Deciding to build a granny flat is simple, designing and building the extension can be a lot harder. You'll have a lot of questions to answer along the way. Can you use a general contractor or is is better to use one who has built a lot of granny flats before? Is a template design better than a customised one? Should you let the person who'll live in the flat have a say in what it looks like? Luckily, I'm here to help. My name is Maria. We moved my Mum into a purpose-built granny flat last year, so I've had to answer all these questions and more. I thought it'd be useful for other people to see how we managed the process, so here we are — get reading!
Landscaping Upgrades for Winter Kerb Appeal
When you think about landscaping upgrades, you likely think of warmer weather. The truth is, there are many homeowners who overlook the landscaping that can be done during the colder months of the year. These landscaping techniques can upgrade your kerb appeal and give you a more pleasant winter yard than some other homes surrounding you. Here are a few of the landscaping upgrades you can consider for winter that will add to your seasonal kerb appeal.
Winter Blooming Shrubs
One of the easiest ways to upgrade your landscaping for winter is to add winter blooming shrubs. These shrubs can be placed around your walkway, driveway or the front border of your property. Some homeowners tend to showcase the shrubs in front of their front windows adding a soft lighting touch from interior and exterior lighting sources. Winter-blooming shrubs come in a number of varieties including viburnum varieties, springwood white, underway and holly berry red varieties. Try to go with shrubs that bloom in bright colours such as red, yellow and white so they can be seen easily from the road to give the added kerb appeal you are looking for.
Landscape Lighting
During the winter months, it may be difficult for you to keep any sort of colour in your landscape. For this reason, lighting becomes your landscape. Consider having your landscaping contractor place lighting to create a multi-coloured effect at night. Whites and blues are subtle enough to not cause too much distraction while enhancing the look of shrubs, windows and doorways. You can also add lighting to fencing along your property to create a winter landscaping effect that gives a well manicured and finished holiday appearance. Web lighting can be placed over shrubs to give a full coverage effect as well.
Winter Water Landscaping
If you live in an area that has mild enough winter temperatures, you can have your landscaping contractor add a winter water garden, waterfall or landscaping pool. This water can have lighting that will give off another aspect of kerb appeal that most homes will not have. The water can be protected from freezing with a small heating device that can be turned off at the source or from inside the house with a timing device. During the warmer months, the water landscaping can be changed slightly to fit the new seasons.
These are just a few of the ideas for upgrading your landscaping to enhance your winter kerb appeal. If you are ready to get started, contact your local landscaping contractor. They can help you with designs, upgrades and scheduling your project.