Our homes are our so very important to us. We raise our children in them, and use the space to express our personalities, our hobbies and interests. Our homes are an extension of ourselves in these respects. However, we often concentrate our homemaking efforts to the inside of our homes, after all, that is where we spend most of our time, but we need to also apply that love and care and attention to the external areas too. Here are 5 ways to take care of the outside spaces.

Stucco and Cladding

Depending on the design of your home, the most visible areas are the walls and the roof, and using stucco or cladding is one way to make a big difference. You can disguise unattractive brickwork or mismatched brickwork from previous renovations, or even just to add interest to the external walls of your home. By applying stucco or adding cladding to your walls will also provide another layer of external insulation to your home and protect them from the elements.

• Stucco

A new coating of stucco will tie the whole house together and give it a polished finish. New stucco needs to be applied over a firm layer, so ensure that you rectify any area of loose or damaged materials. You also need to ensure that the new stucco allows your home to breathe to lessen the risk of damp developing in your home. You should use a recommended and professional builder to do the work for you; you do not want to invest in your home and see the stucco cracking after a short period of time. Choose a pigmented stucco so that maintenance requirements are kept to a minimum.

• Cladding

You can choose from a variety of techniques to clad your home, and you need to consider the pros and cons of each, but pay particular attention to the maintenance required for each one. For example, natural timber cladding is very popular, but you will be required to oil it to maintain its color and protect its durability. There are collections of stone cladding, composite timber cladding, and even fiber cement products to choose from.

You do not need to clad your whole house, you can just wall texture to add interest to an aspect or area to create the look that you want. Rendering and cladding work well together to update the outside of your home.

Porch

The addition of a porch to your house can immediately give great character to an otherwise uninspired and featureless façade. Your porch’s design should complement the design of your house and be sympathetic to its architecture and proportion. Complement does not necessarily mean mirror; you can add a porch with a contrasting design, but it must be able to add aesthetic value to your home and blend in seamlessly with the rest of your house.

You need to consider how the porch will affect the natural light that currently flows through your front door, a well-designed porch may even allow for more. When thinking about the design of your porch, you must consider its functionality, whether it’s to provide protection to visitors from the weather, a space for you to relax in, or even just a place for to store your gumboots and wet coats.

Knock Knock

Your front door is the entrance to your home, and yet, we often find that we neglect its upkeep. Entry doors see a lot more traffic than internal doors, and they are open to the elements and any airborne pollution. You need to check what your door needs to have done to it to restore it to its former glory, for example, a wooden door will require more regular maintenance than metallic doors or those made of synthetic fibers. Your door may be outdated, need treating with a wood preservative and a lick of paint, or simply just need a good clean.

If you are repainting your door, use this as an opportunity to replace the hardware that adorns it. Changing your front door’s hardware is an inexpensive way to update your door. Before you purchase and install your door accessories, make sure that you have a good think about whether your choice of hardware is appropriate to the era of your home. Wrought iron door accessories are lovely, but do they really suit the style of your mid-century house?

Windows

When you are looking to improve the exterior of your home, great care needs to be taken, especially if you are hoping to enhance and retain the character of your home. Your windows are a key feature of your home’s exterior, and as such, they require regular maintenance.

Windows have to withstand a lot of abuse from the elements: ice cold temperatures in winter, and scorching sun and rising temperatures in summer. Over time, the weather will take its toll on the windows, and you need to check that they are still fit for the job. Using a flat-blade screwdriver, gently apply pressure to the wood. If it is soft, it is a sign of decay. You need to also keep an eye out for termite infestation damage (termite trails include powdery digested wood, feces, and eggs), so that you can treat the wood before any permanent damage to the structure of your house is caused. If your windows are damaged beyond repair, you will need to replace them. Damaged windows can lead to water being able to access wall cavities and even the foundations of your home, so it is a false economy to patch them with remedial works.

The first step towards your window replacements is to consider the needs of the window. Do they need to match existing windows elsewhere in the property? Do they need to be made from a particular material? You also need to consider the budget that you have to replace them as purchasing new windows is a big commitment, and one that you need to get right first time. Replacing the windows can dramatically improve the external appearance of your house, and provide you with the added benefit of making your home more energy efficient too!

Landscaping

Tending to your garden can take up a lot of time. If your current garden design requires more maintenance than you have time to give, consider what you can do to lessen the burden. Perhaps you have flower beds that constantly need weeding, or a pond that lies stagnant and is more of a breeding ground for mosquitos than a feature that you are proud of.

Create outdoor living space that you can use to entertain, a deck or patio provides a low maintenance solution to reducing grassy areas, but not at the expense of being able to enjoy the outdoors. You can keep your area green with pots of plants, and introduce screens with climbing plants to add further interest and give you privacy.

Introduce beds of mulch to your garden rather than turf grass. It will be one of the best investments that you make: the mulch breaks down and fertilizes your plants and prevents weeds from growing. Mulch is an inexpensive addition to your family; it requires no mowing or watering, and only needs topping up in spring.

Think about the plants that you have growing in your garden. Roses, for example, are high maintenance, and need year-round care. You can dig up these energy and time draining plants and replace them with less demanding options such as Lavender, Achillea, and Astilbe. You do not have to have a flowerless garden to be low maintenance, just selective with what you choose to grow.

Spruce up your fences and sheds by applying a treatment that has a stain that will enhance the rest of your garden. There are many options available on the market that can really add to your garden’s and property’s appeal. Choose a color that is best for your home’s design; a colonial or cottage style house would suit a crisp white, while a rustic home would benefit from an oak colored stain. Think about how the color will blend in with your neighborhood, your neighbors may consider that a bright yellow fence is more suited to a daycare center rather than a standard brown. If your garden is full of lush foliage, a green or neutral color will help your fence blend in with the surroundings.

By taking as much care of the outside of your home as you do the inside, you can add real value to your property. The value of increasing your home’s curb appeal does not have to be exclusively for prospective house buyers, you can benefit too from having a house that you are proud of from the minute you pull up your car on the driveway. You may not be wanting to sell it anytime soon, but by making the best of what you have, you will feel like you are coming home to a new house in any case.