We have cut the grass which helped already. I have a large mature tree and I plan to add edging and mulch to the are around it. There used to be a chain link fence where you can see kept the soil from eroding into the street, and now that its gone there is the difference of 3" on the far left side of the yard to almost a foot on the right.
The majority of the yard is shaded by the mature tree so I guess shade plants? Suggestions would be great.
The front door leads down to a poured concrete walk that stops short and leads to nowhere. Where it stops is marked by those two containers that contain azaleas. The concrete walk stops short of the mature tree. There is a step (just one) that leads up from the street centered with the front door. If you look closely there you can see, its close to the street just inline with the front door. Should I have concrete poured to bridge the walkway to nowhere and the small step? May have to add some steps to make up the difference. Or should I frame it from the street to the bottom of the first step up to the home and spread gravel?
I'm looking for inexpensive ways to offer curb appeal and more of a finished look overall. We purchased this at an auction, so to say it was neglected is an understatement.
Lastly, the first photo shows the drop off the best. It also shows a second mature tree. Just to the left of it, closer to the home, there is a brick bbq grill. There is no mulch or gravel. I would love an idea for making it feel more finished. Gravel maybe with some edging and a couple andorak chairs to relax in? There is a small patio area just outside the side door near the chimney.
Thanks in advance.
-
rainbowgardener
- Super Green Thumb
- Posts: 25279
- Joined: Sun Feb 15, 2009 6:04 pm
- Location: TN/GA 7b
Honestly, much as I love mature trees, if it were mine, I would get rid of both of them. The little house is completely over powered by them, they make it look dark and dreary, like no light ever comes in. If a tornado or something ever brought either one of them down, the house would be smashed flat.
The house will look bigger and way more cheerful without them and then you will have tons more options for fixing the yard up to be pretty and functional.
The house will look bigger and way more cheerful without them and then you will have tons more options for fixing the yard up to be pretty and functional.
I agree the tree dwarfs the house. However, if you live in a hot area, it probably does help keep the house cooler.
Before you make changes, there are some things you need to consider. A landscaping questionaire might be a good place to focus on what your wants and needs are and the constraints you have to live with.
https://www.extraordinarylandscape.com/n ... naire.html
If you want to do the work yourself then it is a good idea to come up with a plan to make changes in stages as time and budget allows.
To get ideas, look through magazines and cut and paste plants colors and combinations you like as well as some landscape designs that you think might be adaptable to your space.
Before you make changes, there are some things you need to consider. A landscaping questionaire might be a good place to focus on what your wants and needs are and the constraints you have to live with.
https://www.extraordinarylandscape.com/n ... naire.html
If you want to do the work yourself then it is a good idea to come up with a plan to make changes in stages as time and budget allows.
To get ideas, look through magazines and cut and paste plants colors and combinations you like as well as some landscape designs that you think might be adaptable to your space.
-
rainbowgardener
- Super Green Thumb
- Posts: 25279
- Joined: Sun Feb 15, 2009 6:04 pm
- Location: TN/GA 7b
If you just want some quick and easy ideas to make it look better to sell:
I'm surprised Imafan didn't mention this one, she usually does. Paint the front door a contrasting color, maybe red, to make it stand out and be more welcoming.
Paint the garage to match the house.
Yes, you need to do something with the concrete walk to nowhere. I don't think gravel will do it. Either concrete or some kind of pavers (which are not all that expensive and are not hard to DIY). But lay them in a curve over toward the driveway, not in a straight line.
I would dig out the drop off area so it is a straight drop off then flat in front. Then put in a low retaining wall of interlocking concrete blocks, again an inexpensive DIY project. I'm talking about these:
https://www.lowes.com/projects/images/ho ... l-hero.jpg
They come in all kinds of shapes, colors, textures at any big box store. Once you dig down to set the first layer in and be sure it is level all the layers after that are just stacking blocks, very quick and easy and will give the yard a nice finished look.
https://simplifiedofficesolutions.com/wp ... height.jpg
This is mortared stone, but you can do the same thing with the un-mortared interlocking concrete blocks much cheaper and easier.
And absolutely keep the lawn mowed close and edged.
Foundation plantings are looking scraggly. Make a wider bed there and put some nice shrubbery in it.
Yes definitely look for inspiration pictures. I find it very helpful. But magazines are SO old school, imafan. You can find thousands of images on line instantly. Just do a search on something like small front yard landscaping ideas images and go to Google images.
https://www.google.com/search?q=small+f ... 57&bih=702
I'm surprised Imafan didn't mention this one, she usually does. Paint the front door a contrasting color, maybe red, to make it stand out and be more welcoming.
Paint the garage to match the house.
Yes, you need to do something with the concrete walk to nowhere. I don't think gravel will do it. Either concrete or some kind of pavers (which are not all that expensive and are not hard to DIY). But lay them in a curve over toward the driveway, not in a straight line.
I would dig out the drop off area so it is a straight drop off then flat in front. Then put in a low retaining wall of interlocking concrete blocks, again an inexpensive DIY project. I'm talking about these:
https://www.lowes.com/projects/images/ho ... l-hero.jpg
They come in all kinds of shapes, colors, textures at any big box store. Once you dig down to set the first layer in and be sure it is level all the layers after that are just stacking blocks, very quick and easy and will give the yard a nice finished look.
https://simplifiedofficesolutions.com/wp ... height.jpg
This is mortared stone, but you can do the same thing with the un-mortared interlocking concrete blocks much cheaper and easier.
And absolutely keep the lawn mowed close and edged.
Foundation plantings are looking scraggly. Make a wider bed there and put some nice shrubbery in it.
Yes definitely look for inspiration pictures. I find it very helpful. But magazines are SO old school, imafan. You can find thousands of images on line instantly. Just do a search on something like small front yard landscaping ideas images and go to Google images.
https://www.google.com/search?q=small+f ... 57&bih=702
The house actually could use more color contrast to make it stand out. The stairs lead to the yard but there really should be a path that leads to the stairs. One path can be path you would most often take anyway, and the other can be a 'visitor' path that would lead guests to the front door and invite them in. In the front by the road. A low wall or fence to define the perimeter especially since there seems to be no sidewalk and it would give the edge of the property a more refined look.
You can actually do stamped concrete. It will have the look of brick or stones and you can add a colorant to the concrete so it can be brick red, gray, gray black, or blue gray or even a yellow brick road, but that would only be if you want it to be whimsical, not everyone would appreciate it.
The house is set so far back in the yard it seems like it is a mile away. Choosing plants that are the right scale for the yard will be important.
I wish I had more yard. I think my entire lot could fit in your front yard. My lot is 5400 sq ft and about 3000 sq ft is yard. Right now with all the weeds, I feel like it could be smaller, but if my weed whacker had not bitten the dust, and not had rain nearly every night for a week, I would not have been this much in the weeds.
I myself don't like grass. It is high maintenance and boring monoculture, but a lot of people do.
I would do something more at the entry like make a large semicircular patio in front of the house and have a wide path (enough for two people to comfortably walk side by side) lead up to it. Normally, I am looking at a small yard and to make that look bigger and the make the walk look more interesting a serpentine path works better, but your yard is so deep it would be better to have a path that gets wider as it approaches the house to give the illusion that the house is not so far away. There can be wide planting beds on either side of the path. Narrow planting strips will only accentuate how deep the yard is. The patio can be used for outdoor entertaining. Paint the door a color that will stand out and maybe change some of the hardware. It looks a bit dated. Add some yard lighting, planters and seating around the patio. It will extend your living space outside.
Soft plantings by the street will give some sense of separation and privacy. It will also provide something inviting up close.
The house is set so far back in the yard it seems like it is a mile away. Choosing plants that are the right scale for the yard will be important.
I wish I had more yard. I think my entire lot could fit in your front yard. My lot is 5400 sq ft and about 3000 sq ft is yard. Right now with all the weeds, I feel like it could be smaller, but if my weed whacker had not bitten the dust, and not had rain nearly every night for a week, I would not have been this much in the weeds.
I myself don't like grass. It is high maintenance and boring monoculture, but a lot of people do.
I would do something more at the entry like make a large semicircular patio in front of the house and have a wide path (enough for two people to comfortably walk side by side) lead up to it. Normally, I am looking at a small yard and to make that look bigger and the make the walk look more interesting a serpentine path works better, but your yard is so deep it would be better to have a path that gets wider as it approaches the house to give the illusion that the house is not so far away. There can be wide planting beds on either side of the path. Narrow planting strips will only accentuate how deep the yard is. The patio can be used for outdoor entertaining. Paint the door a color that will stand out and maybe change some of the hardware. It looks a bit dated. Add some yard lighting, planters and seating around the patio. It will extend your living space outside.
Soft plantings by the street will give some sense of separation and privacy. It will also provide something inviting up close.
-
rainbowgardener
- Super Green Thumb
- Posts: 25279
- Joined: Sun Feb 15, 2009 6:04 pm
- Location: TN/GA 7b
Reading imafan's new post I saw mine again. It was a good lesson on how emotional tone does not come over the internet.
" I find it very helpful. But magazines are SO old school, imafan" I meant that as a tease, playful and should have put a
or two with it. Without that on the page it comes across flat and maybe chiding. Sorry.
Good suggestions from imafan. I would just add as another quick and dirty, that the black shutters on white are high contrast but harsh. Paint them to match your front door, maybe a nice blue or hunter green to soften it...
" I find it very helpful. But magazines are SO old school, imafan" I meant that as a tease, playful and should have put a
or two with it. Without that on the page it comes across flat and maybe chiding. Sorry.Good suggestions from imafan. I would just add as another quick and dirty, that the black shutters on white are high contrast but harsh. Paint them to match your front door, maybe a nice blue or hunter green to soften it...
-
rainbowgardener
- Super Green Thumb
- Posts: 25279
- Joined: Sun Feb 15, 2009 6:04 pm
- Location: TN/GA 7b
Hey, Rainbow! I still have a lot of Sunset magazine cutouts in my garden wish binder. But you are right there are actually a few landscaping software out there and I actually had one for my old computer but it won't work with this version of windows. My problem with it was that it was designed for North America, but not for the tropics. I could only use the colors and plant heights. Most of the plants on the list won't grow here and the ones I could use were not choices.
I have the same kind of problem with garden planners. Not enough tropical and Asian choices. I have to use cucumber for bitter melon and watermelon for gourds. I tried to design my sprinkler system. One machine gun type sprinkler has a minimum throw of twenty five feet. That shoots water into my neighbor's property and that was only one sprinkler in the middle of my back yard doing 180 degrees from the edge of my lanai. I had to go with pop up heads instead.
However, it was fun to design my dream house although it would never be a reality. It was wider than my lot.
I have the same kind of problem with garden planners. Not enough tropical and Asian choices. I have to use cucumber for bitter melon and watermelon for gourds. I tried to design my sprinkler system. One machine gun type sprinkler has a minimum throw of twenty five feet. That shoots water into my neighbor's property and that was only one sprinkler in the middle of my back yard doing 180 degrees from the edge of my lanai. I had to go with pop up heads instead.
However, it was fun to design my dream house although it would never be a reality. It was wider than my lot.
-
rainbowgardener
- Super Green Thumb
- Posts: 25279
- Joined: Sun Feb 15, 2009 6:04 pm
- Location: TN/GA 7b
I wasn't even thinking of any special landscaping software/ apps, though that might be useful later in the process, for finding plants etc. For getting inspiration/ ideas of how you might want your place to look, just browsing/ searching through Google images gets you 1000's, free and quick.
You can even tailor your search. I did "small front yard landscaping ideas" before. But you can make it more specific. Here's one of the pictures I found by putting in "small front yard with big tree" to Google search and going to images
https://cdn1.gardenhomeandparty.com/wp-c ... 50x343.jpg
Note the curving path and colorful plantings....
You can even tailor your search. I did "small front yard landscaping ideas" before. But you can make it more specific. Here's one of the pictures I found by putting in "small front yard with big tree" to Google search and going to images
https://cdn1.gardenhomeandparty.com/wp-c ... 50x343.jpg
Note the curving path and colorful plantings....
-
rainbowgardener
- Super Green Thumb
- Posts: 25279
- Joined: Sun Feb 15, 2009 6:04 pm
- Location: TN/GA 7b
I have used the internet pictures too. I didn't really think of that much. I also have sort of adapted some of the sfg plans that were put out by BHG and in Mel's book. I did still have to change a few things. Internet pictures are good if you want to create mini-spaces and borders, then you can just use the pieces you need.
The small garden pictures on the internet usually don't address what to do with common problems like a shallow yard (well actually some of them do, but my yard is shallow and narrow (19 ft deep and 54 ft wide, half of that is the driveway), garage and driveway that dominates the view, and a non-descript entry or a recessed entry. Most of the small yard pictures don't even have garages in them. I actually only found one and it was photographed at an angle to make the garage less imposing.
A lot of times people actually have a hard time adapting the ideas on the internet to their situation. Some of the plants in the pictures require a specific micro climate. The style of the house and even the color of the house should match with the style of the yard and then there is scale. A small house in a big yard or a house that appears to be bigger because of its' position on the lot or color. Placement of plants can matter in terms of whether they will be inviting or deterring.
The small garden pictures on the internet usually don't address what to do with common problems like a shallow yard (well actually some of them do, but my yard is shallow and narrow (19 ft deep and 54 ft wide, half of that is the driveway), garage and driveway that dominates the view, and a non-descript entry or a recessed entry. Most of the small yard pictures don't even have garages in them. I actually only found one and it was photographed at an angle to make the garage less imposing.
A lot of times people actually have a hard time adapting the ideas on the internet to their situation. Some of the plants in the pictures require a specific micro climate. The style of the house and even the color of the house should match with the style of the yard and then there is scale. A small house in a big yard or a house that appears to be bigger because of its' position on the lot or color. Placement of plants can matter in terms of whether they will be inviting or deterring.