“I will sell this house today!” affirmed a manically confident Carolyn Burnham in American Beauty. Donning rubber gloves, the anal agent spruced up the Formica and tile, trying to get the hopeless dud she was saddled with to sparkle.

These days, agents still mired in the recession also contemplate how to simply get buyers in the door, and curb appeal is everything when it comes to this lure. These five fixes can make a big difference:

1. Leaner and Cleaner Landscape

If the entrance has a patch of grass, make sure it is manicured. Too many agents and homeowners simply let the grass grow under their feet while waiting for a home to sell and the once landscaped lawn becomes a major turn off to potential buyers, unless of course they are hippies who like overgrown grass. It also helps to replace some of the water sucking plants with drought resistance cactus, and other xeriscape choices that show off your conservation commitment.  It also spells low maintenance!

2. Fresh Coat of Exterior Paint

Paint is the one fix that goes the distance since buyers really do judge a listing by its cover.  Go with an eco brand like Benjamin Moore and select a popular neutral, cream, white, beige or taupe with pretty trims (greens, browns, reds, blacks).

3. Eliminate all Debris and Encourage Neighbors to do the Same

I fell in love with a charming Mediterranean cottage in a desirable hood of San Francisco and probably would have made an offer if it were not for the butt-ugly neighboring homes spilling over with car and lawn equipment and other debris. It was shocking how one side of the street was pretty well maintained and the opposite site was a blight. Make cookies to bribe your neighbors into helping you with the cause by cleaning up their acts. In the end it will boost the value and saleability of  their homes, as well.

4. Patch broken Concrete, Bricks and Tiles

Unless you are marketing a diamond in the rough, it pays to invest in repairing broken chimney bricks, cracked concrete drive ways and flagstone steps. It makes a statement about how you have maintained the inside of the home, just as a well groomed physical appearance often spells a healthy internal system.

5. Clean Windows

You can do this yourself with a sizeable ladder and the right materials or hire a neighborhood service to come out (they usually charge per window) right before you put the house on the market. Weather will dirty them again, but the cleaning should last a couple of months and add also make a statement about the condition of the home. Filmy windows are a deterrent for getting curious lookers inside, unless it is Halloween.

Photo credits: Main image of “Painted Ladies” opposite Alamo Square in San Francisco, licensed for commercial use under Creative Commons by Marit and Toomas Hinnosaar on Flickr.

The post 5 Fast Fixes for Improved Curb Appeal appeared first on EcoSalon.

Heck yeah are rain barrels a great way to save on your water bill and rescue your thirty plants during droughts when you can only water on certain days! Water from the barrel is also great for washing cars and dogs. The trouble is, rain barrels have traditionally looked like, well, barrels. Big ugly plastic barrels. Not something you want in your beautifully landscaped yard or gorgeous flower garden, right? Luckily, designers and garden shops have started creating rain barrels that defy the stereotypes. In a variety of colors and styles, all with easy to access spigots, here are our five favorite rain barrels.

From HERO 365 designers Jenny Lemieux and Leo Corrales comes the Hero 365 RC-1 Rain Collector, a 45-gallon rain barrel available at Bobby Berk Home for $550.

A built in planter lid helps disguise this Chateau Rain Barrel in your yard. Available from Composters for $308.58, the 75-gallon barrel is made from super-durable polyethylene, but has a ceramic look from afar.

The 70-gallon Quad Rain Barrel, available on Composters for $399.60, is made from FSC certified Canadian spruce that has been treated without chemicals to withstand biological degradation.

With a look that’s more wine barrel than rain barrel, this Woodgrain Rain Barrel, available on Clean Air Gardening for $169.99, looks like an oak cask. In reality, it’s made out of heavy duty plastic, which gives it long-lasting durability.

Even though this barrel looks like a ceramic planter, it’s made from molded plastic that promises to withstand extreme temperatures. The 50-gallon Algreen Aqua Rain Barrel also comes with a garden hose for easy watering. The budget-friendly option is available at Sears for $139.99.

The post 5 Rain Barrels That Won’t Ruin Your Landscaping appeared first on EcoSalon.

In the heat of summer, there’s nothing like a refreshing dip in a cool swimming pool. Between the chemicals, energy-hogging electric filter, and the regular water refills it takes to keep evaporation at bay, sometimes pools can be more harmful to the environment than they are soothing to the soul.

Before you drain your pool and turn it into a sunken garden, here are five things to can do to lessen the impact it has on the environment without sacrificing your daily dip.

Harness the sun – Choosing solar panel heating equipment over an electric heater will save you bundles of money and cut down on the amount of energy it takes to maintain your pool. Solar paneling can carry a hefty up-front cost, but they quickly pay off with reduced energy costs and consumption. Toss a solar pool cover over the water when you’re not swimming for even greater savings.

Choose the right filter – One area of pool maintenance where you can’t skimp is the pool filter, unless you like swimming in green-tinted slimy water. A good pool filter cleans out the crud and keeps the water sparkling. Choose an eco-friendly model with large-capacity filters to cut down on how often they need to replaced or cleaned. Avoid sand-based filters that use a ton of water to get the job done and choose a cartridge model instead. Also, look for filters with low pump speeds to minimize energy use.

Cut the chemicals – The typical swimming pool is so chemical-laden you can often smell the chlorine before you even get in. New pool maintenance systems use ionization to keep the water clean and clear. Installation can run up to $5,000 in some cases, but it beats swimming in bleach water. Some folks swear by salt water pools but beware, you’re still exposing yourself to chlorine emitted by the salt system – just in lower quantities.

Go au natural – If you’re in the planning stages of investing in a new swimming pool, give some thought to building a natural pool in place of a traditional concrete model. Instead of cement, filters, and chemicals, natural pools are made of gravel or clay and stay clean thanks to the natural filtration power of strategically-placed plants. Besides being simply gorgeous, it’s a fairly self-maintaining ecosystem that costs a fraction of what it costs to build a standard pool.

Timing is everything – Make sure all your pool maintenance equipment is on timers so they run at maximum efficiency. Set your heater and filter to run overnight when the overall demand for energy isn’t as high. Timers are also important so your equipment will shut off after a period of time in case you get busy and forget to do it yourself.

Image: leozaza

The post It’s My Backyard and I’ll Splash If I Want to: Smart, Sustainable Pool Tips appeared first on EcoSalon.

Gorgeous sprawling landscapes and mobile vegetable patches are two ways to show everyone that you have the greenest of green thumbs, but rooftop gardens are the cat’s meow when it comes to eco-friendly planting options.

Rooftop gardens are not only a gorgeous and elegant way to beautify your home, but they’re also perfect for apartment dwellers with limited space. Birds love top-floor landscaping, they make a great place to grow food, and are a sustainable way to insulate the building underneath.

Here are a few rooftop designs I fell in love with the minute I saw them.

Imagine sipping your morning coffee while enveloped in this rooftop retreat. The brainchild of NYC garden designer Amber Freda, it features cozy chairs, lush hedges, Zen-like trees and a skyline view. Let’s just agree to call this incredible, yes?

Even if you have a tiny rooftop, you can still think big. UK design firm BlueSky Landscapes created a sheltered cooking an dining area on this small terrace and still had room leftover for a sitting area and loads of planters of staggered heights to draw the eye upward. The bright orange table and matching benches add a bright pop of color we love.

I would climb buildings in Manhattan’s East Village to find this rooftop living space. In addition to skyward-growing vines and rows of greenery flanking beautiful wooden benches, this space has a custom-made stainless steel water basin and spout, and even a private shower area so you can bathe al fresco. Pulltab Design, I think I love you.

Chicago Specialty Gardens designed this jaw-dropping outdoor garden that mixes birch pole arrangements with bench seating, and ipê screening to allow for air movement during hot summer months. Potted plants and trees complete the look and you’d never know you were on a garage rooftop in the middle of the city.

Landscape designer Andy Sturgeon created a perfect look for rooftop gardens in arid climates where grass and thirsty plants won’t thrive. Planked paths and gravel landscaping provide a backdrop for long-leafed flowering plants and assorted shrubbery. The gorgeous fire pit is surrounded smooth, white boulders and a wooden seating arrangement perfect for enjoying a cup of tea while watching the sunset.

Can’t get enough of these amazing rooftop gardens? Here are 17 more that are just as incredible.

The post 7 Dreamy Rooftop Garden Designs You’ll Envy appeared first on EcoSalon.

Are lawns going the way of the Noughties? First Lady Michelle Obama replaced part of the White House lawn with an organic vegetable garden, and it seems the rest of the country is poised to follow suit – edible front yards have been called the biggest gardening trend of 2010. It’s no wonder – fresh, homegrown vegetables are a far better use of energy and resources than a useless swath of grass.

And though ugly patches of dirt, ratty row covers and wire tomato cages can sometimes make front yard vegetable gardens the horticultural equivalent of a busted car on cinder blocks, it doesn’t have to be that way.  You can please a picky neighbor, satisfy your own aesthetic standards and feed your family all at once with these beautiful edible landscaping methods.

Murder the Grass and Mulch, Mulch, Mulch

If you’ve got visions of backbreaking labor, rented heavy equipment and weed-killing chemicals dancing in your head, relax. For once, the easiest way is in fact the best way. All you have to do is break down brown cardboard boxes, lay them on your lawn with the edges overlapping, soak them with water and cover them with two inches of weed-free compost and an inch or two of mulch. Sustainable Gardening Australia has all the details on this simple, sustainable process.

While it does take a while for the cardboard to break down and the grass to die, you can begin planting right away. Just cut holes in the cardboard where you want to insert plants, or dig up small areas where you’ll be putting in garden beds.

Landscape with Attractive Edibles

There’s no rule that says you have to plant vegetables in neat little rows like a farmer. Why not plant edibles in patterns that are not just biologically appropriate, but visually stimulating?

If you’re already a gardener, but have focused on ornamental plants rather than edibles, you probably already have flowerbeds in your yard. An easy way to test the waters with gardening for food is to simply replace some of those pretty but inedible plants with fruits, vegetables and herbs. Plant lavender and strawberries instead of flowers, kale and cabbage in place of hostas, carrots and chives rather than ornamental grasses. Tuck nasturtiums and marigolds in with your tomatoes and cucumbers to provide a touch of color and some ground cover to boot.

This method doesn’t just preserve the aesthetics of your yard – and allow you to keep a portion of your lawn, if you wanted to – it can also be beneficial to the plants you grow. Check out this companion planting chart to see which crops work together and Treehugger’s gallery of gorgeous edibles, and go from there.

Make Raised Beds for Visual Interest

So what if you don’t have the greatest soil for gardening? Clay, sand and rocky soil can pose a problem for gardeners who want to get started growing food as soon as possible, because amending soil takes time. But there’s a quick, simple solution that’s also easy on the eyes: raised beds.

Raised garden beds can go right on top of existing soil and lawn, and they’ve got a lot of advantages over planting right in the ground. They warm up quickly in the spring, drain easily, keep weeds out, raise the planting area for gardening ease and give you a lot of control over the type of soil used for particular plants.

Raised beds can be made from all sorts of materials from corrugated tin to cinder blocks, but many people simply use 2″x6″ cedar or pressure-treated wood boards to create custom boxes filled with layered cardboard, mulch, compost and soil. Surrounded by stone or mulch paths, these compact little gardens can add a lot of visual interest to your yard.

Images credits:

(Top) Edible Estates Regional Prototype Garden #6: Baltimore Maryland,” 2008
Commissioned by The Contemporary Museum Baltimore – Photo by Leslie Furlong

(Third down) Edible Estates Regional Prototype Garden #4: London, England,” 2007
Commissioned by Tate Modern – Photo by Fritz Haeg

Green Garden Vienna and  Hortulus

The post 2009, the Year the Lawn Died appeared first on EcoSalon.

While I’ve never met a plant I didn’t love, succulents and air plants are favorites for their extraordinary variety, stunning forms and low consumption of water. Whether you’re an experienced gardener or believe you have a “black” thumb, these unique gems reward you with their ability to thrive as they bring an environmentally-friendly touch of the outdoors inside.

Survival of the succulent

The same survival traits that allows them to prosper in dry, arid climates where nothing else will grow makes these gorgeous guys ideal as a greener choice for houseplants. Unlike most thirst guzzlers, they can thrive with very little water because of their ability to store water in their leaves, stems or roots. This same storage system helps give them their “chubby” appearance or succulence. They are in fact “juicy” but don’t be deceived by their voluptuous appearance. They’re also tough and long-lasting.

Living on air

Air plants (tillandsias) grow magically without soil. They come in a wild array of
delicate and exotic shapes. Some air plants also flower at certain times of the
year. Tucking them into a container of stones, beach glass or sand creates
an instant indoor garden. All they require is filtered light, a spritz of
water a couple of times a week and a gentle upside-down shake to prevent
soggy bottoms.

Learn more about xeriscaping, succulents and eco-friendly gardening. And we’ll be taking a look at cacti and orchids soon, as well, so bookmark this post for updates.

Images: cattypumkinhead, VivaTerra

The post Xeriscaping 101: Eco Plants You Can't Kill appeared first on EcoSalon.