Five ideas to give your home renovation street presence

Improving your newly renovated Melbourne home’s street view can be as simple as a few cosmetic touch-ups to your facade or as detailed as a front-garden makeover. Here are five outdoor home renovation ideas to make your house stand-out in your Melbourne street and improve how passers-by view your property – all the while boosting your home’s value too.

Update your facade: The biggest way to make an impression is to renovate your house’s facade. Brick work could be rendered or a portico turned into a rendered feature. A fresh coat of paint in a modern paint colour is an easy home renovation trick to bring new appeal to your house. Trims, gutters and window frames may also need a fresh coat of paint. 

Driveway: Don’t overlook the entrance to your Melbourne property. Updgrading your driveway can make all the difference from the street view and sets the scene to your new-look renovated home. Consider your options: crushed stone, concrete, coloured concrete, exposed aggregate, pavers and more.

Add a feature: Introducing a feature element at the front of your home will attract the eye of passers-by and is a great way to introduce colour or add an element of your personal style to the design. Consider a statement letterbox, a water feature in the front garden, feature plants or potted plants marking the entry way, wall art, a new garage door or making the front door a bold feature of your facade.

Garden: An elaborate garden isn’t essential to create extra street appeal, even a basic low-maintenance neat garden will give the impression of a modern and clean property and create a match for the renovated home indoors. Having a good-looking garden makes your property look like it’s a finished product. Consider using a mix of materials from young plants to mature trees, rockery and paving to create a visually inviting appearance.

Added colour: A bit of colour thrown in will make your property look brighter and is always attractive on the eye. If you prefer your home’s facade stays with a neutral palate, consider adding colour via the garden (varying greens and textures in tree leaves, flowering plants, feature pots and rockery). If colour is your friend, consider adding a burst to your facade – trims, guttering and posts in a contrasting colour to the facade, a bright front door or feature tiling at the home’s entrance.

One North Balwyn couple were happy with their property's front garden presentation but felt overall their house needed some wow factor from the street to match the home renovations recently completed inside. Unsure how to proceed, they contacted The Makeover Group. With the garden already established and thriving, our designers chose to add a feature element to the home's entry and update the facade. A fresh coat of paint to the timber dwelling in an in-vogue colour with contrasting coloured trims and guttering, and the large timber front door restored and restained brought the facade to life. Ornamental feature plants in oversized porcelain pots were placed either side of the entry way. With these minor cosmetic changes, from the street the property now looked the full package.

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• For advice on home renovations or updating your Melbourne property’s street appeal, see www.themakeovergroup.com.au or phone The Makeover Group on 1300 768 464.

Richard Armstrong is a Director of Melbourne firm The Makeover Group. He has more than a decade of property styling and home renovation experience. He has helped hundreds of Melbourne clients undertake renovations to improve the value and look of their home.