Some home improvements are designed to capture people’s attention and leave them speechless (for the right reasons, obviously), but did you know that not every home upgrade, renovation or new decor choice needs to be done with the wow factor in mind or for the sole purpose of increasing property value?
While it’s nice that you can do these things with some well-thought-out changes to your property, what can often make the most difference is the small details, the new things you add into your home because they make sense, because they work and because there is no reason why you shouldn’t add them in.
A Driveway That Earns Its Keep
A driveway can not only be a great addition to any property, but one that earns its keep can be so much more beneficial. Now, in the UK, if you don’t already have a driveway, you might need to check with the local councils to turn part of your property into a driveway. There could be rules related to the position of the property or the type of road you’ll live on that make it more complex to add a driveway or rule it out, and you need permission to get a dropped kerb to access it if one doesn’t exist (this at your own cost too), but it’s worth investigating.
But if you already have a driveway, then get it working hard, pulling double or even triple duty. Add a garage or a carport. You can even add a solar carport so you can generate electricity from the carport, protect your car, and even power your EV if you have one. And unlike solar panels on the roof that look out of place or tacked on sometimes, a solar carport looks like a well-thought-out addition to your property that just makes sense.
Storage You Don’t See
Most homes, especially newer modern builds, don’t tend to come with too much storage. And this is how homes end up with those messy sections; the coats on the end of the stairs, the shoes strewn around the hallways, the piles on the end of the kitchen counter that looks like a brain dump your struggling or make sense of, and we won’t even discuss the kids’ overflowing wardrobes or toy cabinets spilling out into various rooms in the house.
Built-in storage is a quiet hero. It swallows it all, organises your home, and doesn’t require praise or demand attention. It simply exists to make your life easier.
What do we think when we talk about hidden storage? It’s the stair drawers that hide your shoe collection from everyone, it’s the hidden benches in the kids’ toy rooms or bedrooms that provide a safe haven for toys and it’s the lift-up hydraulic beds that discreetly squirrel away blankets, seasonal clothes in vac bags and free up your bedroom for the nicer things you want displayed, not your collection of Christmas jumpers on show in July.
Underfloor Heating Because Why Not
There is no good reason why underfloor heating isn’t a feature you will be forever pleased with.
Firstly, it can add a lot of value to the property in some cases, not all, and the experts seem to be in disagreement over this. Essentially, it is worth more to someone who also loves this feature and is willing to pay more for a property with it already installed. But value and ROI aside, it’s a people-pleasing feature that works in most homes.
With underfloor heating, you can kiss goodbye to the shock of a cold floor under your feet as you rush out of bed on a rainy morning to let the dog out or avoid having an accident in your kitchen. You can benefit from more even heating within larger open-plan layouts, and it can also potentially help you save on your heating bills too. It’s not something people gush about when they see your home, like say a brand new kitchen or your statement dining table, but it’s always appreciated.
Awkward Spaces Are No More
Every house has a space that just doesn’t do anything. You can’t fit furniture in it, it’s too small for a cupboard, or there’s that gap under the stairs where the vacuum lives, and nothing else will go there.
But instead of ignoring them and treating them like an annoyance, turn them into the best features of the house, get your creative thinking cap on and see what you can do.
Sometimes all you might need is a tall potted plant or even a hanging basket of flowers or a hanging plant above the ceiling to make that random space in the hallways work, or you can turn that weird alcove in the kitchen or your dining room, you have no idea what to do with, into a wine rack, mini bar area or even a coffee bar, if you will use it or get joy from it nothing is off limits.
All Year Round Gardens
Now this is definitely something that will get you a healthy ROI for your efforts. An all-year-round garden is one that is UK weather-proof. It’s a garden that doubles up as another living space.
A small outdoor kitchen with a pizza oven, or a covered patio with a pergola studding with flights and with an outdoor heater means you can relax outside in the cool dry nights or even a simple firepit can be a practical addition to your garden to enable you to make the most of your garden despite the weather.
For something requiring a little bit more of an investment you can add a garden room. You can use this room for anything you wish, it can be a movie night pod, a home bar or gym, an office pod or simply a zen space to get away from life and relax it’s entirely up to you.
Sometimes your home doesn’t need you to make investments in it so it’s worth more money, it needs you to invest so it’s worth more to you to live in and enjoy. Because at the end of the day enjoying living in your home is a feeling money can’t buy.