How to Improve the Curb Appeal of Your Home

Are you planning on selling your home? I think we'll stay in our home until one of the boys moves out. While you will typically zone in on your house's internal aspects, ensuring everything from the kitchen to the living room is visually appealing and functional, it is vital you do not overlook how the property looks on the outside from the garden to the sidings, it all adds to the first impression.

Curb appeal is imperative if you want to not only capture the attention of potential buyers but to ultimately sell your home. The good news is that you do not have to reinvent the wheel to create an excellent first impression for passers-by and those scrolling through property websites looking for a new house.

As proof, here are a few tips to implement when improving your home's curb appeal.

The design of the house

Before you start looking at the garden and other areas, you should focus on the house's actual design. For instance, the color of the external walls can play an important role in your property's overall aesthetic.

The roof is another area that requires consideration. Even if the roof is structurally sound, you could decide to go with a roof design that features more attractive tiling. When considering changing the roof, ensure you consult a professional like Signature Roofing. The last thing you want to do is try and attempt to do the work on your own.

Manicure the garden

The front garden is obviously a key aspect of your home's curb appeal. If the grass is unkempt or plants are overgrown, this is going to create a bad initial impression. As a result, you must manicure the garden regularly to stay on top of such issues.

Aside from manicuring what you have, look at ways to improve your garden's overall quality. Could you install a water feature? Perhaps go with a more vibrant selection of flowers? Maybe bespoke screening for your bins would work?

Front door revamp

Your front door is a statement maker, one that represents your entire house. When it is impressively designed and well-maintained, it will create a welcoming impression – ideal when selling to prospective buyers.

As you would expect, it is relatively easy to improve your front door situation. A fresh coat of paint can add extra character and color to your door. If it is suffering from weather-beaten wood, rejuvenate with a quick refinishing. Alternatively, you could simply replace your current door with a new one. Travis made our door out of a scrap door that someone was throwing out. It's so cool! I love it!

Keep it clean

The good news is that not a lot of work is required to keep everything clean and organized. Ensure your windows are kept spotlessly clean, and your pathways are free from any rubbish or stains. Regarding the latter, a power wash can help to provide your pathways with a pristine appearance.

New Year...Deep Clean

I'm not one for New Years Resolutions. I just think people make them, they follow them for a month or two, then break them. There's nothing wrong with that I suppose. I just make short term, and long term goals. They are typically connected to New Years at all.

As soon as the New Year was over I'm said, "Ok let's get cleaning!"

I happily took down the Christmas decor. Usually it's a, "Crap we have to take down all the pretty thing!" This time it was, "It's great to get the Christmas decor down. One more thing done!"

The first thing I deep cleaned was the kitchen floor.

Travis is so apprehensive with moving the fridge out to clean under it. He worries about the waterline, and the cords. Boy did it NEED it!

There was a layer of dust under there. Having allergies, and asthma I felt so satisfied with cleaning that dust out! I followed up with cleaning under the stove as well.

I kind of wish I had house cleaning services. The night after cleaning I was feeling really stuffed up!

What things in your house need to be deep cleaned?

Disclaimer: This post may include link(s) where I have gotten paid for.

WW: Sunny's House {Linky}

We decided to put Isaak's Eitech Teifoc House in our Gecko - Sunny's tank. It fit!

He loved it a lot! 

He'd eat, sleep, and smile in his new home.

The only problem, was that Sunny never wanted to leave his home. We couldn't get him to come out all week. He wouldn't even come out to get drinks of water. 

Sleeping away!

Even though it's supposed to stress Gecko's out to change their tank set-up, the house has now been removed. He has one of Travis' small sculptures in his new tank set-up. He's a bit more active in and around it.

Have you ever had a pet that took you awhile to figure out?

#Binval Foldable Solar Motion Lights

Last spring we had someone show up to our house and they twisted off our wipers off our cars, bents out mailboxes, tore up our neighbor's mail, moved our retaining wall stone, and moved our trash can. My husband was the most edgy about the situation. I thought it was a one time thing. 

Our motion light wasn't working above our garage. Now we have one that works. We're getting ready to have some work done to our house, so I didn't want to hang it just yet. This is  #Binval Foldable Solar Motion Lights: http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B06XX8S62N

Cost:

You can get this light on Amazon for $69.99, but it's on sale for $23.99. It has Prime shipping! 

About:


It comes with instructions. I have to say that they were unclear. The instructions were written by someone from China. We found the broken English hard to understand. 

The light can be mounted easily! It has screws, and holes already in the mounting section. When it's mounted the solar plate is hit by the sun, and if the motion mode is one the light stays on if something is in front of it. There is a switch that can be hit for a different mode. 

High energy efficiency and smarter: Recharge by solar power. 

It can be used in a courtyard, residential road, park corridor and venues to provide safety lighting. We're installing it over our driveway. 

It's foldable, so certainly easy to store. 

Do you have a motion light around your house?

Disclaimer: I received this set in exchange for writing this review. I was in no way influenced by anyone in regards to this review.

Question?

I'm participating in A Life Examined Question of the Month.

Question: If your house caught on fire, what's the one thing you'd grab before running out?

That's pretty easy to answer. I'd grab these two hams. I can make them count as one thing right? Seriously how could I choose between them? One would go under each arm, and I'd run, or roll us along.
 

 
If I had to pick a material item I'd grab it would be photos - albums, or my camera - whatever would be closer.

Mi casa - My House Review

I'm pleased to review a a DVD called Mi casa - My House set from Boca Beth. It's a set that included the DVD and a puppet named Boca.

I have to say that the songs got in our heads.  Mica was more opted to sing along because he can read some of the words that went with the songs. Isaak got up and danced.

I love how the songs are sung in both Spanish and English. I was never very good in Spanish class. I hate to say it, but my teachers were pretty boring.

Mica doesn't have Spanish in his grade school. I'm happy to get this set and learn Spanish with him. Beth Butler also known as Boca Beth makes learning Spanish fun!

She sent along a coloring book that Mica's already colored in. He likes to get his reference out (Boca the puppet) to make sure all the colors are correct.

Then he wanted to put on a mini puppet show:





I think this set is most certainly striking their interest in Spanish!

You can find Boca Beth on her website, YouTube, Facebook and on Twitter. I really like Boca Beth's YouTube channel! They have videos that are in Spanish and English. The videos can be watched for free!

Want to buy the Mi casa - My House set? It's only $19.99. You can buy just the DVD for $16.99. I think the prices are really pretty good! The DVD has 100 words and 15 phrases from around the house in both English and Spanish.

Disclaimer: The opinions on this post are my personal take on the products. This blog is a personal blog written and edited by me. I am not compensated to provide my opinion except for receiving the products themselves to test out. If you have questions about this post please contact me at: alissa4illustrationAThotmailDOTcom

Fall Festival

Mica's school doesn't have a Halloween party, but they do have a fall festival. They had all kinds of things for little kids to do. I have to say that the favorite was the spook house. Isaak didn't seem to be fazed by the people shouting, "Boo!" Mica on the other hand was a little scared. He still wanted to go again!

Now Mica keeps asking to go into Shadows Edge, which he's seen advertised on TV. It's a spook house for a little older kids! How old does a kid have to be to go in a haunted house? I would never dare take him into one right now, just asking for the future. 

Then we went to the cake walk. Isaak won a cake during the first round. He had no idea what he was doing, so it was funny to watch.

We played and did some other things. It was fun!

What's in a Box?

A whole lot of fun! That's what's in a box.

 

• Go Graham Go is hosting a giveaway to win a cool box Fire Station, Beauty Salon, House or Club House from Box-O-Mania. 
• The cool things about these box houses, is that they are collapsible and affordable $27.95!