It doesn't matter if you're just starting out in a new home, thinking about selling, or stayin' put - buffing up the curb appeal of your house is an absolute must. How your home looks from the outside is the first impression viewers get of who lives inside.
And real estate agents will tell you when it comes to selling, there is no bigger turn-off than a messy front yard or sad-looking front door.
We gathered sage advice from area gardening and home professionals to help you spruce up the front of your house.
Clean up: The cheapest way to put a shine on the old address is to grab the rake and get busy.
Weed, trim edges for a clean appearance and prune and shape overgrown bushes. Snip off lower branches of pines for a good neat factor.
Add mulch or stones under cedars and around flower beds. Just like a new haircut, you will feel lighter by the end of the day.
Urban choices: Most of us live in the city, be it a tight bit of city bliss or in a suburb where neighbours are within touching distance. Choose trees carefully, says Trevor Cullen, co-owner of Cullen Landscaping on March Road.
Look for compact trees, including the Canadian Serviceberry or the Japanese Silk Lilac, suited to smaller urban lots. They will grow to 4.5 metres (15 feet). If you desperately love maples, be sure they are planted at least 12 metres (40 feet) from your house, says Cullen.
Think about eliminating fences and using joint walkways, garden beds and plantings on smaller suburban lots, especially when there are bungalow or two-storey townhomes, says landscape architect Welwyn Wong.
"Green can easily provide privacy and it sidesteps the choppy look of fences," says Wong, who planned a joint stone pathway, then added grasses, with neighbouring bungalow properties in Monarch's community of Stonebridge in Barrhaven.
ecreational gardeners: Younger people would rather go to the gym than work up a sweat in the garden, says Eva Schmitz, a veteran landscape architect and daughter of gardening gurus Edeltraut and Hans J. Schmitz Sr., founders of Artistic Landscape Design, which opened in 1955.
"They love to sit in their gardens, but they are busy with their children and they don't want to spend all day digging up clay beds," says the younger Schmitz.
"They are hiring professionals to do the hard work, preparing the flower beds, laying down walkways," says Schmitz.
She first noticed the shift three years ago when there was a drop in retail sales to individuals at the Bank Street nursery, while sales to professionals and gardening trades spiked.
Schmitz says many are hiring professionals to do the spring clean-up, do the edging, mulching and pruning and have the garden ready. They are recreational gardeners, with a coffee cup in one hand and trowel in the other.
Even boomers and pre-boomers, who spend hours in the garden, are hiring professionals to do the hard work, says Schmitz. "You have to have a strong back to do some of the work and backs aren't that strong as we get older."
Budget time: Many are hiring professionals to do the hard work, like building walkways, but are saving by paying for a master plan and then doing their own planting, says Schmitz, who meets with 30 to 40 clients each weekend, drafting designs for plant choices and hard landscaping such as walkways and retaining walls.
Four other designers are on a similar schedule. Artistic then does about 500 jobs a year; the rest leave with planting suggestions, ready to roll up their sleeves and invest sweat equity.
Access, the front door and porch: You can spend $28 on a quart of top-quality latex C2 paint from Randall's or go all the way and pay $3,200 for a top-quality steel and glass front door from Ottawa Windows and Doors.
For another $500 or $800 you get a piece of stained glass, says Mark Wardrop, president of the Colonnade Road company, adding there is a trend to larger glass inserts. "People tend away from full glass because of security, but they like bigger glass."
When it comes to colour, co-ordinate with trim work and the brick colour, says Jasmine Houghton, a colour specialist at Randall's Bank Street store. If the exterior is light then go with a dark colour on the door, says Houghton.
Avoid shocking colours, including minty greens or light blues. Dignified is better, says the paint consultant. Avoid emerald green and go with a deep green or a deep sage green.
Then match a new handset, picking up the colours in the glass. Check out Home Depot's smart key by Weiser for $199. Consider adding a helping of roar appeal with Lee Valley's solid brass lion door knocker. This hefty lion, priced at $39.50, can be teamed up with a splendid Preston Hardware bronze wall-mounted mailbox for $199.
Add a final touch with distinctive street numbers from Lee Valley. By Avalon, the oil rubbed bronze and brushed nickel numbers come in gift boxes and cost $19.99 each. They make a perfect home-warming gift for the new homeowner.
Pots & planters: It's best to avoid pots this summer if you live in the part of town under a water ban, says Eva Schmitz. "Many of my friends are just putting them away because they take a lot of water."
Small pots are also a problem because people just don't realize how quickly they dry out in the sun and how much water they need every day, she says. But given the right location, they add a colourful hit to your walkway, front door and patio.
Perpetual perennials: These can be your best friend, but choose wisely, says Schmitz. Look at the label and zones. Ottawa is Zone 4, so you want hardy plants that can survive tough winters without having to protect them. (See Ailsa Francis' top five survivors on page 4.)
Earth & all the dirt: It's discouraging to start a new garden in a suburban community because the top soil is so thin and the underlying layer is often Leda clay, which traps water, drowning new roots or sucking away valuable moisture.
This comes back to young recreational gardeners who dig, plant and then wonder why it doesn't prosper, says Schmitz. You need 30 centimetres (12 inches) of good top soil and builders often leave 2.5 to (one or two inches) of soil.
It's wise to hire a professional to bring in good soil, she says. Raised garden beds are often a smart solution in newer communities.
Annual brighteners: These are the performers that play a starring role in borders, adding colour between green shrubs. Your local nursery and grocery stores and big box outlets have a huge supply.
President's Choice recently had a flyer in the Citizen, boasting about its new Super Gigantico Red Fox Dragone Sunset Begonia for $6.99. Designed for a partial sun or shady location, the creamy yellow and pink blooms look spectacular. Talk to the experts.
Light up the night: There are solar energy lights to shine in your garden, to illuminated pots from President's Choice ($85) that light up the front walk, making sure visitors don't stumble or fall. Check out door carriage lights from suppliers including Multi Luminaire. Finishes range from white to wrought iron and an oiled brass and prices range from $64 up to $299.
When all is buffed, raked and planted, it's time to sit back, relax and enjoy all of your work.
Sheila Brady is on a buffing campaign, planting and painting the front entrance of her Kanata home. She is a regular contributor to homes and can be reached at sbrady.brown@gmail.
