Are you passionate about interior design? Are you constantly updating the look of your rooms to keep up with the latest trends in the UK home improvement market? If so you might find yourself falling into the trap of getting carried away with the amount of money you spend on the interior whilst paying little or no regard to the appearance of the exterior of the property, yet it is just as important to enhance the exterior of your home.
It is therefore important to remember that it is all good and well having an up to date kitchen, bathroom or a trendy wooden floor which you can use to impress visitors but if the first thing they see if a scruffy and neglected front garden the overall impression you are trying to make will be lost at the front path.
With this in mind one of the most cost effective home improvement projects you can complete to transform the exterior of your home is to install a set of eye catching wrought iron style gates and railings in a design appropriate to your homes existing architecture. Not only will they look great, they will also offer many other benefits to the homeowner which we will now look at in more detail below.
Enhanced Levels of Security
To keep your home well protected from the threat of criminals and trespassers the installation of a set of driveway gates across the vehicle access point and a smaller single gate at the front pedestrian entrance is an excellent investment. Not only will you be able to control who can enter the property but you will also be able to stop small children and pets from escaping from the safe confines of the garden or driveway which is especially useful if you live on a busy road.
Additional Privacy
If you like to spend time outdoors but suffer from nosy neighbours or have lots of people passing by the boundary of your property the addition of a gate with a solid back panel will be a great option as it will prevent people from seeing through any break in the fence line or boundary wall.
Added Kerb Appeal
The addition of a set of wrought iron style gates and railings will make a magnificent statement at the front of your home provided you choose the correct design.
Define Key Areas of the Garden
If you need to control access to certain areas of the garden a gate will act as an effective barrier. Examples of this could be if you have small children and need to keep them away from a pond or have a pet you need to stop getting on the grass.
Low Levels of Maintenance
Unlike timber which will rot if not maintained on a regular basis gates and railings constructed from solid steel components require little maintenance making them perfect for the modern lifestyle where time always seems to be at a premium.
So now we have looked the benefits of installing metal gates and railings how do you go about choosing the right ones to suit your home?
Selecting the Design
Choosing the right gate or railing design may seem confusing due to the huge range of options however in reality it is rather simple. Just take a look at the existing features of the property and match the railings to suit. For example, a modern home will benefit from an uncluttered design whilst a period home will likely have more decorative features such as corbelled brickwork, cast iron downpipes etc and would therefore suit a more decorative style. So if you are unsure what to go for always follow this simple principle and you won`t go far wrong.
Getting the Size Right
If you are proficient at DIY and feel you could install a set of gates yourself it is important to get the size right. To do this measure the distance between posts or brickwork and this becomes the ordering size. When doing this the old adage “measure twice cut once” is worth remembering as mistakes with measurements can prove costly if you get it wrong. Alternatively if you don’t feel comfortable fitting the gates or railings yourself the best route is to speak with a specialist installation company or general builder as these types of trades will be able to carry out the job with their eyes shut.
To conclude, the next time you are spending money on internal furnishings or carrying out yet more needless decorating why not take a look out of the window and consider what improvements you could be making to the exterior of your property. By seeing the garden as an additional room that cannot afford to be wasted you can create an equally attractive statement outside your home that will really impress friends and neighbour`s.
The ideas and advice within this article on how to enhance the exterior of your home have been supplied by www.metalgatesdirect.co.uk, a leading UK supplier of affordable wrought iron style gates and railings suitable for any residential property.