Summer renovations: project inspiration for the perfect season to upgrade your home in Salisbury

There’s no better season for improving your home than the summer.

With long and sunny evenings from up to 17 hours of daylight, there's so much more time to get things done before it gets dark, which means you can enjoy the fruits of your labours sooner.

A well-executed renovation, from enhancing your indoor comfort to elevating your outdoor style, can transform your living experience, increase your home’s energy efficiency, and boost its value by many thousands.

If you're thinking of giving your home a lift this summer, some of the perfect projects include:

• Adding extra space
• Polishing your kerb appeal
• Upgrading your outdoor areas
• Reigning over your roof
• Making indoor improvements

So whether you’re raring to go with your paintbrush already in hand, or planning for the future and looking for ideas, your summer renovations start here.

ADDING EXTRA SPACE

Increasing the size of your home can mould it to your changing lifestyle, put off having to move, and help you trade up bigger and better whenever you sell with the extra value you create. Top projects include:

• Adding a dormer in the loft to create a room at the top of the house, perhaps with a Juliet balcony or even a terrace cut into the roofline.
• Knocking out an external wall to make an existing room larger, open up your home to the garden, incorporate a garage, or add another floor.
• Excavating a cellar or basement to create a cinema room, studio, guest suite, or even a utility zone.

All of these improvements are ideal for the summer when the weather is warmer, instead of winter’s chill pouring through a flimsy plastic sheet while you crank up the heating to counter the cold!

POLISHING YOUR KERB APPEAL

Renovating the outside of your home is essential to protect its value and saleability, even if you don’t feel the benefit right now. That said, isn't it nice to come back to an inviting front of house?

Many buyers shy away from exterior works, fearing hidden problems and costs beneath the surface, so it's a wise move to tackle jobs like:

• Repointing brickwork, repairing cracked and missing render, mending broken fences and painting weatherboards, railings and gates.
• Replacing old wooden windows with new like-for-like models, or injecting a slice of sleek modernity with double or triple-glazed aluminium units for the ultimate in thermal performance.
• Restore your existing windows, doors and woodwork with a thorough rubbing down, filling, priming and fresh coat of paint so they’re ready for the return of the colder months.

Still trying to decide whether to restore what you've got, have replicas made, or go for a contemporary shake-up? Call us on 01722 580059 for some insider tips on what buyers in the Wilton & Salisbury area love the most.

UPGRADING YOUR OUTDOOR AREAS

No season is more synonymous with spending time outdoors than summer, which makes it the ideal season to focus on enhancing your garden, terrace or balcony with upgrades like:

• Creating an open-air living room by investing in premium garden furniture, adding a fire pit or infra-red heating for cooler evenings, or even an outdoor kitchen for a serious luxury upgrade.
• Taking your outdoor space to a while new level with a dose of garden design - think raised areas, railway sleepers, intentional planting, and conscious composition.
• Laying a new driveway, path or patio. From levelling compounds to cement between bricks or pavers, everything will dry out faster in the sunshine.

Of course, working outdoors has another advantage. It’s a great way of picking up a free tan while burning off the calories from that steak barbecue - just remember the sunscreen!

REIGNING OVER YOUR ROOF

There's no escaping the weather, and as well as protecting your home from the elements, you can harness them to shrink your bills. Summer provides the perfect conditions for jobs like:

• Solar panels are easier to install in the summer and provide instant savings with longer days and more sunshine, helping you recoup your investment sooner.
• Fix any worn-out guttering and downpipes, then connect them to a rainwater harvesting butt to conserve water for gardening and shrink your bill.
• Upgrading the ceiling insulation and repairing or replacing your roof: much faster when contractors don't have to keep laying out waterproof tarpaulins.

There's so much more to your roof than keeping out the rain, and there's no better time to maximise its eco-friendly potential than when the weather is dry and warm.

MAKING INDOOR IMPROVEMENTS

As well as making outdoor jobs easier, the summer is the perfect season to carry out a number of indoor improvements and get them done quicker, including:

• Replacing a kitchen at a time when you can use the good weather to barbecue and eat outdoors.
• Painting walls and woodwork, replastering and pouring concrete floors will dry out quicker with natural warm ventilation over the damp and cold air of winter.
• With no heating required for a few months, you can swap boring radiators with designer models, or upgrade your boiler to a heat source pump with a government grant.

With so much time spent outside, summer is a great time to complete these projects with the least disruption to your life. More than that, they'll be ready to enjoy when the autumn chill arrives.

Are you thinking about summer renovations?

There's nothing we love more than helping people to boost their home’s value, whether or not they're planning to sell.

So, if you're wondering what improvements buyers in he Wilton & Salisbury area will pay the highest price for, call us on 01722 580059 or message us at  info@piccoloproperty.co.uk to discuss your best move.