6. Lavish gardens
Not all landscaping is a great idea. However, leaving your garden looking like a jungle is also not a good one either. Not only will it drive the cost of your home down, but it can also scare away potential buyers. You would then conclude that a really pretty garden, with native plants and maybe a vegetable garden, pathways, and lots of shrubs and trees, will increase the value. However, that is not the case.
What you may think is beautiful, a potential buyer might find hard to maintain or downright ugly, as it is not to their liking. Realtors suggest you avoid doing really complicated gardens, despite wanting to have that “curb appeal”. It can drive up the cost of maintenance, which will bring the overall cost down, and your potential expensive additions will not bring you back more money.
Instead of taking up some expensive DIY project, focus so that your garden looks tidy and simple, with easy-to-upkeep flowers, trees, and plants, to make sure your landscaping value is as big as it can get.
My parents moved into a house some years ago and there was wallpaper all over the place. My dad wasn’t able to help with removing it and my mom said there were days she was in tears from fighting to get it off the walls.
Wallpaper is so very last-century, unless they find a way to make it much more easily removable.
They have a claw wheel in Walmart that makes small holes in the paper.THEN spray hot 3 parts HOT water to 1 part vinegar. Let sit for 5 minutes. Spray next piece while waiting. Start with previous PREVIOUS UPPER CORNER. Slowly pull DIAGONALY. BEFORE starting next piece, puncture next piece and spray with HOT vinegar. Respraying remaining paper backing on previous paper and use putty knife. 35 yrs experience. Good luck!
Sue Harris, we did exactly as you mention and it was no piece of cake. Still was a massive pain in the next. Add to that the caked on glue. Could not remove it totally. Actually got an estimate to re drywall the house. The sticker price talked me out of it quickly. Not saying you are not accurate in your assessment. Just giving my experience.
Removing wallpaper is very challenging. It is a slow process. One particular house we moved in to had wallpaper in almost every room, so I know! If the wall was prepped correctly prior to paper placement, it was better, but it still is a messy slow project so be prepared. Was removal worth it? ABSOLUTELY!
I’m sure new homeowners are dieing to drench their walls in vinegar. It’s not quite a “welcome home” smell. And about those ceilings… how does one go about removing curry stains from the kitchen ceiling?
When i used to hang wallpaper i would charge more to remove wallpaper than i did to hang it.
There is a radon for that.
There are alternatives worth considering, depending on the condition and type of wallpaper and what you plan on doing in its place.
Worth considering
Sunrooms are a turnoff. They’re not exactly fully indoors, and on a sunny day, you can feel like you are in a baking box of glare. They’re not really outdoors either: are you feeling the breeze of the spring day, or the smell of fall leaves? No. They never look like an integrated part of the house, and they never have the feel of say, a living room that has a wall with some floor-to-ceiling windows. THAT looks luxurious. Sunrooms are made of dozens of components and they always look DIY. Whenever I’ve shopped a house with a sunroom, I think in terms of turning it into a screened porch, or tearing it off altogether.
I guess difference of opinion is what makes the world go round. For me, being disabled and elderly, having a sunroom to sit in would be such a blessing. When you are inside most of the time and long for your garden space, the illusion of being outside would be magical. I long for nature, the rustle of the leaves, the buzzing of bees, the color of all the beautiful flowers and the chirping of birds. I’ve seen sun rooms where the light and airflow can be adjusted by the window treatments
. I still will wish and hope for mine.
I agree, CarolAnn. A sunroom can be a wonderful place to enjoy the outdoors, esp. if you’re unable to GO outdoors.
I hope you get yours soon!
You are making a gross generalization on sunrooms that is not accurate or true. Our sunroom has windows across the front which open. It also has a split A/C/heat pump It’s delightful and gets more use than any other rooms but kitchen. There are different sunrooms just like there are different houses.
An interesting discussion is worth comment. I think that you ought to write more about this subject matter, it may not be a taboo matter but usually people don’t discuss these topics. To the next! All the best!!
Hi,
Want to decorate my Garden Please help.
Deaco Jones, my experience with that method was not pleasant either. It was time-consuming and messy. The top layer of paper came off easily. The backing paper did not, and spraying it with the hot water/vinegar was not a good idea. Even gently using a plastic putty knife damaged the outer layer of the sheetrock itself; that is never good, and this was a bathroom. I learned you can paint over wallpaper with an oil based primer, let it dry thoroughly, and then paint over the primer with an acrylic/latex paint. So that’s what I did and 3 yrs. later it still looks great. If your wallpaper has some loose corners or edges, you need to re-glue those before applying the primer. The primer did have some odor, so best if you have some ventilation.