Assessment

• 1). Take photographs of the front of your home from the approach to your front door, from the sidewalk or street coming from both the left and right, and from directly across the street.
  
  
• 2). Have the photos developed as 8-by-10s at a one-hour photo.
  
  
• 3). Lay clear, plastic overhead sheets over each photograph and secure the overhead sheets to the photographs with clear tape.
  
  
• 4). Pin the photos to a sheet of 1/2-inch thick corrugated cardboard and stand it on edge so that you can look at your house from the same angles you used to take the photos.
  
  
• 5). Outline areas that need attention with a fine-tip transparency marker.
  
  
• 6). Examine the plants visible in your photos. Note whether or not they look crowded, overgrown or worn-out. Write the common and scientific names of each plant, along with your recommendations for improving on its appearance, on separate pages in a spiral notebook.
  
  
• 7). Note in the notebook any toys, garden tools or debris that need to be removed from your landscape. Also note whether or not the siding needs to be pressure-washed or the windows and trim need to be repainted.
  
  

Quick Cleanups

• 1). Remove toys, tools and debris from the yard.
  
  
• 2). Clean your siding, driveway and sidewalks with a pressure washer.
  
  
• 3). Wash all windows that are visible from any approaches to the front of your home with a solution of one part vinegar to three parts water. Polish them with balled newspaper or clean, lint-free rags until they are sparkling clean.
  
  
• 4). Replace old trashcans or build a lattice corral to conceal them from view, using four ready-made lattice frames. Turn three frames on edge and secure them to each other using small L-shaped wall mounts where they meet on the inside top and bottom corners. Secure one side of the fourth frame to your three-sided enclosure using a butt hinge at the top and bottom. Use a hook and eye latch as a closure for the remaining unattached side.
  
  
• 5). Ask a helper to steady the ladder while you climb up to examine your gutters. Replace any missing or bent gutter hangers and reattach any loose sections of downspouting.
  
  
• 6). Give your landscape clean lines by edging your lawn, flower beds and walkways.
  
  
• 7). Fill in any bare patches on your lawn. Score the bald spot with a toothed rake and sprinkle the turned earth with grass seed. Cut cheesecloth or other loose-woven material to the size of the bare patch to cover it until the grass sprouts, sprinkling it with a light layer of composted soil. Water the area with a soaker hose until the patch is saturated.
  
  

Existing Landscaping

• 1). Remove weeds and any non-ornamental grasses from your flower beds. If you are not sure whether a growth is a weed or a desirable plant, leave it in place. Discard all debris.
  
  
• 2). Assess all of the remaining plants. Divide any crowded perennials and replant the excess elsewhere, trade them for other plants or give them away. Keep plantings in odd-numbered groups of three, five or seven, spaced according to the needs of each plant. Odd-numbered groupings are more attractive than even-numbered ones because they do not end in single rows.
  
  
• 3). Refer to your initial photos to decide where to plant the divided perennials. Use taller, fuller, brighter-colored plants to flank doorways, camouflage utility mains and provide a backdrop for shorter, paler, more delicate varieties.
  
  
• 4). Flank the approach to your front door with bright-colored bedding flowers like impatiens, portulaca or begonias.
  
  
• 5). Prune all trees and shrubs and remove the debris. Grind the trimmings if possible to give your flower beds a new layer of mulch.
  
  
• 6). Paint or replace your mailbox and scrape and repaint your door if it looks shabby. Home-staging instructor Jeannette Fisher advises using a contrasting color to draw attention to your front door, but make sure the garage door matches your siding.