Wow! You have quite a lot of curb to think about! Are you interested in mostly landscaping and hardscaping, or painting and features of the house as well?

Your photos give a good idea of your home (this IS your home?) and surroundings. If you provide a closer photo of the front of the house and rear, that will also show the details more clearly. Also add a photo from the back door looking outward.

Tell us what you like or don't like about the house now. Tell us what you like to do/would like to be able to do/see in your back yard. Is the deck large enough? Are there other features you wish you had? Are there privacy problems?

I think I would prefer the overgrowth at the front to be in the back for privacy. You home will surely show better if the original plantings are dealt with. You may be able to transplant some of them without too much loss. Start by removing the hedges on the drive side and see. One step at a time will reveal what you need to do.

Are you the buyer or the seller?

Extremely helpful comments and the pictures with the added things is SO HELPFUL! I am putting an offer in on this home and plan to do as much work based on Youtube videos and my sweat (I have to save everywhere I can to make improvements). My first goal is to improve the outside appearance, curb appeal. I'll attach the view from the kitchen to the backyard.

Would anyone add shutters to the home? If so would you place them on the front or the back?

One last question, what would be a simple way to improve the staircase

Right now the house looks barricaded from the street and fairly naked from the back.

I would put skirting around the deck and plant around it in some fashion. Think about changing the color with stain since the current color will eventually weather to gray otherwise. Right now we have no idea how you want to use the back yard. Do you want shade for the deck? Privacy? A veggie or flower garden? Do you like working in the garden or want low maintenance? Do you need play areas for kids? Once you have given us some idea what you want for the yard, some useful suggestions can be made.

The front is difficult to make suggestions for since the photos are so distant. You will want to do some pruning or removal since currently the doors and first floor windows are somewhat blocked, but I can't tell how close the plants are to the house or whether you have rock walls or hedges along the drive, how one approaches the house from the drive, the slope near the house, or much other info. I wouldn't start ripping things out willy nilly until you have a plan since a house that large needs some good sized plants to ground it, and large plants require either time, or money and a lot of care.

Can you take a photo of the front from opposite the front door standing just to the street side of the drive, and then a set of photos from a spot about 20' from the front door? For the set, stand in one spot and rotate your body, to take photos starting facing the left property line and then rotating clockwise taking slightly overlapping photos so we can see the whole front entry and yard across the front of the house close in.

In order to get good constructive criticism, you'll need to provide better photos. It's better to handle one area at a time in order to keep the conversation from becoming confusing. I'd start with the front foundation planting area. The camera should be placed in line with the center of the scene you're trying to capture. The distance should be from far enough away that you can show from the roof to some distance (20') in front of the planting location. Pan the camera from left to right taking overlapping photos of the COMPLETE scene. (The pictures, so far, are single shots from different angles, so do not show complete scenes, except at great distances.)

Lovely home! I think the driveway is fine, and I like the shrubbery to the right of the drive. Is this a country or exurban house? Are you seeking a manicured estate look or for a well-loved country house maintained by homeowner? Yes, the plants immediately in front of the house need cutting back & tidying some, but I totally agree with NHBabs that a bare bones start all over would be wasteful & take forever to grow back.

My wife and I actually like the driveway and how it runs up through the middle, but seeing as the home is in Nova Scotia, It'll be a task to snowblow in winters. Thanks for the recent picture, I've done extensive research into retaining walls and fill with a lot of labor and time, I will be able to add some. My only concern was the drainage but I have a plan! Thanks so much for the ideas, with retaining walls and airating the lawn and reseeding it I think it has a good chance of improving the overall curb appeal. The whole idea is to to put the tasks on my back, youtube as much as I can and go for it!

@Bellburgmaggie, I think you are so right about adding a patio that opens up the front door of the home, I feel that would make it much more open and less secluded (inviting).

About the driveway. After having looked into pavers, asphalt and other options, I feel changing the long driveway would be too expensive. Does anyone have any DYI remedies that wouldn't involve gravel? Even if it took me a month of 8 hour days, I'd like to do ANYTHING possible to improve the actual driveway.

I would start by moving the indoor stairway question to another thread totally since it has nothing to do with the outside of the house and will get more attention on something like the home decorating and design forum along with a separate question only on design dilemma. Just copy and paste first your staircase question as the original post and then copy and paste the followup into the comments box. Having it here makes discussion choppy, so then come back here to remove your post using the edit button and the followup using the flag button.

The driveway is configured as it is in order to make it less steep. With depth of the property and the walls needed to make the front entry area flat, it isn't a negative to my mind but its appearance could be improved by landscaping. In my cold winter area, having a steep drive in icy conditions can range from inconvenient to dangerous so accommodating the grade by making the drive longer, but without tight curves, is logical. Can you post a screen capture of Google Maps or a photo of your plot plan? That would make it easier to understand how the top of the drive, the home's entrances, and the garage all relate. Currently I don't even know whether the garage is attached or not. Knowing if you are in an area with snow and ice would be helpful.

Regardless, I think that you will want the area from the driveway to the road to be either a park-like mown area with a few large woody plants or an occasionally-mowed open meadow since having it planted as gardens isn't practical as far as maintenance (watering, weeding, etc.) It's better to have a simple landscape, well-maintained, than something more ornamental but isn't well-maintained due to its distance from the house. Which of the two options will work better depends on John's goals, budget, skills, and location. As samarnn asked, suburbs or rural, estate/park look or meadow? Is there a HOA that needs to be accommodated? Get landscape books out of the library, and if they have any on Frederick Law Olmsted's work, look at those to see if that kind of estate/park look appeals. I live in a rural area where having a tall meadow, mowed with a brush hog a couple of times per season to keep woody plants from getting established is beautiful (a whole field of waving grasses), easy to maintain if one has access to the equipment to mow it, and provides good habitat for field-nesting birds such as turkeys and bobolinks, foxes, and other wild-life. If in a less rural area, mowed estates are more practical.

I would remove the shrubs right at the top of the wall that make the house look so barricaded from the street. If there is the budget I would plan to replace the wall with more attractive material, either natural stone similar to what was used on the other side of the drive (best option) or with a manufactured product that is more square-faced to create a wall that doesn't look quite so budget-friendly. If not in the budget to replace right now, I would encourage the Boston ivy(?) to finish covering the wall. Keep it trimmed neatly and start saving for a replacement. A deep bed of tall groundcover across the top of the wall or an open fence style such as wrought iron would be useful for safety reasons, but you want something either low enough or transparent enough that it doesn't have the barrier look created by the current shrubs. A front walkway from the door as in DDD's sketch of Friday 12/15 with a wide stairway down through the wall to the drive will make the house more approachable if anyone is likely to approach on foot. If no one walks to homes in your area, I wouldn't bother unless the garage is attached to the house and through the wall is the only practical approach to the front door. If the garage isn't attached and approach to the house will be only by car, make the walkway from the front door to the parking area. It looks like you need to add stairs for the front door with a landing at the top and bottom that are in proportion to the door and home (don't skimp in size) in a material that coordinates with or matches whatever you put in as a front walk.

The shrubs now near the house can't be seen in detail from your photos, but I would be inclined for now (until all the hardscaping is done) get someone who is skilled at pruning to thin and shape them into tree form. Don't get someone who will use hedge trimmers, but someone who will use hand pruners to shape (not shorten) the shrubs - you don't want someone from a typical "mow, blow, and go" type of landscape crew. Underplant with a dense, low-maintenance groundcover, mulch with a dense layer of shredded bark mulch, and keep weeded until the groundcover fills in. Once all the hardscaping is done, then you can reconsider the front plantings. Remember that since the house is mostly viewed from a distance, there need to be large sweeps of plants, not one of this and one of that to keep it from looking spotty.

To get additional feedback, post an aerial or plan view (overhead) and photos taken as Yardvaark suggested, standing opposite the front door near the top of the wall and panning across the front as a series of individual photos.

With a lot that size I think it would be worth the money to have a professional landscape designer or architect consultation / plans drawn up. It will save you money & mistakes in the long run, and I think you’ll be happier with the results. I would defer doing anything until I could do it correctly, even if it has to be done in stages.

I think my only advice is to wait and live in the house for a while before you undertake doing things. The yard is attractive and in good shape, it's not like you have a dead landscape that needs immediate attention. I think almost everyone gets into a new house and has a million ideas and lots of energy. The tendency is to dive in and do things that after some time and reflection turn out to be not what you really want at all, which turns into a second round of doing things to fix what you did the first time. Living with a landscape for a while lets you know more about the pluses and minuses that aren't immediately noticeable, it lets you notice subtle things like seasonal light, noise and shade that only become visible with time. Live there for a while, be observant, make notes about what you see in your yard and walk or drive around and pay attention to what is growing and attractive to you in your neighbor's yards. Then develop a plan and finally go to work.

John B., there is some good advice you can glean from this thread, much of it just added by NHBabs. However, if you really want the forum to be as useful as possible, I think you'd be better off to start a new thread for each separate area of the property. Now, there are 4 areas included: the overall front yard, the near front yard (between drive and house), the back yard, and the interior staircase. These should be separate threads, and the interior one, as mentioned, should not be on a landscape design forum.

If it were me, I'd start with the 'near' front yard because it's probably highest on the list of what's now most important to the impression that the property makes. It's what seems to have the most negative issues at present. The 'overall' front yard seems less urgent, without looming disasters if one doesn't think the driveway location is a major problem. (I don't.) Essential to a good conversation are pictures that show complete scenes, including surroundings. (See my earlier comment about that.) One additional tip, if you're close in to the house (such as at the driveway in front of it) on account of the grade, you might stand on a stepladder or in the bed of a pickup truck in order to get high enough for the camera to see properly. Also, you might hold the camera viewfinder vertically while taking overlapping pictures, so we can see as much of the whole house face as possible while also seeing the yard area.

After starting a new thread, try to react to comments more frequently, otherwise there is a tendency for conversations to splinter off into directions that are probably not helpful.

And back to the initial question of curb appeal, I don't know if this was mentioned but a main problem where I think the house falls short is with the present all-white paint scheme. Everything being the same color always reminds me of government/military installations -- where there is no imagination or desire and paint is bought in 5,000-gallon lots. The house would look much more charming if the house body was a non-offensive, medium shade color (some version of a stone) with white trim. You can google 'house with white trim' images and see many examples of better looking paint schemes.

alternate idea

John - first, congratulations on selecting this excellent property.

second - I would follow the wise advice from kentc, to live in the house for a while before making any major changes.

I like the advice from NHB, and would like to see the hedge or continuous growth along the drive remain, just transplant some of those rounded mounds behind it in order to spoil the formality of the repetition.

For anyone to help you with the backyard, they would need to know who will be living in the house, how you plan to entertain visitors, if you will be conducting business within these walls. What activities each member of the family hopes to perform in this new setting, with ample room for sport courts, swimming, exercise equipment, dining areas, cookouts, vegetable & herb gardens, small greenhouse, dog yard, horse barn.

Take your time. Analyze first then plan. The master plan that you prepare will be implemented in stages over the years, based on the available budget and the children's age.

For instance, a preschooler will need a sandbox and swing-set within view of the kitchen and the office or study. In a few years this will be replaced by a lawn area for lawn sports like badminton, volleyball, croquet, corn-hole and the like.

You are ambitions and will do an excellent job, all in good time.

You might add a finer gravel to solidify the existing stone drive, and add asphalt as budget permits. Keeping the slopes to 10 percent or less will allow comfortable walking and bicycling up the hillside.

A couple stone columns down at the drive entrance would be appropriate, along with a post lamp and the house number and maybe you will add a nickname in the future. I refer to my home as Hill House as it is in the town of Round Hill, which I enjoy when my GPS says "you are arriving at Hill House".

Happy New Year, John, you have a lot to be thankful for.

John, I just noticed your comment about snow blowing . . .

I don't know how much snow your part of Nova Scotia gets, but In my area, snow blowing a driveway that length would be untenable. Those machines just aren't made to clear that size an area. I would hire out plowing the drive, just the straight shot up the drive and back down and then plan on snow blowing the area at the top yourself. The time consuming part of clearing snow for a pro is the corners, edges and other places that require back and forth, so if they only have to do the long drive, I imagine you could talk someone into giving you a good deal. Or if you have mechanical skills buy an old plow truck and clear it yourself. My DH kept our ~half mile of plowed area clear with a WW II era Jeep for 10 years and then a 25 year old truck for another 10 years before finally buying something new a couple of years ago.

In our area, gravel drives are surfaced with a mixed size, sharp edged ground granite referred to locally as knit pack. It contains a range of particle size that settles down and packed together well, but I still need to spend time in spring raking gravel from winter plowing out of areas that will require mowing. It looks similar to what you have - what don't you like about the current surface? The next least expensive option will be asphalt. Putting in an edging that is flush with the ground will make it look tidier and may help contain the gravel. You don't want raised edging which will interfere with snow removal and flow of water off the driveway.

Has your offer to buy the house been accepted?

We will know early February, right now they have renters in the home so we have to wait.

@NHbabs, great advice. I'm originally from Seattle and have no idea about those kind of snow-blowing situations. Definitely would like to hire it out in the winter. As for the surface, asphalt on that would be 15k-20k and right now thats out of our range. We will be putting an offer down in early Feb if we can offer while renters are present.

Do you have a septic field, and if so, do you know where it is and what its limitations will be with regard to landscaping? Make sure to know this before you begin!

We were outbid on the home. Still searching.