It’s that time of the year that those of us with outside space decide we need to give it a spring clean and update. It can however be hard if perhaps you have a low budget or stuck for ideas. If you are looking for on trend ideas this blog post on top garden trends is most.
The exterior of your home is as important as the interior. You may have the most beautiful rooms inside your home but if the outside looks tatty or unloved, then you’re not showing off your house to its best advantage. Here are 10 ideas to enhance the space outside your home.
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Survey Your Perimeters
Whether you live in a mansion surrounded by amazing ground, or like me a regular semi detached home. You should always check that your hedge or fence around the edge of the boundary looks neat and tidy.
If your looking for low maintenance or you have limited space then fencing is probably a better bet. Bushes and hedges are great options if you are more green fingered and space is not tight. For me I go with fences. Garden space for me is about ease of maintenance.
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Tidy Up Your Drive
If you are lucky enough to have a driveway always ensure that excess water can be drained away. There is nothing worse than standing water. Not only can it be dangerous it can cause damp and mould which looks awful and can be slippy. If you install gravel, do try to keep your drive weed free.
We have gravel and although it looks amazing its more maintenance than I hoped for with weeding and neighbourhood cats using it as a toilet. For us we are looking at stamped concrete to replace the gravel for a super low maintenance drive this time.
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Light Up Your Life
Lights aren’t just important inside the home. An article in The Daily Mail demonstrates how the addition of some exterior lighting around the home can really enhance the space. There is nothing more welcoming than a well lit garden space no matter its size and with the warmer weather on its way its exciting to get out there again! I am loving funky solar powered lighting for the garden personally.
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Maintain Your Garden
If you aren’t the world’s best gardener then opt for some perennial shrubs that really look after themselves. These are my plants of choice as they rarely need much looking after and they can look amazing all year round in both boarders and pots.
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Decking Is Good
You can easily install wooden decking yourself, or you can get in a professional. Decking is easy to maintain and also will smarten up you home. Its a super choice for gardens that have different levels and can be customised with paint colours and looks amazing with planted pots on.
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Banish Ugly Windows
Not everyone likes UPVC double-glazing, but this will look better than a rotting and peeling traditional window frame. Secondary double-glazing and restored window frames will greatly improve the exterior of your home.
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Prune Climbing Plants
If the exterior of your house is draped with wisteria or any other climbing plant, you should check the plant regularly to ensure that it isn’t destroying the brickwork. Ivy, jasmine and a whole host of other plants need to be regularly pruned to enhance their beauty and protect your home.
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Keep Rubbish To A Minimum
We all have the issue of having wheelie bins and recycle boxes to house on our properties and although they are super ugly there are wooden bin storage sheds that can hide them. However we don’t all have the space so ensuring that all overflowing bins are emptied often and rubbish is not overflowing into the garden.
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Hanging Baskets & Flower Boxes
Hanging baskets and flower boxes are great for homes with very little space. You could grow a mixture of vegetables, herbs or plants depending upon your preference. After all these beauties can make even the smallest of balconies look stunning. Also consider potting bulbs in the spring season so baskets and planters are ready for the warmer weather
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Tidy Up
It sounds super basic but nothing looks worse than a garden full of discarded toys and rusty gardening items and broken plastic furniture. If you have a shed, use it or even better take the rubbish to a local recycling centre.
Here’s to the spring on its way and to pretty garden spaces all over the land.
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