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6 landscape design upgrades to make before selling your home

Kim Renta
By

You’ve painted and decluttered. You’ve cleaned, organized, and staged your home to make it shine in those online real estate photos. While the interior may be stunning, don’t forget that prospective buyers form their first impressions from the curb appeal — or lack thereof — of your home.

Landscaping can make all the difference between selling a dream home and a fixer-upper. Luckily, improving the aesthetics of your yard doesn’t require an expensive landscaping crew. With these six inexpensive landscaping upgrades, you can make potential buyers take notice of your home and help you go from ‘For Sale’ to ‘Sold’ in no time!

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The most inexpensive landscaping ideas:

Hang window boxes

A window box is among the least expensive yet most impactful additions that create a more inviting facade. You can buy window boxes online or at any home supply or garden store, or, if you’re feeling handy, you can make your own with a few 2×4 pieces of wood, some nails, and a coat of paint. Be sure to factor in the color of your home when selecting a paint color and flower type for your window box. The colors should stand out enough to grab passersby’s attention. For less than $100 you can line your windows with blossoms that immediately inject color and life into your home’s entrance.

Landscape With Potted Plants

One of the quickest — and easiest — ways to enhance your home’s curb appeal is with potted plants. Your front entrance is just begging for a little love and adding even a few potted plants can have a huge impact. For an affordable, timeless design, select two identical pots and place them on either side of your front door. For a more eclectic look, arrange pots of different heights on only one side of the doorway. Either way, be sure to select plants that are low maintenance and easy to prune, like evergreens.

Go for the green — a green lawn, that is

Nothing makes a front yard look better than a beautiful green lawn. Take your lawn from drab to fab in just 3 days with Scotts Green Max Lawn Food. Filled with ingredients that accelerate the greening process, this $20 product is sure to deliver a gorgeous, healthy lawn as large as 5,000 square feet. Remember that it’s more important to water your grass deeply, rather than often, to get the best results.

More great landscaping ideas on a budget

Spread mulch

Few things make flower beds pop better than mulch. It adds texture and natural color, all while locking in moisture to keep your flower bed thriving. Often, you can source free mulch through your local township or neighborhood in the form of grass clippings, leaves, pine needles, or straw. For more traditional (and attractive) mulch, head to your local garden supply store to grab wood-chip mulch in colors that range from cedar red to deep black.

Add Short Plants and Ground Cover

A uniform lawn is a tell-tale sign of amateur landscaping. Varying the height of plantings gives your landscaping a more manicured appeal, so intersperse shrubby ground cover amid taller plants to add more visual interest. Ground cover is an easy way to blanket an otherwise bare area with soft, colorful blossoms. Plus, these plants are exceptionally low maintenance once they are planted, making them the perfect choice for a quick makeover.

Trim trees and shrubs.

When the goal is to sell your home, make sure the potential buyers can actually see your home. Keep a critical eye on the shrubs and trees in the front of your home and cut back on any overgrowth. Most importantly, remove branches that block your front facade, the address number, front windows, or any other decor. Clean up the walkways as well to make sure shrubs don’t creep onto the path. Last, trim any plants that block the driver’s view at the end of the driveway.

Selling a home is stressful enough. Amidst managing realtors, open houses, and moving trucks, landscaping often takes a backseat. However, it’s well worth the time and small investment to make a few changes to your yard. Just a few, inexpensive additions to your entryway can make all the difference in getting your home noticed by more potential buyers, resulting in a faster sale and a higher price than you thought possible. 

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Kim Renta
Kim Renta
Former Digital Trends Contributor
Kim has written for Bloomingdales, Movado, and various e-commerce wine sites. When she's not writing about wine and…
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