Landscaping is often the last "project" but should be first. Driving up to your home, or sitting in your backyard with pretty landscaping just makes you feel good!!

...especially landscape lighting!

There's something about a well kept yard, entrance or any green space.

We put in a koi pond and lots of groundcover plantings. We also put in an herb garden and boulders to sit on. Now that it has filled in and is full of life, it is a place you can go and feel good about something in the world every day. We love our renovated house, but the outdoor space is what makes it rejuvenating.

We purchased a home that already had wonderful landscaping...small waterfall, huge bolders, granite steps and cobblestones, an abundance of various trees and flowers, etc and it's the first thing I noticed when we were looking at the home and had a large influence in our purchase as we could never have afforded these great features. We have since added a vege garden, rows of sunflowers, herbs, morning glories that climb over a workshop and we plant from seeds, so have a wonderful garden...I feel very lucky and happy when I'm outside and really enjoying cutting fresh flowers to bring inside and to give to family and friends.

The correct landscape can really help a homes value.

Contemplating wether or not to spend approximately $20-30,000 on my yard/driveway. ($9000 of that is simply tairing out the driveway!) We moved into this house in Denver nearly 2 years ago. It was built in 1987 and dated we immediately gutted kitchens, bathrooms and painted exterior now it is time for landscaping. I just don't want to put more money into the house then we would get back in say 8-10 years. However the circular drive is concrete and all cracked and in need of replacing. I am pricing out redoing driveway in 3/4" black granite because it won't crack in future and I like the way it looks and I feel as if it is the most cost effective way to replace the driveway. We also have a @2000 sq. ft area in front of the driveway and house that is junipers that I would like removed and placed with sod under the apple trees. Once again most cost effective way to update I believe. So both of these items would be definite curb appeal. They would also make me happy every time I drive up to our home...should we spend the money or save it?! I have included photos of house before and after paint job as well as photo of 3/4 " black granite material on a path from my Houzz Ideabooks.

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Beautiful landscaping always helps the value and look of your home!

value to you or value when you put your house on the market?

it depends on the project. yes, a well maintained driveway and tidy yard will *help* sell a property. elaborate/hard to maintain landscaping won't. many people actually will think 'wow that will take forever/cost a fortune to keep looking like that.' i think more people want easy care as their first priority, and wont pay any extra for an overdone yard.

so these days, i'd go all minimalist for resale value. small grass area with automatic sprinklers in areas where expected rainfall will support it, more stone mulch and low water plants in areas that are dry. ticks are a problem and mosquitos as well, so a wildflower border needs to have a defined edge with grass/stone before sitting areas.

the nice night lighting no one will ever see when you are selling your house unless its the sort that has its photos taken at night with all the lights on.

we've just overhauled our pool area at our vacation home; our theory there is that we want the house to be at all times 100% ready to put up for sale when the day comes that its not fun to own any more. so that $25K won't improve the value of the home, it will keep the home saleable. and we'll get to enjoy it til then.

Not only does landscaping add a great value, but turning patios into outdoor living spaces can extend the home and increase property values significantly. Some people even buy homes just because of the outdoor living space!