Looking for small front garden ideas to improve your home's asking price or to make it more attractive to viewers? With virtual viewings and drive by browsers on the up, they've never been so important.
Front garden ideas should be at the top of your list of must-think-abouts if you're putting your house on the market any time soon. Getting the front garden sorted is the one thing that will stop drive-by browsers in their tracks, and for anyone looking to do most of their viewings online, that image of the perfect front of house is vitally important.
So, these are the five things we'd look at tackling if we were putting our house on the market now. Some are simple fixes that will get potential buyers interested; others are jobs you can do that require a bigger budget but that will repay your investment and then some... and make your home much more likely to sell at a better price than the one up the street.
1. Pile pots around the door, pack 'em with planting
Even if you don't manage to do much else to your front garden, that area around the front door is essential. Make it look welcoming with pretty blooms in pots and you're halfway there. The other upside? You can take the pots with you when you move...
2. Make a small front garden look bigger and smarter
The front path has GOT to look good. If you live in a period property with a tiled hallway, the absolute best thing you can do is to find tiles to match them – or at least complement them – and run that out into the front garden. A diagonal tiled pattern like this one has the added advantage of making the pathway look longer, and your small front garden look bigger. Clever, eh?
3. Hide the bins in a bin shed
This is another one of those things you could take with you when you move – although most buyers would assume it would be left behind and would want to keep it. Bin stores are an easy fix to hide away ugly wheelie bins, plus you can paint them to blend away into the greenery – choose a dark matt grey, black or green, ideally.
4. Pay attention to paintwork in a small front garden
Small front garden ideas aren't just about pretty planting: maintenance is massively important, and the easiest repair jobs you can do are to paintwork. So, get fences, front doors, and the windowsills either cleaned up – or give them that new coat of paint they've been needing for a while. Don't forget that the colour you paint your front door could have a positive or negative effect, too. Steer clear of anything too bold or left field and go for easy-to-live with colours like blue, black or white to be on the safe side.
5. Put a driveway into a small front garden
Even a small front garden can fit a small car on to it and adding a driveway could add tons of value to your home – certainly more than it costs – if you live in an area where parking is tricky to find and off-road parking is valued. Our tips are to choose permeable materials to create your driveway and to ensure you add in as much planting around it to soften its look and to aid drainage.
