Hi, I don't know what zone you are in for planting. How do you want to use the front yard? Do you need a sitting area? Do you want to cut back on mowing the lawn? What are your summers like? Do you get water restrictions because of heat/sun and little rain? It's hard to determine what to do. Personally I always like a sitting area. I use a garden hose to lay out a garden bed design before I dig and to see a true visual of what I want. I also use MS Paint program and start with a basic layout of the house, front yard to the curb. Or you can use a pencil and paper. My old house I had a similar front yard. I made a sitting area between the house and curb in a curved pattern to soften the look. I started small and the garden grew around me. You can shape the area for sitting first. If you want to leave grass underfoot where you sit, plant on digging out about 2 feet of grass completely. To save your back in the garden area you can outline that with the hose again and cut out a 2 foot outline. Instead of digging out all that grass you can either put down cardboard with topsoil and peatmoss mixed on top a good foot or so or you can take the grass on the inside, cut it into manageable sizes and flip the grass upsidedown and then put topsoil on top. The grass will die. I grew tall plants next to my sitting area - purple coneflower, cosmos (grows fast if seeds scattered early spring). If you have neighbours who have perennial gardens and you get on well, ask if they are splitting any plants in the spring and would they mind if you could have some - if you don't have plants, you can offer some garden help in exchange. Most gardeners love to share plants. In the middle height in the middle of the bed I'd plant a couple of limegreen low growing shrubs (odd numbers for like 3, 5, 7 work well for viewing). In the middle you can grow lavender, Seed calendula (once it finishes flower and before it goes to seed, deadhead for more flowers and save the seeds in the fall for next year....same with cosmos seeds). Finally around the edges of the garden I would plant some annuals for instant colour. In the fall start planting bulbs like daffodils, tulips, crocus etc for next spring. Start the garden not too wide and build on it every year. Don't forget to balance the front yard by adding some garden on the other side. It's really all about what you want to use the front yard for and if you are planning to remove the lawn over a period of time for less mowing. Gardens help collect rain from filling the sewers and they invite more birds, chipmunks, squirrels into your yard for entertainment. Those are some of my thoughts, I hope it helps. Cheers, Peggy

Why stain your driveway? It's common for us CA folks to see a huge swath of concrete with our houses. It tells us there's extra parking for parties, if nothing else. What appeals to our local markets is very different than what sells in other states. I do think the hedge would look better shorter, as it shows in your "old" picture. I'm not in love with the house color myself, it seems more an Arts & Craft color than MCM. Nonetheless, it is new and not worth doing over. As a gardener who appreciates low-water landscaping - and since Southern CA folks use our water, LOL - I would never suggest lawn ANYWHERE. The hedge adds a big swath of green that is obviously low maintenance/low water, almost as valuable as a mature tree. No flower box. Plant along the house on both sides of the door, instead. Easier to keep alive and tons more impact. A colorful assortment of mini-shrubs for both bloom color and foliage interest (the latter a lot more important than flowers which will fade in a month's time). Some dark reddish-brown and silver-grey mini-shrubs mixed with flowers will give impact, complement the house color, and draw the eye to the front door to look welcoming. Be generous with the number of plants. We are talking mostly quart-size container plants, maybe a couple of 1-gallon mini-shrubs for instant impact. You want a quick sale, so there isn't time to grow the plants. It should look 'filled in' as soon as you pat down the last trowelful of soil. Some inexpensive edging will keep the dirt off the concrete to make it easier to keep things tidy. The windows are small, proportion-wise. Keep the plantings at 2' high max. Balance is "the name of the game" for a house of your design (not symmetry, which is matchy-matchy).

This has been an interesting discussion about the definition of "pretty", which, of course, has no universal definition. What's pretty and appealing is as different as all of us. When it comes to the appeal of "farm house", however, there are some universal characteristics which may be important to recognize: --Usually simple, almost utilitarian, shapes, many like the old Monopoly houses and hotels; --Sometimes the simple "house shapes" may have a "notch-o" and/or "bump-o" and/or a clearly added simple shape, as if the house grew over time to accommodate new/changing needs (which is what happens in every home over time--there is no "forever" house and farm houses are living proof of that); --These first two characteristics often make possible pleasing and humane overall proportions; --Simple (mostly) gable roofs, made possible by interiors that are only 1-2 rooms wide; --Roofs may often be strongly pitched, but not overpowering because they are enclosing only 1-2 rooms in width; --Porches (the more the better, often found on multiple sides); --Smaller detached garage and out-buildings; --Unpretentious materials and consistent overall usage; --Simple windows and doors (often imaginatively ganged together for their interior purposes) Just look at the previous three photos and you will see all of these characteristics in each home. Now compare these characteristics with many of the tract and custom homes we see here and in our neighborhoods: --Complex, pretentious and bulky shapes, often with no architectural character or recall of history; --Huge, "fat" plans which are as deep (3 rooms or more) as they are wide, resulting in huge, overpowering roof shapes; --Complex and mixed roof forms--gable, gables within gables, hips and more, often all in one house; --Small, ill-proportioned porches or none at all; --Huge garages, with multiple doors which dominate the exterior of the home (often used for storage, leaving vehicles outside on the drive or street); --A potpourri of exterior materials used on the front elevation of the home, while the remainder of the elevations may be ignored and inconsistent; --Little or no thought about the type and placement of windows and doors So which set of characteristics results in a "pretty" home? I guess everyone will have their own opinion, which, in the end, is as it should be. What do you think "pretty" is?

Because plants vary in what seasons they shine, those who suggested that you wait a year to rip out and replant are on the money. You want to see how the house looks in all 4 seasons before deciding what might be nice to keep and what needs replacing. For instance, I think that you might have a poorly pruned clematis next to the steps, and someone else mentioned spring flowering bulbs. As others have said, start after closing with weeding, cutting a V shaped crisp edge to the beds, and adding a natural colored mulch to decrease new weeds sprouting. Get a soil test done at the nearest cooperative extension or land grant university, figure out how much sun the area gets and when during the day, both now and in the fall as the sun angle changes and particularly on the side with the tree. Note that in Doug’s sketch he has widened the pathway and made the beds deeper. Generous beds allow for a longer season of interest, since there is space for more than a single line of plants as Doug’s illustration shows. As others have mentioned, make sure you have planned a mix of evergreens and deciduous plants so that the landscaping is still appealing in late fall, winter, and in early spring before leaf out. Look at other gardens that you find appealing and see how they look in various seasons, not just in late spring and summer. While the idea of fall planting is appealing, I wouldn’t plan to do your planting as soon as this fall. You will be more successful if you have knowledge of your garden’ growing conditions, and you will use you gardening $ more effectively if you take the time to evaluate what is currently there (for instance meatball shrubs can be pruned to allow for a nicer shape if they are a plant you want) and figure out what will grow well in your growing conditions. I ended up reusing a number of the plants that were here at my house, though all were relocated. One resource you may find helpful is the Name that Plant forum which will ID your plants from photos. https://www.houzz.com/discussions/name-that-plant I look at gardening as a life lesson in patience. If you want to bump up the appeal for now, get one or two large pots and plant them with seasonal plants to dress things up while you take the time to evaluate your current yard and plan what you want.