With the weather warming up my mind is drawn away from the myriad of projects to do on the inside of our house to the state of our backyard. Right now it's a big, glorious blank slate. In fact, one of the reasons we bought this house was for the beautiful big back yard. Well, it's big by city standards.
After watching where the sun falls all day long I've put together this design idea. Here's what I would want to do to the backyard if I had endless funds and energy:
The blue areas get shade almost the entire day and the pink get full sun. We'd love to add a flagstone patio at the base of our deck stairs for more seating/hanging out area. And the dark green area is perfect for a long veggie garden.
So here is my question: if you were to buy a house would a beautifully landscaped backyard be a selling point? Or would the big expanse of grass be just as appealing? Would you pay a little more for a house with a great yard?
Since we aren't going to stay in this house for a decade I'm not sure if it is worth putting all this work and money into making a show stopper of a back yard. I know WE would love it, but I'm just concerned about the return on our investment...
7 comments:
I would totally go for a landscaped yard but I am not the norm. I know a lot of people go for more grass with landscaped beds and a deck or a patio.
Given the space of your backyard, if you think you're going for a family type buyer, I'd say skip the patio. More grass is better for kids. If you're going for the urban hipster I say more patio because then they would have less grass to mow.
OK, in my not very humble opinion a garden cannot be considered an investment. It is a way to create a place you love to be. If others like it, so be it. I garden because it feeds me...
If I were not married to your mother, I would live in a condo with a pool and gardner.
She is right, gardening is good for the soul.
Hostas, heucheras and bleeding hearts are shade-loving perennials that should do well in Denver. They're not usually expensive, come up every year, multiply to form great borders and beds and work well to brighten up the hard to landscape shady places where lawn won't grow. A yard that looks cared for always adds to the curb appeal of a house even if it isn't landscaped to the nines.
My opinion? Overly landscaped yards can be a bit intimidating to first-time buyers ("how will we ever be able to take care of all this when we're used to apartment living?"). But doing something to the yard so it's not just a blank slate of grass can have the opposite (ie, positive) effect.
So maybe do SOME of your improvements? Whatever YOU will enjoy the most.
Will you get a 100% return on your investment? Not likely, if you're just talking finances. But YOUR enjoyment of it needs to be factored in as well. And it sounds like you'd like DOING it.
Your house appears to be a one-bedroom so resale will go to either a couple or a single adult. No kids.
With that reasoning, a patio with pretty flower beds is most useful. If you have a enough grass for a badminton set, volley ball or other party/entertaining game I think that would be enough.
If your house were to sell to a family I would say... lawn, lawn, lawn with easy flower borders.
Ask Dan's mom about low maintenance flower beds... so a couple moving from apt to a house wouldn't be overwhelmed with upkeep - and you'd have a winner!!
Post a Comment