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Landscape Design Design Dilemma Exterior

No front door...need help with curb appeal

5 years ago

Hello! We recently moved into a house with no front door. The main entrance is off the driveway on the side. We are struggling with how to landscape the front yard to add curb appeal. We live in Colorado so we have to be mindful of drought. Any thoughts?

Thanks in advance for your help!

Featured Answer

PRO

Yardvaark

5 years ago

Do get rid of the long downspout trails. Replace them with a short tail and splash block, making sure the grade around the house is pitched to drain.

Create a simple foundation planting that allows enough depth for plant growth ... it'll need to be about 6' deep, front to back, at minimum.

If the curb that separates the lawn from the drive is wood, remove it and regrade the lawn edge if necessary.

Nothing is going to look good if the lawn doesn't look good. Figure out how to maintain it in spite of drought or change it to drought tolerant groundcover or possibly gravel mulch, but I wouldn't recommend the latter unless there is no reasonable alternative.

You absolutely must get rid of the lower tree limbs and branches if you want anyone to view the house as interesting or desirable. That's a separate issue from enhancing the entrance. I don't think you'll get much advice on the entrance unless you post a picture that shows it.

Comments (8)

everdebz
5 years ago
Hi. If the tree is trimmed, good to see more of house, and get the branches better...
Nicole thanked everdebz
everdebz
5 years ago
Maybe a flowy border experimented with garden hose - with bit more depth at front entry/ driveway, and more focus there: what... height and bit more color maybe...
Nicole thanked everdebz
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Well that alone was a vast improvement! Question, is there any overhead lighting in the walkway that leads to the front door? What if you added a skylight? Or solor tubes, to help brighten that area? While on the task of lighting we need to update what you have on the front as well more fitting to the facade of the house. Also could you stain the concrete to look terracotta?
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VV N there's quite a few things you can do to bring more of a mid century vibe to your house. you can start by looking up mcm ranch homes redo's. or mid century brick ranch upgrades. something along those lines. you have such a huge front yard, do something interesting w/it I like how these utilized short fences to give some dimension to the yard notice the garage door on this one too. start look at pictures of other garage door styles on these homes. Look at the large cement paver squares. you can DIY these you can't even see your front door. make a pathway to it and get rid those large bushes any of these color combos will work w/your existing brick. (if you want to paint the brick, let me know, otherwise, these will work) replace 'shutters' for the wood portion
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Hi Jessica- Congratulations on your lovely new home! Enjoy it in good health! If you need a larger door, can you just get a larger door without it being a double door? Are you able to move in furniture through the back, e.g. a patio or sliding door in the back of the house? I agree that the shutters should be the correct size and not be fixed, they should be able to be closed (be functional) and you can get shutter dogs to keep them open. I like the door the same color as the shutters, some shade of green would be nice. Beverly's landscaping looks great. Some colorful perennials would be nice in front as well. An alternative is the hedges as Beverly shows and window boxes with colorful perennials or annuals. Or even plants with colorful leaves like coleus. Window boxes are way easier to take care of than getting on your knees. Window boxes are usually white. Unless you get ones made out of cast iron. If your neighborhood is one where people walk up to your house, you might want to think about putting in a walkway from the street to your front door that is attractively curved with plantings along the edge.
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The house is beautiful. I like the current front door. The only thing I would maybe consider is larger house numbers. I don't think the landscaping suits the house. It looks like it consists of evergreens exclusively. I think fewer shrubs including some deciduous would suit the house better. Where there are windows a low groundcover would be an improvement. If you can get a professional landscape design it would be worth the money. Some people pay for design then do the planting themselves. I wouldn't change the windows if they are in good shape.
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everdebz
5 years ago
If you don't want the flower bed/ shrub to bother with.... maybe a long planter several feet out from the house and a few feet to right of driveway:
Nicole thanked everdebz
NHBabs z4b-5a NH
5 years ago
-I would also limb up the tree to allow one to see the front of the house to the eaves.

-Decide what you are interested in as far as a garden (if anything) including how much work you want to do. Typically at least some evergreen shrubs, but you may also want some flowering shrubs or flowering perennials. In this case less is more, a few larger blocks rather than one of each kind of plant. Choose shrubs that will remain small enough so that you won’t need to do a lot of trimming to keep them below the height of the windows. Edge can be straight or a long sweeping curve, but not something that wiggles.

-Do something to draw attention to your door. It could be as simple as painting a walkway onto your driveway or as complex as adding a roof over the entry to mark out the position of the door.

-I would paint the downspouts to match the siding and likely add properly sloped swales to provide drainage away from the house for the downspouts. I don’t find the long tails on the gutters attractive.
Nicole thanked NHBabs z4b-5a NH
Nicole
Original Author
5 years ago
Thank you all for your advice. It helps immensely! Sounds like first step is getting those branches cut and then doing some planting/lawn maintainance. Thank you all again! I especially love the visuals
PRO
Yardvaark
5 years ago
Getting rid of those lower limbs is probably a 1-hour chore with a pole saw, loppers and step ladder. You're not going that high up just to expose your house face.
NHBabs z4b-5a NH
5 years ago
If you are going to cut them yourself read up on how to do it so as to not damage the tree, especially the three cut process, and being able to ID and not cut into the branch collar.

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