7 Simple Ways to Invest in Your Yard for Big Returns

Take a page from a popular fashion trend — colour blocking — and transpose its traits into your landscape design. Pick out a patio wall and paint a bold colour (or, if you’re feeling adventurous, two or three in the same tonal family) or colour block your flower beds! It creates a visual frame to highlight any outdoor amenities such as an outdoor fire pit or a row of potted plants.

Whether making a good first impression with a potential suitor or blowing away a potential buyer, flowers are always a good idea. Armed with a spade, some potting meal and slew of bright buds in a single colour, line front pathways, ring trees and fill porch pots for instant curb appeal.

In 2017, backyards are going beyond bench seats and flower boxes — one of this year’s biggest landscaping trends is having a place to play. Be it a backyard-sized bocce ball court or custom-made Cornhole set, setting up something fun for the future owners to play with could really pay off.

Give the backyard a boost with a set of café string lights crisscrossing just so. Illuminating outdoor spaces with these trendy trestles creates an inviting vintage vibe that begs potential buyers to pull up a chair and settle in for the night (and every night after that).

Harness the momentum of the “foodscaping” movement and plant a vegetable garden. A couple of box planters brimming with fresh parsley, salad greens and zucchini vines shows that this home is all about homegrown — and who wouldn’t want a slice of that?

Instead of investing hundreds of dollars trying to fix a neglected lawn, take the path less trodden. Lawn alternatives, such as wild grasses and wild-flower mixes, are starting to sprout up everywhere, thanks to growing awareness around traditional lawn maintenance (fertilizers, water usage, etc.).

Have you ever seen a porch swing and not wanted to sit on it? Installing one of these sweet swingers on the front porch (or any other pretty spot on the property) is a surefire way to get potential buyers to picture themselves rocking their way right into a full-price offer.