Buying Local Curb Appeal
Forty dollars and less than a half-hour in Dyson’s Building Center on Route 5 in Great Mills and supplies for four curb-enhancements to the Lexington Park Leader’s headquarters are in hand:
Paint. Not for the whole house, but a quart of glossy oil-base gray to give the front door and window a much needed facelift. Choosing gray to coordinate with the existing shutters should make them pop-out, adding to the new look.
House Numbers. Plain, black and big — we’re going to first see if a vertical mounting next to the door will do the trick.
Repair the front steps. The polymer-based cement repair product selected comes in a gray tint, again, keeping with shades of already existing trim to keep costs down and spruce up the appearance of what is already in place.
Landscaping. Neighbor lawn-serviceman Duke Hall severely pruned the struggling shrub at the corner of the lot, and it helped. But further landscaping will have to wait as the road and sidewalk repairs continue down Great Mills Lane.
In the meantime we’ll use container plantings, in particular a series of small cedar upstarts crowding a vacant lot where the owner has given us permission to dig some up. When the utility work is done the cedars can be transplanted. As with all tall bushes and trees they should be located at the edges of the house to frame it.
Since The Leader wants to participate in the Lexington Park Business and Community Association’s third annual Christmas display contest, we thought the cedars would be in the holiday spirit. But The Leader also ordered a custom-made film display for its front window from Barefoot Graphics. This was a splurge item — $160 custom designed and made. But it should remain intact and have a multi-year life span if treated well.
Stay tuned for that unveiling next month.
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But before planting those new trees, don’t forget to call Miss Utility.