ENTRANCES THAT DON'T WOW

We all know the importance of curb appeal. Aside from the fact it adds value to your property, it is also the first impression that people get of you and your house. Whether they are driving by or stopping to visit, how you design your entry will either win the sale or flop big time.

Flop is exactly what these homes do. Take the 3 toned blue driveway for example. Sure it stands out but for all the wrong reasons. It looks like a giant pool of water in between two wasted areas of lawn. If this homeowner wanted to devalue his or her property then they have done an awesome job. Clearly they did not hire a designer and clearly the contractor that installed this was just out to make a buck. The biggest problem is that if this house ever goes on the market for sale it will not get much generate profit as the potential buyer will deduct the cost of re-designing and re-installing the driveway from their bid. In this case I would have painted the house a light shade of gray and kept the blue trim and then mimicked the gray onto the driveway. Thus making the house stand out. I would also "kill the lawn" and replace it with natives and maybe an edible citrus of some kind thus further adding to the property value and curb appeal.

Another entrance design flop is the massive areas of lawn that people must have in order to waste money and water. Really? "There is no law in the state of California or in any California city that requires you to have any ounce of lawn on your property" If you are not going to actively use the lawn to play in, then why have it. If you also notice in the picture furthest to the left the plant material is too close to the house and not enough of it.



The pictures below were taking during my daily walk. One picture is clear that the weeds took over and the owner just did not care while the other is unfinished and it looks like household items spilled on to the front yard. Maybe they ran out of storage space. If the front yard is this cluttered then I wonder how bad the inside looks.

Regardless of what you do to your front yard. Whether you have a sustainably designed yard or one that wastes money and water at least I suggest that you do something. Just bare in mind that you want to increase your property value and wow people not the other way around.