Improving the Value of Your Home Through Curb Appeal

Remember that song? I think it was from the 80's, asking the question of staying or leaving. We are there right now, because of the virus, our jobs, and owning a house in a town that has no jobs in the best of times. And we are asking ourselves that question today. Stay, or go?

We moved into this cute little house last August intent on caring for my wife's father who was suffering his final time on this earth due to dementia and Alzheimer's. He passed in October and we were left with a house filled with memories of pain and suffering and his death. We both got jobs (as they were) which left us unfulfilled; our son attended a school where he didn't feel a part and we as a family were less than we could be.

In February my wife received a message from her prior job near Branson, asking her to please come back. I called Silver Dollar City and found they wanted me back as well, albeit in a different department. So, we moved back into a condo close enough to satisfy our needs and wants, except the condo was a disaster. Not physically (it was nice, had a lake view and roomy enough) but due to neighbors who smoked the smoke, both normal and wacky. The smoke and smells crawled through the HVAC system into our condo and it was horrible. So, we broke our lease (after trying our best to work with the landlord to rectify the situation to no avail) and moved back to our home in Nevada which we had for sale but had no offers yet.

Once there, we undertook a project or three: we began to work on the exterior to improve the curb appeal in hopes of bringing people in to see what the house could be. So far, it has been a labor of love, muscle and money.

Oh, these 60 year old muscles are hurting like never before but damn, the results looks good!

When we purchased the house, it was with her father in mind. How could we get him into the house in a wheelchair? Where would he sleep? How to get him into the bathroom? Into the living room? What was the layout? Basic questions for his basic needs with no real thought to how it looked beyond were the bones of the house solid.

But now, we are paying attention to the attractiveness of the house, the curb appeal to others. We have to, because we are trying to sell it in order to move back to the Branson area in preparation of our jobs beginning once this coronavirus mess is over, or at least diminished enough for school to open in August and SDC to open whenever. But through March, April and May we have had no serious looks, no offers and few people even looking at the house. It is frustrating.

And so, we undertook this challenge of improving the exterior in hopes of having people drawn in enough to see the interior. So, we added:

Flower beds! Multiple flower beds in the front and rear. Butterfly bushes, heather, and other flowering bushes in order to create a beauty to compete with other homes for sale in our price range. In front of the large windows which look out over the driveway we built a flower bed the full width of the room and windows, filled with cypress mulch and four new plants all of which bud out into flowers of different colors. Toss in a cute flag and voila! Instant curb appeal!

In front of the house, along the walkway we added a couple of butterfly bushes, large enough to fill the void on either side of what we call Ralphie's Rock. And they work! We have had multiple butterflies in to visit and even some hummingbirds! Two birds with one stone! Eh, no pun intended there. But the truth is by improving the curb appeal with these plants we also brought in entertainment for the family through wildlife.

Thank you for looking at our home today! Glad you like the front, but just wait until you see the backyard! Please walk this way, down the boardwalk, as we call it, and through the gate!

As nice as the front looks, the back is even better. Just beside the gate is an area that was pure D ugly. No grass, muddy and just an eyesore. Small, an awkward shape and not suited for much. But now, with a little work it is a thing of beauty to welcome you into the backyard. Four beautiful flowering plants set together, a turtle (how cute is that!) declaring Spring! and a little bee snickering beside the setting, all set upon non-rotting cypress mulch that doesn't float away, it stays were it lays.

And across the patio we find planters in the brick wall, filled with tomato, cucumber and jalapeno pepper plants, just a few steps away from the back door. Imagine stepping outside to harvest your bounty for dinner! Fresh from garden to table in minutes!

Just outside the wall surrounding the patio you will find two new trees planted for their beauty and their bounty. An apple tree and a peach tree, both of which are specially developed to have a small footprint for small spaces yet still provide fruit for your pleasure. Again, you can pick the fruit from the comfort of your patio. A few steps outside the backdoor, and you have a fresh fruit breakfast in your PJ's!

To the side opposite the gate you will see our newest, and largest, addition. A garden shed! No ordinary garden shed this, but one of a kind, original and unique in every way. Why, you ask? It is built from privacy fence sections! Yes, we had a few of these left over from our prior condo experience and decided to try building something from them. So, here it is! We added some nice touches to the exterior, from a vertical trellis with a family of ladybugs exploring, a few painted tiles across the top and a wisteria bush on the bottom to another raised bed garden in front with a couple of lovely flowering bushes to the horizontal trellis and two more flower beds on the front side of the shed. All in all, a very attractive addition to our yard.

But it is more than beautiful, it is also functional. In the small footprint is room enough for your lawn mower, hooks for the weed eater, shovel, rake, hoe and pruning shears. A place for your gas cans for mower and weed eater and you have a self contained, yet attractive addition to your yard. Mulch beside and behind allows you to store your kayak securely and allows you to step over to turn on the water in order to keep you plants moist and growing.

There is also honeysuckle galore in the back, filling the yard with that heavenly fragrance for all to enjoy. Along the back fence you will find another wisteria, complete with those beautiful purple blossoms drooping off the vines. So the addition to our home of these other plants creates a truly lovely setting for someone to enjoy.

Others in the neighborhood do the same, with one of our next door neighbors having a vegetable garden in their back yard; the people across the street are constantly out pruning, planting and beautifying their front yard as well. All in all, when combined with the park less than a block away from our home, we live in a very nice portion of the city.

But, Branson calls and we must heed that siren song. And so, anyone want to purchase this quaint and lovely little house?