Drk, what a lovely house! And that front door is fabulous.

I know you will get lots of responses. Here are my initial thoughts:

Perhaps some light fixtures on either side of the door?

You definitely need some foundation plantings, especially near the front door. What part of the country are you in?

A paving-stone walkway would be lovely.

Would you be interested at some point in a gabled portico for the front door?

I can't imagine that you ever use that bit of walkway between the boxwoods? I think you should get rid of it.

Boxwoods can be lovely if they are pruned to be a little wilder and mixed with other shrubs to add variety and color. If you begin to shape them less formally, they will look a bit less like gumdrops. Add some other shrubs and perennials to that the front area, and it could be spectacular.

First and foremost -- check that the drainage along the front is adequate and sloping away from the house. Drainage will become more of an issue as you add hardscape (like stairways and walkways) And make sure that your window well and vent well (to the left -- and the rightside of the doorway) are well made so that the new gardens don't affect their use. Also check the "walls" of your lower garage/driveway area to make sure that drainage is working well there too.

Consider adding electrical outlets for lighting along the front walkway.

Add a stairway up from the garage/play area level -- to the top garden level plus a walkway along the front of the house to the front door! That would really join the two areas together! Right now -- the front aspect of the home seems very disconnected to the lower areas.

I would remove the two huge bushes out front -- and replant that whole area with two smaller gardens. Check with a local garden center (and online here at Gardenweb forums for gardeners) for soil information and plant choices for your area. I would think that the areas would need a good dose of composting and turning to get the gardens re-started.

Along the front of the house -- I would add stacked-stone raised gardens. Very easy to do -- these stones literally do stack and create walls. We did that here -- and it worked SO well!

Jan

I agree with many of teacats suggestions--regarding the hardscape and the large bushes. Have you considered working with a landscape designer? Even if you DIY the design, then it would be helpful to interview a few designers to get some ideas for your area. Hardscape design is the most costly and permanent; next to that is low voltage lighting. Consider these two items to be key to any successful design--as well as addressing any grading/drainage issues. Once you have a plan, then issues like foundation plantings, etc. can be addressed.

If you cannot afford a designer, perhaps you can find someone at a local nursery to aid you--esp. when it comes to plant selection. We went this route and had an owner of a nursery come and help us with plant selection and placement. As for the hardscape design, I largely did that myself--though spent many hours researching via books at the library, visiting the local materials yard, plotting with graph paper and analyzing sun patterns. Many books suggest making a list of your needs. These might be children's play area, dog run, outdoor BBQ/dining, vegetable garden, pool/hot tub, etc. etc. Even if you phase things over time, I cannot recommend enough having a plan before you do any plantings as it will be costly to remove plus you lost those growing years. Address your drainage, lighting and hardscape needs first and the rest will follow.

mclarke--I am in Virginia.
What is a gabled Portico?
Should I just dig up that concrete walk between the boxwoods and let grass grow?

teacats(jan):

We are good on drainage thus far...did some change w/ the remodel, esp along the right side of the house.

There is a stairway up from garage into the yard...you can almost see the railing behind the yellow bush in my last picture. Walkway along front of house?? Explain? With pavers?

There are actually FIVE huge bushes out front, i think?? The are boxwoods. I am not fond of them...but if gone, that leaves me with ZERO privacy from the street...is that OK?? There were also 2 boxwoods IN THE FRONT YARD that I removed.

Can you explain a "stacked-stone raised garden"??. Do you have a picture??

Thanks,
DRK

DRK: Since you mentioned privacy from the street, what rooms face the street? Is this a busy street? Have you considered putting up sheer drapes and/or wood shutters in these front rooms to give you privacy? These bushes do give privacy--at the same time it gives your house little curb appeal. Perhaps once you put in some foundation plantings (in the 3-5' area below the windows) and they mature, you may feel more comfortable removing the boxwoods. They will always stand in the way of any curb appeal IMHO.

Here's an example from Lowes.com -- click on the Demo to see how it works.

Oh!! Sorry -- hard to see the stairway up to the upper level! LOL! O.K. -- well perhaps if you added a walkway that would co-ordinate with your proposed changes to the main one? For example -- if you add brick pavers along the side of the main walkway (the one to the front door) then create a walkway with the same pavers along the front gardens from the top of the stairway to the front door.

Here is a link that might be useful: Lowes.com -- brick

White columns at the entrace and lights at each side.
I love the idea of widening the walkway (slate?).
And like everybody said, get rid of the bushes. Maybe plant some trees that have flowers (sorry no green thumb here so don't know any names!)

Here is a before and after of a gabled portico added to the front of a ranch house:

Yes, I think it would be a good start to tear out that little section of walkway. Maybe plant a nice arborvitae there, which would add some contrast to the boxwoods.

Don't be in a hurry to rip out the boxwoods. It would be better to think of them as the foundation to your landscaping, and add to them. As I said, let them grow wild for a bit, to soften their outline, and add more bushes and shrubs to them.

Boxwoods are best pruned, rather than sheared, to attain a natural shape.

Here is a good site from the VA Extension service about boxwoods:

Here is a link that might be useful: Boxwoods

I can't remember whose home this is but I saved it because
I loved the portico and the steps. Hope she doesn't mind.

Her home is two story and yours is one but it would look great on yours. It would just have to be tweaked a little.

I would definitely take out the boxwoods. You mention privacy....that works both ways. Someone could be trying to get in your house and the neighbors would never know it because the door is hidden from view. The police definitely discourage this.

One thing you could do to define the entrance more is raise the roof on that side kind of like in this drawing at the top of thepage

Regarding the driveway/half-circle, there is a huge price difference between pavers and blacktop. Besides the cost of labor and the pavers themselves, they also require a lot of base prep. Blacktop will require base prep but not with the precision pavers need.

If you're enjoying the semi-privacy of the the shrubs and want to keep cost down, you could leave them and work with what you have. First talk to a nursery about how much they can be trimmed (without killing them), tear out the short concrete walkway, plant more grass and leave it as it is.........or you could set a bench to the right or left of where the walkway was. Ideally, I'd tear them out and put in new landscaping, but I suggested leaving them since you state you don't have extra time to spend in the yard.
My guess is the gravel driveway was an afterthought with the previous owners and someone removed a portion of the walkway when they put in the gravel.

I would do a slightly raised bed along the front of the house, and I would make it deeper than it is now.....bringing it out close the edge of the porch landing. I also wouldn't hesitate to add some soft curves to it!

Since you have the vents to worry about (I also have them) the beds can rise from the grass area, then slope back down toward the house. IOW's, don't want to raise the level of soil against your house.

As others mentioned, I definitely talk to your local nurseries since they usually have someone on staff that can help with basic layouts and will also be able to recommend the plants that work best in your area.

Your bay window made me think of this house so if you wanted to expand with a large front porch with your style house this might be something.

{{!gwi}}