found our tile at a fraction of the cost as well as several other items that spurred future ideas for DIY projects. The point Dana made very clear to me is that for many of us DIY people it can be about more than just saving money on a project. Here are the highlights of this type of program.

·         New and used items from building contractors, corporations and individuals are donated.

·         Items don't end up in a land fill when they have product life left in them.

·         Proceeds from these sales are used to fund local projects for those in need of good housing.

Called T2T (trash to treasure) or recycling by many the message is simple. As DIY people we can have an impact on so much more than the home we live in. If you have not visited such a center take a few minutes to do so and make a difference.

Information & Links to know more.

www.habitat.org

www.habitat.org/cd/env/restore.aspx