What strikes me is that your ground appears to fall off on the left side of the porch. Measure what the drop off is at its greatest; there are safety guidelines as far as when you need a porch rail with regard to the height of the step down. If you do need a rail, put that in before planting.

Thank you for your replies, and here is the picture of the house I believe gives more info.

And then I drove in a car and held the phone steady in one place in the window of it and took 3 photos with some overlap, but I don't know how to join them for you.

And here is a small explanation to answer some of your question and better explain things.

I think you are OK on not needing a porch railing. So for me the next question would be use - are you wanting any use of this part of the yard other than for curb appeal? Does the postal delivery person walk across the yard? Or do folks park on the grass near the road?

I would seriously consider not having grass in the front yard, with walkways where needed (front door to street and to neighbor's drive if the PO delivery person cuts across) and then plant the rest to groundcover, lower shrubs and some flowers. I'd use a limited palette, not a large number of different types of plants. I think that after planting even a small garden, the remainder of the grass would look a bit silly, which is why I'd plant the whole yard to garden. I might also put in a relatively low, open fence to give it a finished look, though this would need to be set back far enough to accommodate snow removal, so perhaps a row of perennials or groundcover in front of the fence would work to fill space and keep weeds down. This type of small, front yard pocket garden is fairly common in older cities where front yards tend to be quite small.

Dang, that's a lot of wires! Nothing you can do but accept it and try to distract a little with a pretty picture. I would lean toward one of the following directions. (For me personally, the former.) I realize I'm over your neighbor's property line. Maybe they would allow it if you're on good terms.

If you are truly interested in giving your home a sense of entry , increasing the presentation, curb appeal and property value I would invest in an architectural appropriate railing. With the right detailing you will increase the architectural styling of your home and it will be a big pay off aesthetically without a large outlay of money.

I would not frame the house on either side with two tall lineal trees as this would emphasize the narrowness of the house and draw your eye upward.

Instead I would recommend a modest size shrub that whose mature height is 1/2 the height of the house on the right side near the telephone pole and plant a small understory of plants under it.

On the left side I would recommend installing a small arcing path that leads from the street to the entry. This will provide you with a small planting island out at the street corner in which to add seasonal curb appeal color and place the mail box.

I lived in a similarly proportioned house in NYC and found out that the city actually owned a sizable swath of the land bordering the street - from curb across sidewalk and into the lawn! Thiis worked to my advantage, because i was able to request a street tree at the city's expense to be planted right where Yard is recommending. I was able to make my own selection (Japanese cherries) and jump the waiting time by paying for it myself as a tax deductible donation to an organization set up for the purpose of planting more street trees. Can you show us a long shot of the street so we can see what other street trees there are? In urban settings, or neighborhoods of any density like yours, it pays to consider the context. It can take surprisingly little effort to improve the whole picture. As for the wires, I used to despise them like most people but over time have come to LOVE them. I am a preservationist and now see them as vernacular elements of the streetscape that are disappearing. Wooden poles. The draping wires. They feature in many paintings. You all will miss when they're gone!

I'm not a landscape pro, but I live in a house similar in some ways to yours. My home has an attached garage giving me a side yard, but the portion directly in front of the house is similar in scale to yours.

If you want a fence I say go for it. Your home has cottage potential and a short picket fence would be lovely. A fence provides great bones for a garden. It would also give your space definition. If you do the fence I would not do a porch railing. I would also put in a walkway or path from the street to your front door. If the budget is an issue you could do crushed stone, which is what I'm doing elsewhere on my property.

I would probably not not do any sort of tree as it will just end up obscuring your house. I would look into easy care shrub roses, maybe some boxwood and a few other plants. In front of the short fence you could plant bulbs for spring color and then tough perennials that can handle road salt. I've got catmint and Shasta daisies in front of my fence.

My house

And a fence- garden inspiration pic. I did not do this exact planting, but I love the look.

The inspiration photo shows the importance of allowing room toward the street to plant (as you did). That makes the fence look very welcoming, not so much like an unfriendly barrier. Well thought out.

I I immediately thought of doing a fence and making a walk from door to street. Exactly like reccsepbuttercups white fence and painting the house blue. Also adding the mailbox to front of house or at front of fence. The only thing that has me second guessing a but is your neighborhood doesn't really have defined sidewalks in front of the houses. Would that take too much away from the look you'd be going for with that design? The power pole has me questioning the fence a bit as well. This is where I wish i was good at photoshop!

Thanks everyone for the replies. I love the feedback.

Reese, your house looks great! And I like the idea of the fence, but my partner isn't fond of it.

Kitasei, in that painting you post I can see the allure of the overhead wiring, but my wiring looks more like a rats nest than a relic.

Yardvaark, thank you for the picture renderings. That really helps. I passed the pictures to my board of trustees (girlfriend, neighbors, friends and family) and the consensus is the first picture is more appealing. I spoke with my neighbor about putting a shrub on his property and he is cool with it. I was wondering if you could help me draw more and this is based on the feedback from my board and this board!

I think we like the idea of the shrubs as drawn in the first picture. I'm in the process of making a planter for the brick wall next to teh entry door. My girlfriend also wants me to make a similar planter to this one to place in the front left between the two posts where Yardvaark shows railing.

I kind of like the idea of only a tree on the left side of the house and doing an island of plants and mulch around it. I have the drop off there as you can see in the second picture below. What do you think? This planter box would be sort of behind it, and then we could have a walk way from the street leading to the doorway, flagstone or something.

Again, thanks everyone, you've given me confidence and inspiration.

And here are additional photos. We cleaned up the porch a bit to get it ready for the upgrade, but it's garbage day! But I think the cans will actually help you get your bearings on where the pictures are being taken.

Not sure what drawing you are requesting help with.

I suggest that before you do any actual work, you create a PLAN view drawing of proposed landscape changes. It's your opportunity to perfect the arrangement, verify that things fit well and perform calculations for material quantities.

Another thing I'd suggest is that you add a little topsoil in order to perfect the grade around the porch, leveling it out instead of having it slope downward as it approaches the corners.

Not sure about your intentions, but as I see the latest picture, I'd add a masonry cheekwall to the side of the steps. It could be a planter itself (if large enough) or it could be a place to set a planter. It could project outward farther than the porch front. At any rate, it could upgrade the look of the overall entrance.

The wood planter you show in the picture, I can't see that modern style coordinating well with the traditional style of the house.

Hey-

Yes I agree that that planter was too modern. But I'm thinking something that size, any other ideas? Or would you suggest going with railing.

The planter I'm building for the side brick wall is just plywood we will paint. I fully plan on designing the landscape on paper and seeking everyones feedback on here. We have a plant flea market at an Amish farm near our house, I'm waiting to scope out what they have before I really start planning.

As for the cheek wall, I really like the idea. But how do you pour up to steps? I can't picture how to form that. i was thinking about pouring out of concrete a square planter about the height of the porch in that corner. but maybe just a little wall is enough. I had to google what a cheek wall is.

I wasn't asking you for any particular drawing. I was just wondering if you had any other ideas to throw on a drawing. It really helps everyone visualize. Either way, I really appreciate your continuous feedback.

Plywood for a planter is not going to last but if you want to do as a temporal installment, fine.

Honestly, I can't imagine that creating a solid wall type structure between the columns is going to be a plus for the overall look of the house. If we just want to do that in order to plant in that space, then I'd do the railing and get a planter box that fits over it like a saddle.

In order to create formwork to fit steps, make a negative piece for the steps by placing 3/4" plywood at the end of steps. Trace the outline of the steps and cut the "halves" apart at the line. One piece represents the steps and is waste. The other piece will fit over the steps top edges (where the air is). Create a box that attaches to that piece and represents the outside form of the planter/cheekwall. If it's a planter, too, you'll need a "box" form for the inside of the planter. Figure out how to add bracing to the piece that sits on the steps in order to keep it stable during the pour. Of course, you'll calculate all the measurements first so you can make the planter height and size end up correctly.

I will only get additional ideas for drawings if there are specific problems presented.

In the last picture you added, Surge, it looks as if grade is running toward the house. In a prior picture taken from another angle, it doesn't. If grade is sloping down toward house, then it needs to be fixed before doing any planting.

Your house has old fashioned appeal. I think the most charming features are the bow window and the covered porch. That is why I dislike the idea of a planter. A planter with things growing in it would hide some of the porch and distract from the window. I made a hasty image to illustrate the point.