Doing a few small things means you can NET more when selling your home and that should make everyone happy!
Declutter - cut back overgrown shrubs, remove vines, unsightly perennials, it's time to part ways with that cracked bird bath. Remove any yard accessories like gnomes or concrete gerbils, people want a blank slate.
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Picture this: You’ve just purchased a beautiful new five-bedroom Craftsman home in a wonderful neighborhood. The landscaping is superb and you love the interior details of your house. But something just isn’t quite right. When you drive up to your new home, your driveway doesn’t match the overall aesthetic. You begin to wonder how you can improve the overall look of your driveway without spending too much money or destroying the surface that’s already there. Alternatively: You’re close to retirement and looking to sell your house. How do you make your home the home to buy? The answer lies in using concrete pavers to create decorative aprons and bordering for your driveway. Pavers can be used to effectively create a whole new front yard aesthetic. Whether preparing your home for sale or for your own enjoyment, concrete pavers offer an amazing solution to a vexing problem: how do you make your driveway as dynamic and exciting as the rest of your house?
Borders provide visually interesting contrast and highlight your home’s entrance when used to frame a driveway. Borders constructed with durable concrete pavers can preserve the edges of an asphalt surface and aid in containing gravel. For this reason alone, using a border to frame your gravel driveway is a sound choice. On a design level, stunning effects can be achieved by utilizing dark borders in combination with light gravel. For example, when the old world cobblestone texture of paver interacts with pale and coarse gravel, a beautiful cool and earthy aesthetic is achieved. From a design standpoint, the varied textures and tones of the gravel and pavers create a wholly unique and dynamic image. The use of pavers as a border creates a clear distinction between the road and your home while simultaneously heightening the overall look of your landscaping. Lastly, using pavers as a border, rather than as the driveway itself, saves you money while creating a unique and fresh design.
Driveway aprons are perfect for boosting curb appeal and creating a memorable driveway opening. Aprons also make the construction of a flared driveway entrance a possible addition to your gravel or asphalt driveway. This is achieved by replacing the front section of a driveway with concrete pavers, creating a durable link between the street and the home. Normally this section extends between 5 and 15 ft. away from the street, but can extend further to accommodate longer driveways. Choose from various styles like modern, colonial, contemporary, English classic, or craftsman.
Concrete pavers provide a wide spectrum of style and color option to accommodate the architecture of almost any home. By adding an apron or border with concrete pavers, you can add character to existing asphalt or gravel driveways with product choices that play off the materials used in the façade of the home. Call Bloom today to see what we can do for your home. CALL 757-597-4631 or email This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.
Avoid using solar. Solar lights don't last, don't work if it's cloudy, and won't work in shade areas, or be very dim. Solar lights emit only 3-5% of the light that a modern LED fixture emits. That means even a 3 watt LED is 20x stronger than a solar light. Solar lights never stand up right and can make your yard look tacky. Save yourself the cost and invest in a real LED lighting system.
You don't need an electrician to install low voltage landscape lighting. Because the system is LOW VOLTAGE, it can be installed by you or a landscape professional.
Get a bigger transformer just in case you decide to add more lights in the future. Transformers that come with an extra 50W capacity will often times cost just a few dollars more.
Install two transformers if needed (front and back) to save on wire, this will have no impact on the quality of your LED outdoor lighting system.
A Bloom paver driveway enhances the curb appeal and value of your home and reflects your pride of ownership.
The minimum width for a single car driveway is 12 feet. For a double car garage, plan a minimum of 20 feet. The minimum length of driveway in order to park a car is 22 feet. Add 22 feet for each additional car you wish to park. If your driveway abuts a wall, slope or garden, add 4 feet to the width so that passengers in the car can comfortably open their doors and exit.
Consider how guests will get from your driveway to your front door. When adding a walkway that joins your driveway at the front of the house, the optimal “mouth” is 16 feet so that the car door isn’t too far from the walkway, 12 feet is the minimum.
Think about where you will pile snow in winter and be sure to choose a paver that can withstand de-icing salts. Consider permeable pavers to reduce rainwater runoff and decrease ice accumulation in winter. This applicable to our customers in Newport News, Wiliamsburg, Richmond, James City County, Toano, Virginia areas only.
Don’t be afraid to get creative with your driveway to make it your own. With pavers, there are an unlimited number of design possibilities.
