I need a bit of context I assume the last pic is the front of your house . That chain link is the first thing to go and could you maybe post a to scale plan of the whole lot. get rid of the green door and do a nice window there or anything except the door. As for what to do with all the grass we just did 1/2 our property in pea gravel with plants in there but no grass . I actually hate grass it never looks great unless you use chemicals for everything and water wasting for sure . This is a MCM landscaping but great for inspiration where low water use but interesting is wanted the grass shown could alos be more low water use ground cover mixed with areas of gravel and low water use plants Visit you local plant nursery and get some good advice as to what grows in your are that is less water use.

Yes, you are correct that picture is the front entry to our home. I edited my post to include a scale plan of the lot. Thank you for your suggestions!

When you have the budget, remove the blue door on the old entrance and cover the immediate area with siding that matches. Or replace the blue door with a shorter window that matches the style of your other windows.

Move the address numbers so they still face the road, but they are on the side with the real entrance. Put a big "Welcome" sign there, too. You can use a traditional finger-pointing sign if you like.

Native drought-resistant ground cover would be good to plant when it's rainy season again. Ask your local garden center or check the extension agent website.

I don't know whats available in your area but here we have access to a variety of colors and sizes of rock mulch. Add in some boulders and drought tolerant plants and you can have a low maintenance low water use yard.

Check with your county's local extension service to get a list of recommended plantings that are native to your region and work with restricted water requirements. They also may suggest decomposed granite for walkways and open areas.

Instead of grass you way want a variety of plantings immediately adjacent to your home.

Hi Beverly! Believe it or not that is the side of the house but you did make it look so much better! The front of the house is actually the 5th picture I posted. The home sits sideways on the lot. This is the side that faces the street. The green door actually leads to nothing. I like the example you put together though because it helped me visualize what it could look like with plants rather than grass. Thanks so much for taking time to help : )

Definitely cover the green door with siding to match the rest of the house. If you can’t afford to do that right away I would paint it (and any hardware it has) to match the siding so it doesn’t stand out. I would also move the house numbers to the corner of the house and make them prominent to draw the eye away from the door. If you can I would add a walkway from the street to your front door to again lead the eye where you want people to go.

I like Beverly’s idea of foundation plantings along the side eventually but would plant them in front of the sealed door. To make it more obvious that it’s not an entrance.

We just took our all our front grass and added a gravel patio and drought tolerant CA native plants in our front yard. So far we’re really happy with it.

Picture two is our new front yard. (The plants are still small but will grow to fill in some of the space over time).

This is one of my favorite yards with drought tolerant plants:

https://suburbanpop.com/2017/02/08/drought-tolerant-plants-in-the-backyard/

nsmiths81 I love the idea of an outdoor front yard gathering place! I can imagine how nice your yard will look when your plants fill in. Thank you for sharing!

barncatz what a fun yard! I can see why its one of your favorites. I love how clean it looks.

decoenthusiaste great input and suggestions!

Check out this former Pro's designs Roxy Designs. She says in her profile that she is retired but her projects are drought tolerant and very inspiring. Here's a really nice one https://www.houzz.com/hznb/projects/mow-less-bounty-pj-vj~1191032

I'm going to take another approach and say don't remove the chain link yet. I always assume people have a budget and a finite amount of money for a project. Why spend money to replace a perfectly functional fence when you can take those funds and create a beautiful space along your driveway toward the front of the house that will draw the eye away from the CLF? In the meantime, you can begin to grow drought tolerant vines on the fence and in time, you won't notice it and you'll have a beautiful green fence.

If nothing else, definitely paint the green door the same color as the house.

tozmo1 I love that you shared a completely different perspective because yes, budget is a huge consideration here. If I remove the chain link my cost to landscape that area goes WAY up. If I can work around it in a way that draws the eyes away from it as you said then maybe it won't bother me as much. Something to consider for sure!

Another idea if you keep the chain link. Paint it brown. I have brown chain link across the back of my yard, which backs up to a natural area owned by the school system. I chose brown so it would "fade" into the landscape, and I think it pretty well does. I wanted to save on the parts that weren't noticeable so I could splurge on a really well built wooden fence in other areas.

Here's a picture of it. You can see the top rod across the top, but most of the chain part disappears. I also had to put chain link on a bit of my side yard instead of wood, and that's the part I planted with vines. I'm 7b and 8a, so these might not be hearty enough for 7a, but you get the idea.

Vines covering chain link o the side, wooden fence on the front. I try to squeeze out every dollar in a project!

My CLF was ordered as brown, but you could probably get a paint for metal and paint yours. Especially if you have teenagers. Summer's coming and painting a fence would keep them busy or you could paint to get out of the house from them.

There are grasses and other ground covers that are drought tolerant. Go to a nursery and ask them what your options are for your region.

Some things to look into: some cities have programs to help people learn how to landscape in environmentally responsible ways. Sometimes there are incentives like tax credits and refunds to help offset the cost of transitioning your yard. (In my neighborhood, seminars on this topic were held at the local library.)

tozmo1 I'm envious of your property and all the mature landscaping you have! I have only been in this home for a year and I can't believe no one before me has done much to improve it. I'm working with a pretty blank slate and have a long way to go so squeezing out every dollar really counts. Your suggestions are so helpful :)

SeattleMCM I'll check that out. Thank you!

you're welcome! do note that any new plants will probably still need to be watered a little, or at least until they're established. so the more rocks/ wood chips/ bare earth, etc, the better!

@sadkd I know. It always amazes me when I see a yard exposed to a street or of a certain age and there is no landscaping at all. Hang in there. It will happen. At least you're dealing with a blank slate that you don't have to clear out. When I bought my house 20 years ago, that backyard was basically a pine forest with an ivy carpet surrounded by a four foot chain link fence. Six weeks after moving in, there was an ice storm that took out 14 of the pine trees and as they fell, the fence. One of the enormous pine trees hit my roof, breaking the ridge and smashing about 7 rafters. Branches came through the lovely popcorn ceiling inside. While others in the neighborhood were lamenting the storm I was dancing at the thought of fewer trees, new fence, smooth replacement ceilings and a new roof replacing the ugly one that the former owners had put on the prior year to make the house more saleable. Long story to say, at least you don't have to have an ice storm to clear your yard.

I paid a landscape architect to draw up a plan for the yard, including the addition of the dry creek to control a water problem. Little by little I did something big every year and now it's lush and mature. Those vines are two $9.99 one gallon plants from Lowes planted about 18 years ago.

A good plan (which will change but at least you have something to work toward), patience (smaller plants are cheaper and they grow for free), some elbow grease and as much knowledge as you can gain will get you where you want to go without a big budget. Some of the big stuff you'll have to pay for, like the dry creek, but a lot of it you can do yourself once you've educated yourself on proper planting techniques.

See if there is an area garden group on NextDoor (that's where you'd ask) or FaceBook. People love to share ideas, advice and plants. As @Seattle suggests, drought tolerant ground covers and plants are what you need. You can likely find people in your area who are happy to divide what they have (assuming you do the digging, I got beautiful, unique day lilies that way) but sometimes they'll just share.

If you want privacy from the road, you can grow drought tolerant shrubbery inside the fence and over time, it will poke its branches out of the fence and you won't see the fence. My neighbor did that and it worked great.

All the best to you on this adventure.

tozmo1 Thank you so much for your encouraging words! You're so kind to take time to offer such helpful tips and advice. All the best to you as well!

Your CLF makes your property highly desirable to anyone with dogs or young children, it does not "devalue" your rural property. Install a custom metal sign at the road entry "3896 Enter Here" and a smaller address sign at the next turn.