What an adorable house! Maybe you can do a planter box under the window with some pretty flowers. I also think the pots are a good idea, maybe in blues and yellows? You have that wonderful sitting area where you could add some chairs and a table as well as a couple of hanging baskets (those are super popular where we live)

I agree about window boxes -- I'd do one under the window on the porch too. A couple of rocking chairs, maybe?

Is the landscaping new? Because it looks too spaced out to me if it's not.

I think you have a beautiful house and a very charming front porch and bay window. I'm sure you'll get a lot of wonderful suggestions here, but you might want to also post this on the cottage garden forum...here on GW. They love this type of thing and will give you all kinds of great ideas :)

Hanging baskets on the porch would look very nice, as would the pots around the bay window. Some hydrangeas or shrub roses, with other perennials would really liven up your front walk, but I don't know if you want to replace your little shrubs. If you're going to replace the mailbox, maybe you could add a clematis? It would help to know what area of the country you live in and what exposure the front yard has...does it face east, south, etc?

I think your tree is wonderful...the red twigs look great this time of year.

You have a lovely house and I'm wondering if painting the door a brighter color would make it even more appealing. I also think the lantern next to the door could be larger and some nice street numbers set at an angle underneath the lamp. If you had a colored door you could add a great door knocker. I can also picture a lovely birdbath to the right of the tree at an angle. As others have stated a lovely large pot to the left of the door with some colorful plant would be pleasant too.

What a classic cottage! So sweet. I would do flower boxes under the bay window, with longish decorative brackets under, all in white. A mix of flowers and trailing ivy would look wonderful and would fill in that blank space and draw the eye away from the hose reel. Add a couple of white rocking chairs or a bench for the porch. A nice white mailbox and white house numbers under the lantern would help too. Can you move the mailbox? Maybe you could attach a wall version to your wall or porch post. I love that you're training your little ones to help with the landscaping! :)

I thought maybe a water feature of some kind beneath your bay window, you have the water source nearby. Also like the window box idea, several others have mentioned. You already have a beautiful home & it just needs a little bit of tweaking. One of my friends has a flat water feature that would be perfect there. Good luck!

Darling cottage appeal there, and window boxes with visible brackets would be a great visual treat. I'm another one in favor of painting the front door a brighter color to accent. Trailing ivy, alyssum and geraniums would be great for the window boxes!

Here is a link that might be useful: window boxes

Check out the perennial forum on the Garden forums. You need some height added- ornamental grass on one side of that bay window would hide the hose - a trellis with a clematis on the opposing side the side of it, a rocker for the porch with a small side table and windchimes (everyone has hanging baskets - dare to be different). Maybe a very colorful piece of pottery to add splash to the porch.

Not to be harsh, but your front gardens are too structered and need both color and some sassiness - as in some variegated evergreens for year round color and perennials for seasonal color. Not knowing what zone you are in limits specific suggestions, but those would be a beginning.

Very cute house and so much potential; you have a great starting canvas to 'paint' on.

I love the window box idea, especially because you can update it seasonally, as well as the hanging planter(s) to draw the eye. You could also consider replacing the hose holder with something pretty and decorative, since it's so visible.

Here is a link that might be useful: wrought iron hose holder

I am not good at curb appeal but just wanted to tell you that your house looks beautiful already.

Hanging baskets and the hose holder will make it even more beautiful.

And your little landscaper with the pink lawnmower keeps your lawn so plush and green!! :o)

I've never had window boxes but I think they are often regarded with excess romanticism that doesn't recognize that (a) attaching them involves making holes in the envelope of your house which may allow entry to moisture problems, (b) watering them involves pouring water near some of the most vulnerable seams in your house envelope notwithstanding the new holes they require, (c) dirty water likely runs down the wall of the house from time to time after watering, and (d) plants are seasonal, and keeping boxes looking good through 4 seasons takes both work and expertise.

I also don't think they go with the style of this house at all.

You have a very interesting yard design with the walkways rather than planting beds right at the foundation. I don't know if you or a PO did this, but it has several advantages. Among them that anything you plant in them has better access to light and moisture and will thus grow better and straighter and will flower more. It allows excellent access to the beds for maintenance and also it really preserves a clean look for the house itself.

Personally, and along the lines of what Lavender Lass and Sandra suggested, rather than cluttering up your pathway with pots, which are also much more work, I would step back and take a look at your planting beds in the garden itself. You can put more height, depth, and variety in those beds and provide the colour and structure that would relieve the plainness of that wall.

I would actually redraft the lines of your beds altogether, depending on how much space you have. They are currently a little awkward, especially where you have one stone edged bed crossing another bed. Those could be turned into one bed with better lines, and to get some help with that you might try the Landscape Design forum. This is clearly an off-season photo but even so it doesn't look like you have much variety or structure in your plantings.

Before you do that, I would also consider whether you want either walkway to function as anything other than a walkway, as you could widen it and put something like pots, seating, or just a play area there. Depending on whether this is a sunny area, it may or may not be a spot where either people or plants would thrive in the seasons we spend outdoors.

Finally, to add visual interest without messing up your very appealing clean look of the house itself, I'd consider adding pots and trellises where the concrete meets the fence on the driveway areas if there is room, and maybe also adding a tree further out near the street - but you haven't shown us the full view, so I don't know if there's room.

KarinL

I think you should redirect the stones to curve/sweep around to your center walk. Then, on the side with the bay window, I'd plant (3) larger specimens in between the (4) shrubs you have now. Something like a taller ornamental grass or column shaped shrub. Actually, you could even plant (2) of them to be even taller so from the street, they'd "fill" the areas on either side of the bay window.

If you're allowed, I'd mount a nice mailbox on wall to the left of your front door and paint the door a brighter color. Add a pot by the front door and fill it with nice flowers.

I would a thin long white or green-painted bench on the porch with bright cushions.

Then hang white long window boxes off the front of the front railing and fill with bright flowers. OR -- simply add two hanging ferns in dark green pots (one in each "bay" of the front porch)

Find one of those "hose" pots or simply spray paint one of the ceramic ones to the same dark rich green. That will hide your hose!

A white window box under each of the bay windows would look marvellous - filled with bright flowers and hanging ivy or other plants. Maybe a taller white or dark green pot on the far right filled with those purple-colored grasses? (can't think of the name right now)

And lots of herbs in your gardens!

Jan at Rosemary Cottage

{{!gwi}}From Drop Box

The landscaping is mostly new...that is why it looks so spread apart, hopefully it will grown in to be less structured. Above is the picture of what the house looked like when we bought it. Most of that landscaping died before we took possession of the house, but the grass and maple trees were spared. The PO had very unusual taste, but nothing that couldn't be fixed. I have a limited budget for the exterior, I will definitely be doing a new black mailbox on the wall under the porch light and big, crisp house numbers in a straight line next to the bay window. I am thinking of doing a dwarf kumquat tree in a shiny, black (or blue) pot next to the front door. I like the front door color as it is, I almost made it black, so green is a big step for me! I am boring. I also found a great hose pot thingy at Home Depot to store the hose in, black of course. I agree with karinl on the window boxes...I like the idea, but it is a bit too romantic for my taste. This house is in the San Francisco bay area and is pretty conservative neighborhood, I drove through today and couldn't find even 1 window box! Also, charlieinnj, I think I might add some ornamental grass between the shrubs you suggested. Thanks everyone!

Great house! I love what you've done so far.

I think a brighter front door would look fabulous. I'm thinking a bright red or a darker shade pulled from your brick in the terra cotta family.

Accent the porch with some nice porch furniture, and I do think a large pot or two on the porch would look great, but not a bunch of others around the walkway or anything.

Another thing you might want to consider would be staining the concrete. Professionals can come out and really make your concrete beautiful with different techniques. A rich color would look great.

The plantings and mulch are nice. I think you could make those beds larger though. Don't be afraid to arc them toward the sidewalk and front of your yard. You would benefit most from flowering perennials - plant them once, and they come back year after year.

I don't think window boxes are romantic at all and if done properly they won't mess up the siding of your home. They will help to bring the viewers' eye up, add more color and give something else for people to look at besides just the window.

Ha ha! Want to know something funny? When I first saw the yellow house, I thought how nice and refreshing those rich colors looked, then I read the post. So, obviously, that look is not for you. Based on what you have told us, you are, er, conservative (doesn't have to be boring), and a bit more traditional. That said, you seem to be dismissing the advice to repaint the front door out of hand, but IMO that will give you The Most Impact, and for the least $$! Please reconsider. A pale blue or gray that plays off the white and the green colors while do much to brighten the entryway.

Let's talk about how to hide that hose. You can either a) remove it when not in use (never gonna happen) or b) replace the hose with one that matches the paint color of the house or c) move the spigot to the driveway side, this being the most obvious permanent solution but also the most expensive, possibly necessitating tearing up the front walkway and replacing it with either new concrete or pavers.

AND you could landscape. Landscaping is a process that involves a few key steps: defining your needs and setting your prioritites (as with all house-related projects) and, next, choosing a style or theme, based on your personal likes/dislikes. Before we go there, when it comes to specific plant suggestions, do you know what zone you are in? That will determine what plant material is hardy to your area, if you choose to limit yourself to (mostly) hardy plants. How is the drainage, since you will be planting close to the house, how and where the water goes is especially important information. What direction does the house face? That will determine how much sun or shade the area gets. Finally, ask yourself what is the mood you want to create? Do you have any inspiration pics?

We need to know what you envision in the Big Picture. Then we can help you reach that goal.

Wow! What a transformation you've done since you bought it. I have a rental house that I painted that orangey color and I don't like it! I like what you've done with the brick and the windows. Cute house. The before does look like my rental. How did you get the pink paint off the fence?

{{!gwi}}From Chelsea Pics

Thanks for all your replies. Here is my finished product. I tried to keep it simple and hopefully the landscaping with grow in to make it look more lush and less uniform. I think I may add a small citrus tree under the mailbox next to the front door. Chincette, I had to replace the fence to get rid of that paint color, but it was broken so I didn't mind. The orangey-yellow paint was unique and kinda fun, but I actually felt very agitated every time I looked at it, it was not soothing color! I am much happier now!

Wow! What a beautiful home you have created! I love your style...I'm not one for bright colors either. I think you've done a fabulous job so far. Perhaps adding hanging baskets on the porch side (as long as you don't mind watering them and that they will slightly obstruct your view from inside) would add a nice balance and just a little bit of color to enhance your otherwise pretty home.

My first thought was a window box under the bay window as well, but I had similar thoughts as KarinL as well, about drilling holes, etc. I can't tell for sure, but it also looks like it would stick out into your walkway and be bothersome perhaps to have to squeeze by.

I could be way off here, but what about hanging some sort of cast iron piece under the window? Does that make sense? I don't have a pic of one handy, but it's just a thought.

I hope you enjoy many happy years in your lovely home either way!!

I bet your neighbors love you :) You've done a beautiful job.

Wow, when I saw that orange pic I thought some evil person had photoshopped a possibility for you LOLOL...you've done a *great* job on that house--I can just hear it sighing its relief and thanks :)

I like what you've done. I'm sure things will grow and fill in soon too.

I do have an idea for the right side bed that would also cover the open area below the bay window as well as a back drop to your plantings. How about a short fence along the back of the right flower bed. Think sort of picket fence, but something that works with your porch railing too as a little height in that area would be nice until your plants grow taller.