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9 Ways To Maximise Your New Home's Street Appeal
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Boxed Corners & Facings/Decorative Features
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In this feature, we look at some of the aspects and products you may wish to consider to ensure the street appeal of your new home. If you wish to discuss any of these in more depth, please get in touch with your local Signature Homes Franchise Builder.
1. Use a Professional Colour Consultant:
A trained Colour Consultant can make a huge difference to the street appeal of your home, and choosing colours that will work well on a home is not an undertaking to be taken lightly. Colour Consultants generally have a highly-tuned sense of colour, and an extensive knowledge of how colours can compliment each other to the best effect. They also tend to have experience with many different building materials, and therefore have an understanding of which colours work well on the various cladding surfaces that are common in New Zealand. Colour Consultants are not only aware of the latest colour trends, but can also work with you to achieve a successful result if you prefer the look and feel of homes from another era.
2. Create a Landscape Plan:
Even if you are on a tight budget, and you can't afford landscaping at the time you move in, draw up a landscape plan yourself, or consider asking for professional advice. The placement of suitable plants, trees and shrubs can make a significant difference to the desirability of your new home. You may also wish to have excavated material from your build placed elsewhere on your section to create gardens, or for screening and privacy purposes.
3. Lighting:
The right exterior lighting can also make a difference to the appeal of your home, and this is not only at night; some exterior light fittings have a visual appeal all of their own.
4. Boxed Corners & Facings:
If you are wanting weatherboards on your new home, you may wish to consider the addition of boxed corners and facings to give it the look of an authentic colonial dwelling. Prior to aluminium joinery, timber window joinery had a much thicker profile. To many, this achieved a superior look compared to the thin profile provided by aluminium joinery. In colonial times, the external corners of a weatherboarded home also often had a vertical strip of timber called a boxed corner. In many cases the boxed corners and facings were painted a different colour, creating a contrast that is appealing to the eye.
5. Decorative Features:
If you are after a colonial look, consider placing decorative features around the roof overhang on veranda's, or at the apex of the gable roof; this can be a very cost-effective way of giving your new home real character.
6. Coloured Mortar:
Some view bricks as fairly bland and uninteresting. However in terms of their long-life performance, their ability to keep a home warm in winter and cool in summer, and their value for money, they're certainly hard to beat. If you are using bricks, one thing you may wish to consider in order to give your home some individuality is coloured mortar. In fact, the mortar that holds your bricks together can be tinted a myriad of colours – see your local Signature Homes franchise to view the options available.
7. Stack-Bonded Bricks:
Another trend in recent times which has given the brick a new lease of life is stack-bonding, where bricks are placed directly above each other vertically rather than in the traditional interlocking pattern. This method is can be used not only for bricks, but also for blocks.
8. Tinted Windows
You may wish to consider the use of tinted windows, which provide a number of potential benefits. In terms of aesthetics, tinted windows give the home a stealthy, modern feel. They also help to keep the home warm in winter and cool in summer, and can protect your furnishings where this is desired. They provide privacy, and can eliminate the need for curtains and/or blinds where they are not wanted.
9. Schist/Stone Details:
Even minor schist/stone detailing can add a lot of personality to your home, and there are more affordable alternatives available if authentic schist and/or stones are out of your price range.
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