Curb Appeal in Real Estate

 

I was recently interviewed by Jamie Walker for Wrightsville Beach’s Lumina News.  The subject for the article was on how Curb Appeal can help sell a home.  Sometimes, a picture is worth a thousand words.  Here is a “Before” and “After” of a recent project my husband and I worked on in the Wilmington, NC area.

 

Before (Home Redesign by Kersting Architecture)

 

After (Landscape Design by Pam Kersting)

Curb appeal is paramount in selling a home as it offers the first glimpse of the home to prospective buyers.  If the landscape is neat and tidy and well-kept, it is a good bet that a buyer will also find the home that way.

When entering a yard, there should be an obvious progression from street to parking to front entrance or from curb to courtyard to front entrance.  Visitors or buyers shouldn’t have to guess where and how to enter a home.  

 

 

It’s a good idea to highlight the entrance in some way using annuals or some other speciman plant or object of interest or both.  Also, foundation plantings should always be trimmed several inches below windows so as not to obstruct the architectural features of the home.

 

Landscape Design by Richard Hartlage

 

Perhaps most importantly, the landscape should never detract from the home.  Rather, it should be a setting for the home where one would not imagine the house without it’s landscape nor the landscape without the house.

 

Landscape Design by Richard Hartlage

 

Remember these few tips the next time you go to put your home on the market, and I guarantee that your home will get lots of showings and be one of the first in its price range to sell!  And when you do decide to sell your home contact me.  I also am in real estate and would be happy to refer you to an outstanding agent in your area!

Objects in the Landscape

There are several schools of thought when it comes to siting a house in the landscape.  First, we build a house and then create a landscape to go “with” the house.  It has always been my belief that a home and landscape go together – that one would never imagine the house in any other context. 

Another school of thought is just as valid, however.  The house or architecture becomes “art” in the landscape or an object in the landscape.  In this context, the landscape is so perfect that the house fits right in and needs no manmade landscape at all. 

Here are some fine examples of objects in the landscape.  This is what we would label as Design with Nature.  Click on the captions to see and learn more about the houses.

 Neal Creek Residence by Paul McKean Architecture, Hood River, OR

 Hong Luo Club House / MAD Office, Beijing, China

"Bridge House" by Max Pritchard, Architect, near Adelaide, Australia

Less is more.

Now there is a trend called Cargo Container Architecture where used cargo or shipping containers are being recycled as basic building units for residential housing.  Take a look.

Kit Home by Adam Kalkin

Cargo Container House, Designer Unknown

 

Redondo Beach Cargo Container Residence by DeMaria Design

A clean and green way to live?   In this economy, will less truly become more?  Will we see Americans giving up square footage for a simpler life style?  Building sustainable homes with native and natural landscapes instead of exotic ones that require an unending flow of water and chemicals to be kept alive?

Maybe one day, my friend Julia over at Hooked on Houses will feature an in depth look at some of these homes.

It’s been a while since I participated in her “Hooked on Houses” Friday Blog Party, but I feel social today and I’m hoping you do to.  To see what she and others are hooked on this week, visit Julia's Hooked on Houses Friday Blog Party and then stop by Melissa's The Inspired Room Blog Party.

 

The Future is Now

Take a tour of this new home with me. Hip and trendy exterior with rural setting. Check!

Modern kitchen complete with view. Check!

Stylish Living area with connection to Outdoors. Check!

Master Bedroom with Connection to Outdoors, a nice view and plenty of storage. Check!

Second Bedroom, Office Lounge, or Away room. Check!

And upper and lower outside living/deck areas. Check!

This is the Clayton I-House. It is actually a pre-fabricated “green home.” At 992-square feet, it is planned to enter the market at just $100,000!

Yes, you heard it right! Clayton Homes, one of the largest manufacturers of mobile homes and pre-fabricated homes has designed the I-House with green in mind. It is powered for a dollar a day, thanks to Low-E windows, solar augmentation, high-efficiency appliances and superior insulation. The solar panels on the roof don't supply all the home's needs, but they do cut electricity consumption in half. A tankless water heater and cistern collect rainwater from the roof for use in gardening, car washing or other outdoor uses. Floors are made of fast-growing bamboo, and paint and insulation are low- or zero-emission.

To see an on-line tour of this home, go Here. And to read more about it, visit Popular Mechanics’ Prefab Green Homes Get Affordable.

Dragonfly House

This morning I am linking to an article on my husband’s architecture here in North Carolina.  Dragonfly House was featured today in “Home & Garden” section of The Raleigh News and Observer’s series put together as a collaboration between the Home & Garden section of the paper and the North Carolina State University Design Initiative.  The featured architecture was selected by a panel of experts whose mission was to highlight the benefits of good home design and represent the diversity of homes and home renovations of North Carolina architects.

As you can read in the article, as far as we are concerned, all design starts with the site!  This house is on a very small lakefront lot in an exclusive golf course community in Wilmington, North Carolina.  Only 11-ft. from one neighboring house and 14-ft. from the other, this house was designed to open up to an inner courtyard containing a pool AND look out over a million-dollar view of a beautiful lake complete with a nesting pair of swans,  a beautiful golf course setting on the far side, and a sun-setting western exposure.  Once inside this house, you would never even know you had a neighbor!

Here are a few photographs of the house, although some are not the best.  Here is the money shot of the home on it’s lake setting.

Here is the site plan showing the house on its lot and the floorplan:

On the lower left, you can see the house situated among it’s neighbors.  While the Dragonfly house is oriented for views to its interior courtyard and the lake, the other houses are typical box-type houses with windows peering into each others kitchens, living areas and bedrooms.

This is a view when entering the home through the courtyard gates.  The main family/living room straight ahead has all glass curtain walls looking into the interior courtyard on one side and out over the lake on the other side.

Here is a view of the kitchen from the dining area that really does not show you too much.  The floors are Brazilian cherry and the cabinetry and bar is Anegre wood with Absolute Black granite tops.  The fashionable bar stools are designer stools called “Baba Bar Stools.”  Sorry for the poor quality photographs.

This is a view of the large family/living room looking toward the kitchen/dining area.  To the right is the wall of glass that looks out over the lake.  The walls in this room are mahogany again with Brazilian Cherry floors and anegre wood built-ins.  The blue wall at the end of the stair axis to the left of the photograph contains a beautiful stained-glass piece designed and built by the owner of the house.

 

Who is the architect you ask?  Michael Ross Kersting.  Visit his website at Kersting Architecture.

This week I’m hooked on modern architecture.  To see what others are hooked on, visit Hooked on Houses Friday Blog Party and also Fifi Flowers Fashionable Fridays.