If you want to improve people’s first impression of your home, giving the front a makeover is a must, whether you’re selling or staying put
1. This time of year is ideal for brightening up your front garden with window boxes, hanging baskets and tubs planted with colourful bedding plants. If you have leftover decking boards, you could make troughs and planters out of them.
2. A front garden can add considerable value to your home if it’s made into off-street parking, especially in expensive urban areas. Planning permission is sometimes required for this (and to have a dropped kerb) and there may be planning restrictions on things like its size and the materials used - gravel or permeable paving, for example. “Permeable paving is becoming more popular, but traditional products are still commonly used due to cost,” says Martyn Fowkes from builder’s merchant Travis Perkins. “Managing water drainage is a necessity and using permeable block paving helps, while alternative products that incorporate additional linear drainage and soakaways are very popular.”
3. Tatty woodwork at the front of your home looks awful, so spruce up wooden windows and doors with exterior wood filler and paint - Ronseal High Performance Wood Filler is excellent, especially for rotten wood. You can also, of course, paint metal windows and even UPVC ones. Changing the windows can make a massive difference to the frontage, but it’s not cheap. And be careful not to decrease the value of your home - replacing original wooden sash windows with casement UPVC windows could devalue a property.
4. One of the easiest ways to update the look of your front door is to change the door furniture - chrome or brushed stainless steel is more fashionable than brass and gives a smart, contemporary look suited to both period and modern doors. Get metal door numbers to match, or consider frosted-film numbers if you have a glazed or partially glazed door or porch.
5. Painting the front door a different colour can also make a big difference. Ideally, the colour should go with the building’s brickwork, paintwork or other exterior finish, and suit its age and style of architecture. While some classic colours are always popular for front doors, including red, black and dark blue, there are more fashionable ones - greys and duck-egg blues and greens have become popular in recent years. If there’s a colour you like but you can’t find it in an exterior wood paint, try the Valspar paint-mixing desk at your local B&Q.
PRODUCTS OF THE WEEK
Warm your towels - and the room - with the smart Flomasta Flat Chrome-Plated 1200 x 600mm 1307btu Towel Rail (£89.99, Screwfix). This classic chrome towel warmer is good quality, great value and would suit any bathroom or shower room. If you’re on a tight budget, Screwfix has a similar but cheaper model - the Flomasta Flat Chrome 1200 x 600mm 419W 1430btu Towel Radiator, which, at £49.99, is a real steal.
Then add a touch of glamour to the room with the Spa Octans 5-Light Bathroom Ceiling Light (£85.49, Screwfix). A striking design in chrome and glass, it gives off lots of light (thanks to five G9 bulbs) for a relatively compact fitting and can be used in bathroom zone 2 and outside zones. It can even be fitted in bathroom zone 1, but only in homes with the specified standard of wiring - ask an electrician if in doubt. Perfect for period-style bathrooms, this ceiling light exudes elegance.
