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We recently completed a Landscape Renovation Project that I think is a good example of what upgrading the landscaping of a home can do for its Curb Appeal. The original owner of this home was a prominent area Architect who had designed the home to be his own private residence. The existing landscaping was probably the original landscape installed by the Architect when the home was built in the sixties. Today the home is owned by an area Physician and his large family. Their busy lifestyles left little time to keep the exterior of the property looking the way that they wanted so they gave McCoy Landscape a call for assistance.
We met for the first time several months ago for our Initial Consultation where we discussed the clients objectives and priorities. Their main goal was to upgrade the front landscaping of the home to be more consistent with the inside of the home which was quite large and very well cared for. At that original meeting, I took measurements of the exterior of the home and took a lot of pictures.
As always, we started with a Landscape Design in which we showed the house in a scaled plan or overhead view and put our design ideas down on paper. The Scaled Plan View is an excellent design tool because it allows Landscape Designers to properly space the plants allowing room for growth so that five or ten years down the road the mature plants still fit the space. We then did a Computerized Animated Movie to show the client what the end result of the project would look like.
The existing landscape had several ornamental trees growing within fifteen feet of the front foundation some that had been planted and some that were seedling volunteers. The existing trees and shrubs were largely blocking the view of the home from the street. Although the homeowner was kind of attached to some of the trees I explained that although I too don’t really like the idea of removing healthy trees, sometimes it is necessary to achieve the balance and symmetry that will make the house look its best. In our plan, we repositioned a Canadian Redbud Tree, like two of the existing trees that we removed, at the corner of the house. The homeowner liked this idea and accepted my advice. Trees should be used to frame the view of the house from the street and should not hide the house or conceal the front entrance.
Since the outside of the home was a little sparse I thought that adding some stone accents in the landscaping would add some eye catching detail and a focal point to the curb appeal. Our plan called for two low stone retaining walls using Ottowa Dry Cut Stone. We also added a Paver Walk that led from the driveway to the garage side entrance which was one of the client’s original wishes.
The landscaping that we designed was simple and colorful, yet easy to maintain which will be a much better fit for our client’s busy schedules. We included some evergreen plants so that the landscape wouldn’t be bare in the winter and then added some colorful shrubs, most of which will add some color with their flowers. We also added some Perennial Plants for additional seasonal color without the homeowner needing to plant them every year as they would Annual Flowers.
The first step of the Landscape Renovation was removing all of the old plants and just removing the clutter greatly improved the looks of the house. But the improvements got better and better each day as the Stone Wall, the Paver Walk, and the Landscape Plants were added.
The end result thrilled the clients and they are already talking about future projects to upgrade other areas of the property. Although the client has no intention of moving, if they were to put the house on the market it would show much, much better than it would have prior to the Landscape Renovation and I would expect that they could recover every penny of their landscape investment with the added value of the home’s curb appeal.
Matt McCoy is a Nationally Certified Landscape Professional and the President of McCoy Landscape Services, Inc. McCoy is a full service landscaping company specializing in the design and installation of Outdoor Living Spaces, Paver Patios and colorful Landscaping. McCoy Landscape serves the Central Ohio communities of Delaware, Powell, Lewis Center, Westerville, Marion, Mt. Gilead, Upper Sandusky and Bucyrus.
To schedule your Free Professional Landscape Design Initial Consultation, call 844-4MCCOYS or visit our Website.
