by Mindy Jensen
The name Charlie Munger may not ring any bells with you, but you’ve probably heard of his business partner, Warren Buffett. Together, they have been making billions of dollars since just about the dawn of time. A little known fact is that Munger made his first million in real estate.
When you buy a house to fix up, you are usually looking at the inside. I drool over the 1970’s and 1980’s kitchens. I don’t think there was an uglier time for interior decorating, and I am oh-so-happy to rip out the old and bring in the new.
My own house was an absolute disaster. The inside was ugly, but the outside was even worse! Horribly overgrown (and some even outright dead) trees and shrubs, patchy scrubby grass and–pièce de résistance–lava rocks. Not the cooler, black-colored lava rocks, the ugly red ones.
Here are a few tried-and-true, easy landscaping ideas that can dramatically alter your home’s appearance.
Landscaping: 4 Tips to Instantly Improve Your Yard’s Curb Appeal
Make a Landscaping Plan
I wanted to keep a unified look in my yard, so I decided on a color scheme–pink and purple because I have two daughters. I went to the lawn and garden department of the big box home improvement stores and found a lot of plants to fit my theme.
Go Vertical
My yard is about 2-1/2 feet above the sidewalk and surrounded by a rock-and-cement wall, which is actually prettier than it sounds. But once I cut away all the dead, dying and overgrown original landscaping (much of which couldn’t be saved because they were Junipers that cannot be trimmed), I was left with a fairly bare canvas. I wanted to keep some grass, but not very much.
I outlined the front yard with a wavy-edged border to keep it interesting. Next, I added height by filling in the border with mounds of dirt. I covered the whole thing with landscape fabric to try and keep out the weeds, then I placed all my newly purchased plants around the yard to make sure I liked how it looked before I dug holes in the wrong spot.
Use Lots of Color
I live in Colorado. A common misconception about Colorado is that it snows all the time. We are actually a high desert, which means very little precipitation. In order to conserve water, I xeriscaped my property—landscaping that uses little or no water.
I was not very excited to do this at first. I thought I would be stuck with unattractive brown grasses and other plants without flowers, but I found some gorgeous greenery for my yard that is absolutely blooming with color.
My favorite is the Salvia. It bushes out with vivid green leaves and tall stalks of violet flowers. The plants attract bees and hummingbirds to make your yard positively hum.
Another favorite are Snapdragons. They come in almost any color you could imagine and produce copious amounts of blooms.
Imagine my surprise when I found a purple ornamental grass called Purple Fountain Grass. Of course I bought them, but instead of just winging it, I actually read the instructions for planting them. The teeny plants I bought said to plant them 3 feet apart. I did, but thought they looked silly spaced so far out. I’m really glad I followed directions because these guys got HUGE by the middle of the season!
Perennial Favorites and Other Tips
Another thing to think about is how much time you want to spend digging in the dirt every year. While I enjoyed making my yard look great, I was ecstatic when I was finished. I certainly didn’t want to do this amount of work every year. I purchased mostly perennials–plants that come back year after year. I do supplement with annuals (the ones you have to plant every spring), but my yard is mostly filled with plants I only have to plant one time.
Find plants that do well in your neck of the woods. Advice is only as far as a Google search away. Most state universities have extension programs to help guide you to native plants.
If you want to save even more money, start a bit earlier in the season from seed. Seed packs are far less expensive than plants.
Walk around your neighborhood for ideas. I am not a landscape designer, and I am new to the area. My family takes nightly walks through the neighborhood, and we brought our cameras with us to take pictures of favorite plants. A quick consult with the local nursery told us about the plants and their water needs and matched them up with our general landscape design. The results speak for themselves.
Our Yard Looks Great, Now How About You?
My house is located in the middle of my street. We have been extensively remodeling it for the last two years. People walk down my street all the time and whenever I am out, I am showered with compliments about the house in general and the landscaping specifically.
I only spent about $700 to landscape the whole property, but I have easily added three times that in value.
Interested in Finding out More? Reach out below
Shawn Ireland
Phone: 913-225-6231
Email: Ireland_Investments@yahoo.com
Address: 1415 Main St. #823, Grandview, MO 64030
Website: www.irelandinvestmentsllc.com/
Facebook: @IrelandInvestmentsLLC/
Instagram: @irelandinvestmentsllc
Twitter: @IrelandLlc
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This information is intended only for the use of the intended recipient(s) and it may be privileged and confidential. Please note that any views or opinions presented in this post are solely those of the author and do not necessarily represent those of the company. This is reposted information and is not original thought of Ireland Investments or anyone associated with the business.
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