An odd question: this is a house you are considering buying? Wouldn't the lack of curb appeal work in your favour if so? Otherwise a big garage for getting the cars off the street might work.

cd67, what's your relationship now with the 2 houses? Because that would affect the types of solutions that would be most appropriate.

Sorry Guys! I honestly didn't think about you remembering me. The brick is the home I live in now. It is on the market now and has been for about 6 weeks. The blue one above is what we are considering.

We have enough equity in the first to sell it and purchase the blue one straight out. We would go from $800 monthly mortgage to zilch. It is across the road from my inlaws. Yes it is close to the main road and the land extends somewhat to the back but there is a large level lot to the right.

Alicia

I guess you know how busy that road is - bear in mind if your area is developing it will get busier. A split rail fence, low rustic plantings, and a darker brown shade paint would do a lot to ground the house and play to its charms.

Right now that house just sort of spills out onto the road. If you do buy the house (and for DH to consider) I would make some significant barrier between the road and house (fence) (hedge) and do less focusing of landscaping and gardening on the front and lots more on what looks to be a spectacular back yard with a view.

I also agree a darker house color is warranted.

No mortgage?! Yeah! I'm all for that.

Patty

Curb appeal is maybe a simplistic concept here, where the siting on the lot (what would you be getting in terms of lot, by the way) looks to me to be a big issue, one of curb value, not just appeal, and somthing you can't change. If you are already determined to buy it, it must have other attributes that appeal to you, maybe the floorplan, land, school district or whatever. The no-morgage situation is only one factor and not always the most financially advantageous, but I assume there might be several options for moving into a no- or lower-motgage situation. So I assume you are factoring in all the other features of the house to determine that those features + estimated ability to hold value +resell are there, too. You know what they say--location--so not just across from MIL, but the lot/neighborhood issues--because typically you will face issues of other improvements, investments in the home that come up. If it is to be more of a short-term residence then only you would know whether the price and market will allow it to work for you now and turn it around at resale, and soome simple improved curb appeal could help .

Well, maybe going a bit off thread, trying to get you to think, actually, what is the purpose of "curb appeal" in this particular situation?

That is awfully close to the road. Do you have kids? Pets? I'd be concerned about safety, and I agree that the way the house is sited on the lot is a negative come resale time.
P.S. I lived around the corner from my MIL for four years, and was ready to put my head in the oven. Hope yours is better then mine. ;o)

May I be perfectly honest here this one time without being cast forevermore into the snarky camp?

.... [works up courage and takes big breath]... Don't buy it. Surely there must be other affordable homes available that don't start out with the huge, unchangeable negatives that this one does. The green hill behind the home is beautiful, but the house itself looks like a double-wide trailer situated way too close to the road for comfort. If anyone ever builds on that hill above you, your property's only asset (the backyard view) will be gone.

I agree with Frankie's sentiments. Curb appeal may be the least of the problems associated with this property.

I agree with Vicky (sorry).

I agree. Don't buy this house. It is too close to the road. Furthermore, the road looks like a rural collector. Semes driving down the road at night will wake you up. Cars with boom-boom stereos driving down the road at night will wake you up. If they don't wake you up, they will disturb your peace and tranquility while you try to watch tv, etc. in the evenings.

It looks like a rural location which means you probably won't be able to win the battle against weeds. Weed seeds will blow in from the natural/wild landscape located all around this house. You will forever be pulling weeds... until you finally give up (because you won't have enough hours in the day to deal with the weeds).

Is the house on well and septic? Not my favorite water source or wastewater treatment method.

Camarodreamer, I don't know how much you want to tell us about yourself, but if you give us the name of a town or 2 that you want to live in, and a price range, I'll bet someone on this board would go househunting via www.realtor.com and suggest a house with better curb appeal.

What's a DH?

DH = Dear Husband or Dam* Husband, depending on the mood of the writer.

I would rather pay $800/month to live in the brick house than move to the poorly-conceived and situated house with no mortgage. Shop around.

Last time we house-hunted, we agreed in advance we would not buy on a street with a line painted down the middle -- an indication of too much traffic, imho.

Irrelevant, but, if my mortgage were only $800 a month, I would jump for joy.

FWIW, when my DW and I went house shopping, we both had jobs. Therefore, to minimize household stress, we limited ourselves to housing prices for which a monthly mortgage payment could be accommodated by the lower salary of the two income earners. That way, if either of us lost our job, we could still pay the mortgage. While both of us were employed, we would make extra payments on the mortgage to pay it off as soon as possible.

This approach worked well for us. Perhaps a similar approach would work for you?

I'm with everyone else this morning. You can pretty up the curb appeal all you want, and it's still poorly sited on the lot.

Tastes obviously differ, but additionally, I think the house will still look like a mobile home no matter how much you fuss with the front. No way would I move from the brick home to that.

(catkim, I'm with ya on the last part of your post. In my area, an $800 mortgage would be reason to celebrate!)

So I lay awake last night thinking about your question, and it suddenly struck me that I've yet to encounter a husband who (a) is a car enthusiast and would make a house-buying decision based on the landscaping, and (b) would want to live across the street from his mother.

I thought again about the little bit of information about him that emerged from your previous thread, and again it didn't fit that landscaping the place differently would influence his decision.

My guess: he's using the issue of landscaping to tell you (and maybe his mom) that he doesn't want to live there, and whatever the real reason is, he doesn't want to say it.

My advice: if you do want out of the brick house and its mortgage, look for another new house to buy.

I don't mean to be ugly but it is obvious to me that you all have never been in the mountains of SW Virginia. You are either on a hill side or near the road. I have attached the link for the realtor (mind you there are actually only 3 in the area) for the homes in the price range of this one. In the 150 and up categry you will find the one I currently live in.

After you look you will understand what I am talking about!

Here is a link that might be useful: Century 21

I couldn't tell from all the pictures on the Century 21 website but it looked like there are a lot of nice houses that were not right by the road. Whether they were on the side of a hill, now I coulnd't say although I think everyone actually liked the hill in the background of the house you are thinking of buying.

What is it about that particular house that appeals to you? Is it only about losing the mortgage or being near family? Or are there some aesthetic grounds for your liking it? I have a place in a very rural area and I see lots of houses like this one and right on the road too, some are attractive because they are loved and cared for and some just look like they are a pit stop on a sliding down life.

Can you hang out at your MIL's house for a couple of hours on a weekend or what passes for rush hour and actually count the number of cars that pass? It may be more than you thinnk or less than we assume.

Which one did you have in mind?

I don't mean to stress this but I am at my MIL's house alot. I am very familiar with the traffic. I think you all are assuming more traffic than what is there just because it looks like a road and not a street. This area is very rural. As I said before they are either on the hill or beside the road. We do not have intersecting streets here. We spent some time in DE last year and I thought there was a yard police because everyones homes were so well manicured and consistent.

In more information a person here is lucky to make $8 per hour. It is a very low paying area and the only high paying jobs involve coal mining. There are very few working people here that could afford an $800 hp. In addition, it is very much known as a retirement area. People left here in the 50's and 60's worked somewhere for 30 years came back here and could buy a top of the line home for what their mediocre home sold for somewhere else.

I guess I was being sarcastic in my title. DH loves our curent home but I am the one who wants to forego the mortgage. In addition, my FIL lost his leg 2 yrs ago and it would be more convenient to live that close. We only live about 8 minutes away now.

Alicia

CD67, I am not able to sort out all the issues re: real estate and home buying for you nor make judgements, since you are the one balancing all the wherefores and whatifs, just noting that the curb appeal issue is not the main one and that landscaping for "curb appeal" would not likely even be the primary landscaping issue for whomever owns it.

Forget the "curb appeal" ... what is the view from the back like?

About all you can do with that teensy bit of front is make parking and a courtyard. A trellis and vine might look good.

This idea may sound 'out there' but given that I agree the house is too close for comfort with respect to the road. Could you have a professional house mover re-locate it on the property? It sounds like you have enough property to work with and if you're planning to re-landscape anyway, it might be within the budget, especially if you're going down to zero mortgage. I'd also look into buying up any adjacent property, especially the land behind you, as fast as you can while the gettin' is good (& maybe fairly cheap)! Good luck with it.

Frankie is right. You and your husband are the ones that will have to weigh all the factors. FWIW, the linked house looks to me like it is in your price range and strikes me as having better curb appeal, or at least curb appeal potential.

Here is a link that might be useful: Alternative?

In almost posted a question about the curb appeal of a house that I was considering. I decided that opening up the decision to the entire world was a bad idea. I did end up buying the house.

I also peaked at the pictures of your current house. The inside is very nice! I would ask the realtor to replace the picture of your house with one that was not taken through a fish bowl from two blocks away. Good luck selling your house and with your new home!

- Brent (who is shocked to learn that there are places in Virginia where you can buy a house for $30k...and I thought the $45k that I paid for a 2 bedroom in rural Michigan back in 1994 was cheap)

Sorry...I had to post again...the people selling the house that stevied linked to need to watch a couple episodes of "Designed to Sell"! And why is there a picture that includes part of an ugly fence, part of a shed that badly needs painted and an old tire?!?! ;-)

- Brent

Hey, Alicia, we lived in Wytheville for two years before moving back to CT four years ago. In fact, we may move back there in the next year or so, either there or Greensboro, where we've also lived before.

If we sold our house in CT, we could buy three just like it in SW VA.

Camarodreamer, I was guessing eastern Tenn. first, then southwest Virginia. That is a fairly typical house for rural areas there, so resale shouldn't be difficult. I've just seen parts of western NC get so built up, that what once was a fairly untraveled rural highway gets very busy indeed.

So see if any development to the area might be in the offing before you buy right there. And I would much rather live in that house than some of the really big expensive ones overlooking the interstates - why people with money build there I don't know - is there really so little land available?

Camerodreamer didn't ask us to critique her mortgage plans or living across the road from family, she asked for advice about curb appeal for that house. If the house is poorly sited, so be it. The world is full of poorly sited houses that folks have to live in. We can't all afford to tear down our houses and start again.

So, bearing that in mind, two things pop out to me right away that have also occured to others.

A) Obviously there is a shortage of garage space! Or at least "car parking" space. So chances are if you bought the house you'd find yourself wanting to enlarge either the garage or add more parking space. Don't know exactly what the space behind the big van looks like but that area would be my obvious first choice.

B) The house is sited awfully close to the road. This means traffic--a visual and audible distraction. There have been a LOT of threads about blocking traffic and providing visual barriers on this forum, so a search on either of those topics might turn up some interesting ideas. What I know about the subject comes from visiting the homes of friends who live on a busy road and also a friend who lived in a house backing up to a freeway and a railroad. As far as noise goes, vegetation will not block noise. You've got to either install a wall of some type (sorry I don't know the best sound-blocking wall material but maybe someone else knows and will post) or an earth berm. I would hazard a guess that a cement wall blocks noise. Perhaps a brick or stone one too. There are lovely homes around where I'm living with brick and stone and even decorative cement block walls. Folks just up the road from me are building an awesome stone wall in front of their house. My friend who lives on the busy road has a big earth berm that she has planted with evergreens for a visual barrier and all kinds of cool shrubs. She also has a wooden fence with a groovy gate in front of the path leading from her garage into the front "courtyard." She's got it all landscaped there with paths, stones, shrubs, etc. It's actually quite pleasant, even though it's right along the road.

If I had the money and that were my house, I'd either build a wall or a berm in front of the house and design an enclosed courtyard, even including that groovy fountain your hubby bought you into the design! :-) That would allow me to enjoy sitting out on that long front porch and not be on display of passing cars or have the noise and visual pollution mar my enjoyment.

Just my .02

After reading the comments here... a few thoughts come to mind. First of all, yes, the home does need some curb appeal. It looks like the typical "before" pic. I must be one of the very few that see wonderful potential here...and dream of what the "after" pic will look like.

If it may only be the curb appeal that may hold you back, then do a little dreaming of what a pickett fence may look like...an archway with a gate...an additional garage on the right side...a new paint color on the home with beautiful blooming flower beds. I see a "blank slate" to work with. Personalize the home to fit your style. There are many improvements that can be made to increase the curb appeal and value of the home once the projects are finished.

If I understand your situation correctly, it sounds like you may be able to purchase this home and "then" complete the sale of your current home. You would be able to make any necessary improvements to the new home, move in a more relaxed manner, and sell your home without the stress of living in a home while it is being shown. You would also, upon the sale of your present home, be able to use the proceeds of the sale to pay off all existing liens and have funds available to...build a larger garage, landscape, put in the fence, customize the home to your taste, and lead a life with less financial stress. This could be a completely different life for you. A life that you could never have thought possible.

My parent's home is situated alot like this one. Their home is very close to the road, however, the front of the home is off limits to the grandkids. All of the toys are in the back yard where they can safely play and have fun. My mom had raised flowerbeds of stone blocks put in. Their plantings are all perennials (very little maintenance) The front has a formal look with white columns and railings on the front porch. Hanging baskets of petunias or impatiens are hung along the front porch. I can see the same for this home when I look at the pic. The faded blue siding looks exactly like the siding on my parents home. They replaced it with a cream color and accented with warm cultured stone. That color combination would look wonderful paired with the brick red roof color in the pic. Maybe some yellow climbing roses over a trellis...hhhhmmm, the possibilites are endless.

This is a huge decision for both of you. Have you seen the inside and does it meet your needs? If there is no issue with either of you on living so close to other family members, and the home feels comfortable...this seems like a wonderful opportunity!

We've been in our home for 3 yrs now. We're working on our "blank slate". There are many "friends" here that have given us a few ideas to improve our curb appeal. We've just completed a week of hard work on making "that house down the road" look like "our home". The satisfaction and exhaustion that we are feeling right now is incredible. I'm so glad that we bought a "blank slate"!

Have you heard of "mock-ups?" They're popular on some of the other forms....If I get a chance, (and can remember how the software works! lol) I'll play around with your pic and show you what I mean. (I hope I can make it work!) I need something other that my home to think about for a few minutes.

Consider your decision with your head as well as your heart.

Alicia - There are a lot of people here who obviously have a lot of extra money and are giving you lots of advice that probably isn't helpful. Assuming you know how much you can afford and assuming that you know how much traffic is there and you realized the front yard was small and close to the road when you looked at it... hmm, what you need is - ooooh, I know - landscaping advice, right?

Anyway, I'm not good at this sort of thing - new here myself - but I wanted to at least say good for you for getting a house with no mortgage!

Christine

OK. Well, first of all, that butchered tree would have to go. A fence or stone wall would be nice, pull out the hedge by the porch or do some remedial pruning to give it a softer, more natural shape. Then plant up the enclosed front garden to create something to look at when sitting on the front porch of an evening.

I get the impression your husband doesn't like it. If that's true, is it just the curb appeal that's lacking, or does he have other reservations?

I'm sorry I hadn't been back. My kid sis is very ill and I had to take her to an out of state hospital yesterday to get any hope of treatment. That is another problem here we do not have the best the healthcare. This is coal mining country, as you may or may not have known. There is a little farming but not much.

Anyway, I want to say that I am grateful not to come back and find more negative answers about this home. The one that StevieD mentioned is in Richlands VA in a not so nice neighborhood and there are houses practically on top of it on either side. Not an option!

Because of my sister's illness I haven't been able to look at the inside of the home. My dh of course lived across the road as a teenager so has a general idea of the layout. This is something that we want to say "If it is meant to be it will happen!"

I love the courtyard idea and the picket fence. I know you are going to laugh but my inlaws and my MIL's parents will sit on Sunday afternoons to watch the traffic go buy. I had looked at one of those portable radar detectors for them for Christmas as a joke.

I already knew the blue would have to go and I don't like the bushes across the front. My dh is thinking of putting the 2 car garage that would be required up near the property boundary on the right with it's own driveway. I am not sure about that but we will see.

What is a berm?

I abslutely love the Japanese maple in the bed at the end of the sidewalk here at the current house and wondered about the prospect of placing one in the front yard there. That was why I was wandering about taking out the trees that are there.

OH and about the pictures of the current house. There is a better one on www.realtor.com but I think everyone in that agency has been out here trying to get the appropriate picture but can't seem to get it right.

Alicia

I would've guessed KY--and somehow I knew it was coal country. We just drove back from Cincinnati--and passed numerous places like this on KY route 9. (AKA the AA Highway.) It's a common vernacular architecture in the hills, and can be quite lovely.

Alicia--there can be a lot of fun had in sitting and watching the traffic. We lived on W. Main St when my kids were little--they loved sitting on the screened front porch and watching the cars and trucks.

I'd pull out those shrubs and expand the porch--or do a courtyard as suggested--and I think a fence or wall would be lovely. In fact, the houses I liked best on the ride home ALL had white picket fences defining the yard. Most had a "country/cottage" garden look going--no big trees in the front yard, what looked like roses, irises and peonies as part of the plantings--it was hard to tell for certain at 50 mph. My MIL lives in KY--her flower garden is full of old peonies--she has a couple of old roses bushes--lots of irises--what some folks call "Passalong Plants." That look suits the sort of house you are considering...I've linked a book by that title that will give you some good plant lists.

If I were you I'd yank the two existing trees...and then sit on my MIL's front porch and think about what would look nice intead. What is the tree in the left of the picture? What is it screening? Is that yours as well? I might consider taking it down as well...depending on what it is. It looks a little as if it's been "shaped"--and poorly at that--though it's hard to tell from the existing picture. (It may be the neighbor's...)

I like the metal roof, BTW...it looks new, is it? If so--that will help determine paint choice. (You are right, the blue has GOT to go. WHAT were they thinking with that red roof?) If it will need replacing soon, then you have more leeway--as you aren't wedded to complimanting a red roof.

I see two doors--you'll need to choose which you want as your main entrance, and then plan a path accordingly. Then you migh want to think about closing the other door entirely. You'd gain interior wall space...and it MIGHT improve the traffic flow inside. Just another thing to consider!

melanie

Here is a link that might be useful: Passalong Plants

A berm is like a wall made of dirt. It's a big oblong mound of dirt, like a small skinny hill along the road. You then cover the berm with vegetation and mulch to keep it from eroding. You'll see them sometimes in front of offices and commercial buildings along busy roads. They're very common, just drive around and look for mounded plantings in front yards. Those are berms. I can't remember all the things planted on my friends berm, I know amelanchier bushes/small trees, white pine, maybe some hollies or rhododendrons. I'll have to pay closer attention next time I'm back there. It's really amazing how she's created a whole little world in there. She has a stone path she made from beach stones she's collected, and a little sitting patio. Many of the houses along her road have berms. She said the road building crew made it for her when they widened the road. If you're going to build a berm, you have to hire heavy earth moving equipment and have "earth" brought in. I don't know how much that costs, my only experience is with my friend's place and she didn't have to pay for it because the city was taking over part of her property to build the road on it so as a courtesy they built these berms along the road. Maybe a stone fence or brick wall or heavy fence would be cheaper. I haven't priced such things out. I'd want a wall partly to block the car's view of me out on the porch. I don't know how handy y'all are, but here in PA folks make walls out of dry laid stone. That's a real art, but I'll bed there's lots of stone to be had in KY!

P.S. I googled berms for a picture. Since a "berm" is a hill, you need quite a bit of room for them. Don't know if the lot in question is large enough. If it were me I'd have to research and measure, and compare costs.

Here is a link that might be useful: Highway traffic noise barriers

I just don't see how you achieve much in a discussion of landscape design if you've not seen the house, not identified what you have or need in the house itself (rooms, orientation of same, need for remodeling), indentified what exactly are the boundaries of the property, what you plan to do with, in, or around the house ( keep children out of the road? watch the road or obscure the view of the road?

If the question is whether the existing landscape can be improved upon then the answer is virturally always yes, so certainly you or any other buyer could, by investing more $$, time & energy into it, improve both the curb appeal and the functionality. I'm just at a loss to understand how you would arrive at any specifics on those issues from the information available so far in the post. Not that random brain-storming can't be inspirational and supportive.

I'm sorry. I have to be brutally honest. We can sugarcoat this all we want but the reality is this house looks like a trailer on top of the highway period; you can talk about dressing it up all you want; and be delicate about it but it is what it is.

Good GRIEF, you are nasty. It looks quite typical for the area--a neat little rural cottage. I've been through the area, too. Believe it or not, tastes are radically different in different places.

I'd focus on: 1) more substatial porch, with bigger posts and a railing, 2) visual barrier at least 3' high along highway edge of house, 3) white, not blue--that's a terrible blue.

No worse than telling me my patio area is oppressive.

You're right. Tastes vary in different places.

In reference to taste and in this context; taste as defined by dictionary.com

The faculty of discerning what is aesthetically excellent or appropriate.
A manner indicative of the quality of such discernment: a room furnished with superb taste.

I have to agree with frankie.
Until you see the house I think you're getting the cart before the horse.

You stated "DH loves our curent home but I am the one who wants to forego the mortgage." Is the mortgage really a financial issue or does it just bother you to spend that much a month?

I don't know about curb appeal or taste, but if I had to live there, the first thing changed would be the hardscape.

It might look look this ....

{{gwi:29095}}

I have been in and out and hadn't looked at this posting for a while! I should have known better than to have asked for help on this board. I feel rather silly! I am looking at downsizing my life, that much is simple. I fell last summer and ruptured my achilles tendon, the stairs in our current home is giving me some problems. I want a smaller one level home on the outskirts of town limits. Dh wants a seperate 2 car garage in order to work on his classic car and I want a little land in order for my 9 yr old son to play outside with his four wheeler and such that our restricted subdivision won't allow.

All I really wanted was some advice about making the front curb appeal a little better. It is obvious to me that many of you live in areas that you can not even fathom that not every part of the USA is like where you live. If you want a vacation come to the mountains. Lives here are very different!

I have been to other areas and have even considered moving to somewhere else but I live in an area where it is not a requirement to check your burgular alarm or even lock your door.

I'm sorry I wasted your time! The little lady has decided she is not ready to sell anyway so it obviously can't happen at this point.

I won't be bothering you again!

For those of you who tried to help me, I truly appreciate it and hope you have a blessed day!

Camarodreamer, I'm just biting my tongue rather than respond in kind to some of the folks who posted ... All I can say is, don't take it personally. Some people have "arrived" (or think they have) financially and socially, but have somehow lost, or never had, a grain of understanding or compassion.

I live in an area where property values have skyrocketed; people are moving here to get away from the city - They bring with them their city ways, demolish modest homes that have been standing for decades and replace them with the all-too-familiar "McMansion" that is too large for both lot and neighborhood, and attempt to ride roughshod over a way of life that has been cherished here for generations. I'm a "transplant" here myself, having been here a mere 30 years, but sensitive to, and appreciative of, what this area has to offer.

I love houses and in my travels have seen many. A house is a shell - nothing more. Granted, some have more aesthetic appeal, more architectural merit, than others ... but it is the people who live in them who make them *homes*. If it is one's "calling card", one's announcement to the world that one has "made it" ... then it isn't a home, it's something else. I admire and appreciate your desire to reduce your living expenses while simplifying and increasing the quality of your life. I worked for 8 years in a hospital setting - five of those with hospice and cancer patients and, sad to say, it often took a virtual death sentence before people woke up and distilled their lives down to what was important.

I hope I'm not rambling too much, but this is coming from the heart; not always in the best order, and with some of the stinging parts edited out. You know better than anyone else whether this house (or any other one) is right for you and your family - I believe someone has already stated that. Some of the kind posters have helped identify and clarify, and possibly remedy, some of the drawbacks. If the benefits outweigh the drawbacks, then you can overcome those drawbacks and the property will reflect the thought, care and love that you put into your life and become a *home*.

Whatever you decide, please don't let it be because of rude, shallow people ... and I wish you the very best.

Diane

I seldom post to this forum. I should know better than to participate in this type of thread. I do know better, but I'm old and I forget. Then I have to learn the same old lesson all over again.

>No worse than telling me my patio area is oppressive.

*rolls eyes* You're the one who said the tree was wrong and way too big and should have never been planted. I was merely agreeing. And I said I liked the patio itself and complimented you for using the space you had well. If I were being nasty, there *was* a combination of plants in your pictures that looked very strange to me, and I would have said something quite cutting about it.

>The faculty of discerning what is aesthetically excellent or appropriate.

I think APPROPRIATE relates to tastes differing in different places--and differnt times. A log cabin would be sweet in the Ozarks (or, heck, even grand, as some are), but the log-sided ranch house I passed while househunting in suburban MD was simply bizarre and tacky. Someone referenced "Designed to Sell"--in large parts of the country, the styles on that show would NOT go over well and, in fact, early 1990s country calicos and wallpaper borders and ceiling fans with brass trim are still very much in style. If you haven't had experiences in other parts of the country, you can't understand, but at least you can accept. You could call others' tastes busy, but they could call the continuing fondness for pright paint colors garish. *shrugs* If opinions of "aesthetic excellence" didn't change radically every 15 years--at least--you'd still be buying shag carpet in burnt orange and putting up dark paneling in the family room.

Reyesuela,

You can get off your soapbox. I am not interested in having a dispute with you on what you think you know about me based on my comment. If you did know me, you would know I travel quite extensively and btw I get your viewpoint; you don't need to elaborate.

and btw Saypoint.

I love your patio; and I mean that sincerely.

Thanks, nydaveydog. I love it too.

CD, I for one am glad you posted! In between here I found some interesting ideas and discussion about landscaping. I've been on the move lately and driving around quite a bit, and I've started noticing how other folks living in homes like the one you posted, close to road, parking issues, have dealt with them in creative and tasteful ways. A discussion with people's concrete ideas I always find engaging. Some of the best ideas I've ever seen come out of the creative brains of plain ordinary naive folks who just love their homes. For me, that's what makes this forum exciting and fun. CD, I'm glad you're here and contributing. Let the other stuff run off your back like the ducks do!