I'm stumped! Help with the curb appeal

3 years ago

We bought our house a year ago and are trying to figure out how to improve the curb appeal. We like a very clean minimalist look and are stumped how to improve the property

Things we would like to improve,

since we live on a private way, the house entry is visible only from the side of the garage. Rest of the yard is bordered with trees. This entry is all asphalt and tall stone stairs, doesn't look very appealing. Some of the advices we have got is to get rid of the front stairs and make it more elegant. That would be an expensive ordeal, because the previous owners just built that and we like it. Wondering if we can may be switch the railing to a wooden one for warmth or may be add a porch that will help with the overall look?
garrison colonials are not so hot - can I do something simple to enhance the facade?
do the shutters go with the house? All the windows around the house have no trim and we were wondering if adding a white trim to the exterior would make it fresh
is the walkout basement affecting the symmetry of the house? or are we over thinking it? would a trellis or a roof on top of the garage help?
we like the asphalt going up the side of the house to the back without any stairs, because it is easy for us to roll trash cans to the front on trash day - so we would like to avoid

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Comments (5)

ashtonchic
3 years ago
I would work on landscaping and lawn. Put is a bright flowered bush next to stairs and a few evergreen shrubs. Plant the rest in lawn. The urns and overgrown flower beds aren't helping. I would leave the house, stairs and railings as is for a clean, minimal look.
hillsidebox thanked ashtonchic
flopsycat1
3 years ago
What is your budget? The left side of the house looks a little asphalt-heavy. Trash bins are relatively narrow in comparison to the current hard surface, some of which could be removed and replaced with landscaping.
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Comments (19)
You have a very classic Florida Modern, with the clean lines and minimal trim. They don't tart up well, but they do the equivalent of the "little black dress" simplicity easily. I'd minimize the garage door by painting the door and trim the same as the house. Emphasize the front door with color, perhaps painting the wall and ceiling a bright tropical color that you pick up in the landscape's flowers. URGENT! Get those vines off the side of the garage ASAP - they will destroy the stucco! Start your landscape from the street edge of the property and frame the house, lead your eye to the geometry of the house, not puddle it out from the house like a doily on a barren green lawn (I hate front lawns!). Use strong geometrics and plants with strong branch structure and great leaves. This could use those big Birds of Paradise (Strelitzia?), small palms, and other tropicals. As an underplanting, anything flat that flowers and grows in your area.
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Haha, yeah we have to reseed every year. It also doesn't help we have squirrels and some sort of creature that constant digs holes to get under the deck. A turf lawn in this area would be seen of as something completely out of place, we are very rural. Even the local high schools still have grass. We are working on a moss lawn in the fenced area, but it's slow going, We are focusing on the part that cannot be seen from the road. but is seen by every person that comes to the house. The house cannot be seen from the road at all except for in the winter, and even then it's obscured by so many trees you can't see it very well. The rocks are mainly because my husband wanted to put rocks everywhere, and I talked him into just there. Also, I'm not completely positive we can actually grow anything under there, let alone add rocks or a ground cover at all, so that is something we have to look into at a later time. The ground there is a ridge and furrow setup with netting. We had an issue with water seeping into the basement along one part of that area, but that was solved with laying plastic and adding another drain. The well is directly under the screened porch. Would planting a tree that close be an issue? The existing tree in the image is about 25' from the well cap.
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Jakkom, There are definitely deer around and they have certainly left the junipers alone but not the plants they have previously tried to plant in that small area in front of the porch. Do you think that the kids should just leave the junipers be for now with that in mind while we are struggling with the drought? They could still remove the shrubs and just focus on cleaning up the area closer to the house. Any suggestions on how to disguise the area where they pulled out the old tree? I was thinking they could put dark tan bark there so it would blend in more, but not sure if that would look any better. It is just very obvious right now. Thanks for still thinking about them.
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You might want to add bulbs or annuals. The Abelia and Gardenias should grow significantly over time. In general, the pattern is Sleep (not much growth in the first year), creep (a tiny bit of growth) in the second and leap (plenty of growth in year 3). Some plants take longer. My bearberry too a good 4-5 years to start to spread. If you know the cultivars, look up the final height. Then you can plan your bed based on what it will look like in a few years.
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hillsidebox
Original Author
3 years ago
last modified: 3 years ago
We have a 20k budget for landscape and curb appeal. @flopsycat1 you are right, that side asphalt is 10 feet wide and trash cans don't need that much. Would the slope with landscape look good? We walked around the neighborhood to look at similar houses and most of them have a retaining wall with stairs and have a two car asphalt parking spot - this is what my landscaper suggests too. We like to keep the slope not just for trash can, but for ADA wheelchairs as well, when our parents visit.
flopsycat1
3 years ago
You said that’s the side of the house that you see when entering the property, so I think landscaping would be a plus. I am hoping that someone with more gardening expertise than I will add suggestions. Since you already have a landscaper and have checked out similar yards, sounds like you’re on the right track!
decoenthusiaste
3 years ago
I would remove the side asphalt and install a walk near the house just large enough to roll the trash to the front. That leaves even more yard for pretty landscaping, which the main thing you need. If you still feel it needs a boost after you landscape, then consider replacing the wrought iron with something else for a railing.
hillsidebox thanked decoenthusiaste

I'm stumped! Help with the curb appeal

Comments (5)

ashtonchic

flopsycat1

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I'm stumped! Help with the curb appeal

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ashtonchic

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