Making The Most Of Your Outdoor Space

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How Green Does Your Garden Show?

July 25, 2011

As a realtor operating in both the freehold and condominium markets, one shortfall a lot of sellers make is investing insufficient capital and landscape design elements to showcase their outdoor space. Whether you have a small patio or a private back yard, homeowners would be wise to visually merchandize the opportunities and benefits of their outdoor living space. Whether that includes a seating area, barbecue, water feature or sufficient plantings to soften the hard surfaces of most urban settings, maximizing your outdoor space is key to generating Top Dollar. After all, we Torontonians will happily spend as much time as we can outside, even when our harsh winters might limit our outdoor time to six months of the year. As a realtor, I witness a lot of missed opportunities to elevate a property's resale value by not taking advantage of outdoor areas.

As part of my Movie House Loft renovation, I engaged Thingmaker Dave Hind (www.davehind.com) to make three spectacular screens out of recycled materials for privacy (Dave made my sensational ten foot high Hand Sculpture shown above over ten years ago), and enlisted the services of my amazing friend Dan Nuttall (www.dandoesdesign.com) to elevate my patio into a secret garden respite.

Here's a photo of my former garden in The Button Factory that showcases Dan's brilliance:

 

My Movie House outdoor space, shown below, serves as a seasonal entry when snow and sleet don't require me to use my common hall entrance, and provides a surprisingly tranquil outdoor escape when relaxing under the canopy of mature trees.

Here's Dan's summary on the landscape program.

As a guide for property sellers, look for future posts that will share more details, more pics, and a summary of cost of my Movie House garden, including some 'Before' snaps.

~ Steven

Comments

#1. Posted by Liquid Roof on January 24, 2012
Nice info. Thanks for sharing.
#2. Posted by Juan Pomares on March 22, 2012
very good post. I like your style of writing. Keep this good work up in future also. Best Regards, Juan Pomares

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