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Carson Arthur has the recipe for your home’s curb appeal

Falling in love with Prince Edward County on first visit, television host and landscape designer Carson Arthur has reignited his farming roots and now shares his time between here and in Toronto.

Arthur’s television career began about 15 years ago with the show ‘Room to Grow’ and its popularity bloomed into other series with HGTV including ‘Critical Listing’, ‘Green Force’ and his new ‘Home to Win’. He is also the outdoor expert with City TV’s Cityline and wrote the sell-out book Garden Designs for Outdoor Living, in 2015.

Though he’s used to helping other people achieve their outdoor dreams, he hopes his dream of living full-time in the County, is just around the corner.

“I was invited stay at Maison Depoivre (Bloomfield) to see the space and do some social media for them about two years ago,” said Arthur. “And that was it. I fell in love. I grew up on a farm, so the mindset of the County and the whole farm-to-table lifestyle was really appealing to me. I can’t wait to be here full-time.”

His Wilson Road home has already been featured in Canadian Living and was also part of last year’s Holiday Home fundraising tour.

He’s becoming involved in County activities, including joining the local tennis league, and just participated in Athol’s strawberry social, providing a celebrity cake. He’s looking forward to working with the Horticultural Society, and the Fresh For All food initiative.

In the meantime, he’ll help Countylive readers achieve their outdoor dreams in a new weekly feature.

Welcome, Carson Arthur!

DCF 1.0

BEFORE – Nothing particularly appealing, or inviting you to want to see more.

Your front yard is the appetizer course

Carson Arthur

Carson Arthur

The question of the day is how much does landscaping really impact the value of your home? When it comes to the outdoors, spending money on renovations has never been so important or so confusing.

To make it simple, think about your property like a three-course meal. The front yard is the appetizer. It sets the stage for the dinner and hopefully leaves your guests anticipating more. The house is definitely the meat and potatoes of your property. It is the substance of the meal. Finally the backyard, which like the dessert course, finishes the space.

Whether you’re having guests over for dinner or trying to impress potential buyers, people naturally start forming an opinion of your home from the moment they see it. That said, you only get one chance to make a first impression. For years we were told that first impressions were made at the front door or at the front hallway. This is definitely not the case. Your front yard is the very first thing people see when they come to your home.

When it comes to dollars and cents, a first impression can increase your home’s perceived value by up to 7 per cent according to Century 21 (2013 study). That translates to $21,000 on the average Canadian home. This is a really important number. Basically, you now have a guideline of how much to spend on renovating the front yard. If you stay under 7 per cent of your home’s value when landscaping the front, experts say that you’ll probably get your investment back when it’s time to sell your home.

I love to drive through neighbourhoods and look at the landscaping and the houses. Some homeowners put a lot of detail into their front yards with shrubs, flowers, trees and even seating areas. You can tell they care for theirs spaces and its not a big leap to assume the inside of the house looks like the outside.

I measure the success of a good front yard by how much I want to see the rest of the property. Other homeowners go with the standard foundation plants, an evergreen and a large lawn. While there’s nothing wrong with this default design, there’s also nothing inspiring about these yards either. They don’t leave me wanting more. (Just like the pigs-in-a-blanket I was served at dinner last night.)

AFTER - An interesting and appealing front yard invites you to the door.

AFTER – An interesting and appealing front yard invites you to the door.

So what is your yard saying? Is it time to make a change? Landscaping the front of your house is not only is a secure investment, it’s the best way to make a fantastic first impression!

The backyard equivalent to dessert!

The backyard equivalent to dessert!

* * *
For more, visit Carson Arthur’s website at carsonarthur.com

Filed Under: Carson Arthurhome improvementNews from Everywhere Else

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