Are you looking for ways to add value to your home? If so, you've probably already considered doing a kitchen or bathroom renovation. A renovation that's often left off of the list is landscaping.
Professional landscaping can add more value to your home than the improvements themselves cost. And, if you are thinking of selling your home, good landscaping can help your home stand out from all of the other homes on the market.
Improve Your Home's Curb Appeal
The first impression your house makes on a buyer can make the difference between a quick sale, and a home languishing on the market for months on end. Whether you're thinking of selling now, or think you might want to sell in the future, your home's curb appeal is crucial. Some house hunters won't even get out of the car if a property's curb appeal is subpar.
Landscaping can dramatically improve the curb appeal of your home. Even if you aren't thinking of selling, there's something very pleasing and uplifting about having a beautiful yard or garden.
Increase Privacy in a More “Organic” Way
For many people, privacy is a major concern. It's hard to enjoy your beautiful back yard when you know the neighbors can clearly see you.
Many people resort to using fences and walls, which aren't always the most aesthetically pleasing solutions, to create more privacy. But creative landscaping designs can have the same effect. Well-placed trees, shrubs and plants can give you all the privacy you want. And they'll do it in a way that looks natural and serene.
Outdoor Living Space
People don't want to be confined to their homes anymore. They want to live beyond four walls, and to have all the comforts of the indoors outdoors.
A professionally done landscape can add more square footage by using hardscape to separate your yard into different, “outdoor rooms.” Adding an outdoor cooking area, outdoor dining area, and outdoor living room space can effectively add more usable square footage to your home.
Green Landscape Design
Having your landscaping professionally done can not only improve the immediate environment, it can also help you to conserve energy and save money. For example, properly placed trees can cut your heating and cooling costs by as much as 25%. Imagine being able to say that to a potential buyer.
Trees can also protect your home from wind, rain and sun exposure. As a result, your home will experience less “wear and tear,” so you won't have to spend as much on upkeep.
Flowers, shrubs and trees also protect the water supply, and decrease soil erosion. The oxygen released by plants will help to improve air quality, purifying the air and cutting down on pollution. Well-planned landscaping can even cut down on noise pollution. So, if you live in an area where noise is an issue, the right landscaping will help, something else that will appeal to potential buyers.
Homeowners are always looking for ways to add value to their homes. Good landscaping will not only increase your home's value, it will also make it more appealing to potential buyers.
Article Written by
Ralph Robinson
Some of the most unique, innovative and attractive landscapes are those that are designed to take advantage of their natural surroundings. Still, even those interested in having a sustainable garden or landscape design are sometimes a little unclear on just what is involved. There are a few aspects to creating gardens that will not only save money, but will entice the eye. After all, gardens should be places of magic and beauty, whether they in areas with an overabundance of moisture, or in dry, desert-like conditions.
Creating a Desert Look – Or Not
When many people think of xeriscaping, the first thing that comes to mind is a garden full of cactus plants. This can be a daunting (and painful!) vision for homeowners with young children or rambunctious pets. The good thing is, cactus is not a required plant for this type of landscape design, though it is a popular one because of it's ability to withstand dryness. The even better thing is, there are about 2000 species of cactus in existence today, and not all of them harbor painful spikes to hook the unwary. Some are delicate flowers, or flowing tendrils that add sustainable, low-water beauty to any garden.
A Well-Planned Irrigation System
One of the main keys to designing any landscape, but particularly one with a focus on sustainability, is irrigation system design. All plants need some water, it's just that some plants need less water than others. Those who live in areas with less moisture can find themselves saddled with huge water bills in an effort to maintain a traditional garden. Efficiently planned xeriscaped gardens, on the other hand, use low-water plants and strategic placement to help a little bit of water go a long way. This method of landscaping saves money, but it also helps sustain the environment by not wasting water and other resources.
An Amazing Variety to Choose From
People are sometimes amazed when they realize just what choices they have available in native plant, flower and grass species. A xeriscaped garden is often a garden full of surprises. A plant that may seem lowly and subdued during some seasons will suddenly burst into splendid color just when it's least expected. Or, with some other plants, they change colors and even shapes as the seasons go by… never dying off, just adapting to their surroundings. Sustainable gardens can be full of lush color and life, requiring little maintenance but producing spectacular returns.
A Partner in Beauty and Magic
Some garden owners want nothing more than to wander their gardens and enjoy its fruits. The actual care and work in the garden, they leave to someone else. Others love it most when they can dig their own hands into the dirt and feel the earth under their fingers. There is nothing wrong with either type, or something in between. A garden should be an escape, a place to revitalize, to experience the magic of the design–not a burden.
Researchers and crime experts who investigate criminal behavior and mental patterns of offenders discovered a connection between the appearance and landscape architecture of a building or property and the probability of a crime being committed within its boundaries. Criminologist Kelly Sundberg reveals that buildings, homes and properties that look oppressive, sinister or abandoned may stimulate criminal behavior by amplifying feelings of fear among the occupants, and enhancing aggression and criminal motivation and intent in offenders. Moreover, the surroundings of such buildings make it difficult to spot a suspect and prevent him or her from committing a crime due to the lack of open spaces. Criminal experts and landscaping specialists believe that enhancing the appearance of a property or house using unique, attractive landscape elements, innovative architecture and creative decor can discourage criminal behavior and increase the sense of security and calm among law-abiding individuals.
Abandoned Properties And Oppressive External Elements May Contribute To The Perpetuation Of Crimes
Landscaping experts with extensive experience in the field noticed that well-designed, decorated homes with attractive landscaping elements, such as creative gardening, planters or water bodies, are less likely to be vandalized or to become the place of a crime. These observations are confirmed by criminal psychology experts who believe that demonstrating solid ownership by creating an attractive landscape architecture makes people who don't fit into that sort of relaxed and beautiful environment feel fearful and anxious, which may disrupt their criminal intent and make them leave the property without causing harm. The effects on the peaceful occupants of the property are dramatically different, and consist in a reduction of their fear, an enhanced sense of security and better visibility of intruders through more open spaces. Oppressive elements, such as fences, barbed wire, small windows or steel doors create apprehension and insecurity among the inhabitants and encourage offenders with criminal intent to proceed with their offenses.
Criminal Experts Recommend Replacing Oppressive Elements With Attractive, Creative Landscape Architecture
Removal of fences, a better exterior design, more open spaces with attractive elements, such as planters and water bodies, can be used to direct the traffic of individuals while providing an enhanced visibility to detect suspicious, illegal activities. Larger windows and glass walls can have the same role of providing more security while exposing the potential criminals, making them easier to observe and neutralize in case they decide to proceed with their malicious intent. Criminal experts and landscaping specialists firmly believe that many atrocious crimes in the United States could have been prevented if the property or building where they took place had a more attractive, friendly and relaxing landscape architecture. Although well-designed landscaping is easy to accomplish in the suburban areas, criminologist investigate how landscaping and improved design can be achieved in urban settings where the lack of space is a limiting factor.
Besides creating a relaxing atmosphere and a pleasant visual experience, landscape architecture has the ability to reduce criminal behavior and discourage offenses. Implementation of gardening elements, planters and water features can create a relaxed, anxiety-reducing environment while providing more security through an increased visibility. In settings where criminals are not feared and open spaces create few opportunities for suspicious behavior, violent crimes are substantially less likely to occur.