The front of your house is not only how you display your humble abode to the outside world but how it is presented to you and visitors when arriving on each occasion.  Therefore, when looking to give the front of your home a new lease of life, it’s important to consider a range of ideas before opting for the ones that might work best for you and your budget. Let’s take a look! Exterior Painting For starters, you may feel it’s time to totally change the Colour of the exterior of your home, perhaps just at the front or along the sides and back of the property as well. Alternatively, you may want to have new layers of the existing paint colour added to freshen it up. If you’re looking to have the front of your home (or/and the rest of it) painted a new colour, it’s important to consider not only what colour will look the part but how it may look among other homes in the neighbourhood.  On that note, some paint colours will not be allowed by the local authorities if it causes your property to stand out like an eyesore on your road or among nature if you live in an isolated part of the country.  Either way, if you want to have your home painted a new colour, you should contact your local council for advice to find out whether planning permission is needed and what building regulations may apply. Ultimately, you’ll want to find out if you are able, in any situation, to paint your home a given colour that you have in mind. For this work, you’ll probably want to hire a professional painter. You should only try it DIY if you have the right skills and knowledge.  Also, if trying this work DIY, safety is paramount. Make sure you know exactly how to do this work safely. For instance, if you’re using a ladder, ensure a second person holds it from the bottom at all times. You may also need a safety harness and scaffolding. If in any doubt, consult with a professional for clarity over all the necessary steps/aspects, including safety requirements or simply hire one for the job instead. New Front Door and Porch Simple but effective ways of improving the front of your property is by adding a new front door, a new porch, or even both. In either case, it’s important to carefully choose the right design and colour. The correct colour will depend on how a given shade will look when compared with the rest of the front of your home and the personal preferences of you and everyone else in your household. A new front door with a modern and fresh design will revitalise the look of the front of your property to a certain degree. A new front door may also improve the energy efficiency of your home a little by helping to keep the heat in more. A porch can do the same.  Speaking of porches, there are a whole host of designs out there, including flat, pitched, gable end pitched, single-hipped, double-hipped to a ridge and double-hipped to a wall. Naturally, the best type and design of porch will depend on the sort of property you have and potentially your design preferences. New Driveway Installation Another change worth considering is to have a new driveway added. You may want to replace existing turf or another surface to have your first drive added or replace an existing one. Whatever the case, you’ll need to hire a driveway specialist or company for this work. There are many types of driveways to choose from based on the material used and design. Among the most popular driveway materials include concrete, tarmac, resin, gravel and block paving.  It’s important to spend time considering each option carefully by looking into their pros and cons and costs. As for the latter, to give some examples, a 60m² tarmac drive will probably cost between £2,500 and £5,000 in total (incl. labour and supply only costs), whereas you can expect a bill of somewhere in the region of £5,500 to £8,000 for a concrete drive. Garden Work If you have a garden space, either along with a drive (or you hope to have one added) or not, you should consider having your lawn and front garden, in general, taken care of by a professional. Of course, you could certainly undertake this work DIY if you’d prefer. This means cutting your lawn weekly and taking other measures such as removing weeds with gloves and the right product, edging and perhaps even scarifying.  However, for any of these additional lawn measures, be sure to know exactly what is involved. If in any doubt, hire a professional gardener. Lastly, you should consider adding suitable plants and placing them well in your front garden, such as adding potted plants to frame your front door or introducing bedding plants to enhance the colour of your front garden.  As a pro tip, be sure to choose plants that are not poisonous to wild or domestic animals (e.g. cats). That way, you can freshen up your front garden and keep local dogs, foxes, cats and other critters alike safe and sound!  

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