I am planning some landscaping this year and have people coming out to quote on the work. I want to make sure I end up with exactly what I want and not regret the idea in the end. I REALLY dislike the curb appeal of our home. I find myself wanting to move all the time to buy a home with a different fronting. I really wanted my double front doors to face the road instead on the side, however, the inside of our home really worked for us and we love the layout.
Problem is, the outside is not inviting, whereas the inside is warm and a fav hangout for our friends who stop by a lot. We love casual, laid back, family entertaining with friends and ther kids. Our home tends to be the location for most get togethers.
My initial problems. I think the outside is boring and nothing draws my eye. The house looks smaller than it's 2400 sqft inside and I want it to look larger outside.
I have pulled together some rough ideas cutting and pasting in photoshop. My plan is to paint the garage a more neutral browish tone. My other problem in the cream wood area above the front porch and below our upper window. I can not figure out what colour I can paint it to make it blend. The trim around the outer edge of that window is metal and matches in colour right now, as per the previous home owners. I don't think the porch and upper half of the house blend right now.
To start, I want to remove the concrete stairs and handrails and I am thinking about using pavers on the porch as well to help blend it, but have not seen this idea in real life yet. My cut and paste job is amateur. I forsee the garden following down the front lawn more and a tad less stone walkway than what I have shown here. The planter beside the steps would actually be back in the corner where the planter pot is in the before photo and extend higher up towards the porch.
Any thoughts would be GREAT!
Mara :)
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Thanks so much for all of your thoughts.
The landscape designer we decided to work with also thought about curving the stairs more to blend to the driveway so we will do that. The suggestion is that the walkway will taper down and flow into an edging along the driveway and we will match that on the other side of the driveway as well.
No one else in the neighbourhood seems to be concerned about railings haha, so I might just keep slient on this one. The designer did not mention it, so I assume we are ok that way.
I also agree with the person that said the house does not really flow. The inside layout was so wonderful that we bought for that. However, I am not happy at all with the outside of the home. I think landscaping might be a good start. The subdivision was designed to be a new "victorian feel" Along the roof that you can not see, there were some spiral type of wooden trim that we have removed already.
I think we'll go ahead and get the work done, then I'll post back again for specifics on planting and changing up the colours.
Thanks so much again
Mara :)
We had the porch in our last house covered in interlocking and it really improved the look. I like your mock-up. I think the former owners had too many colors on the house with the green and two shades of beige/cream. Maybe just stick to a couple and use your eavestrough/fascia as a guide for at least one of the shades. I know it costs a lot, but if you extended the interlocking onto the driveway, it would really draw the eye across.
I like what you have PS'd, the stone looks fantastic!!! Because your driveway is to the right of the entrance I would make the steps flow from there to the entrance.
I agree with above poster about changing the color to make more of a 'pop', I would also remove the brick wall to the right to open up the entrance, if you can?!
I really like the perennials along the neighbors lot, simple, colorfull and low maintenance. I would also encourage you to not put in a planter with the stone, since ideas & colors change it would be simpler to use a large pot that can be changed with trends.........such as a tall black zen type of planter. You could match one in the driveway between the 2 doors and the end : )
Looks like this won't be too hard for you :applaud: You have an idea of what you want and it sure looks nice. Looking forward to seeing the end result!
HTH
you did a very good job with PS.
The only thing you have to keep in mind - railing.
Check with your area officials. I know in my area we had only 3 steps in the backyard and city officials bugged us and threatened with fine about those railings (we didn't have them and then when it was installed, it was too high for them), really pain. So maybe to save some time think about incorporating at least on one side - maybe iron railing?
Are any of the people coming landscape designers? I hope so because that will really help you get the front exactly the way you like.
I like your idea about filling the front with a walk and plants but something about the style of the one you have there isn't working for me. maybe it's the house. That top turret is sort of mission, the veranda more Victorian, and the light stone seems contemporary. I think you have to find a way to tie it all together in one look/feel. A designer could figure out exactly what elements to use to do that. maybe it's the colours or the type of stone or changing the columns.
For my taste, I think paint wise I'd paint the veranda a different colour than the garage and do the bottom trim on the turret and what looks like another little deck up top in the same colour (maybe a different tone, but same colour). That leaves you the white as one colour and then whatever else and gets rid of that cream which doesn't seem to fit with anything on your house at the moment.
my thoughts are....you really don't need our help... :D ...I would like to see however some black as an accent though...maybe some planter boxes?...and maybe change the curve to turn more towards the driveway eliminating the right square brick planter....good luck
You nailed it with the landscaping. I wouldn't change a thing with it.
As for the garage door colour go with the colour of your brick or the grout colour. Same for the siding on the upper window. It will tie it all together. I am leaning towards the brick colour to unify upper and lower levels.
You did an amazing job with your photo shopped picture. I think it looks great. There are so many talented peple on this forum I think you will get plenty of ideas. The one thing that came to me right away was to use the creamy colour that you have above the porch on your spindles, posts and railing, maybe even your garage door (or at least a colour close to it) I think you need to work with what you have, which is a great base to start from. Keep it neutral and let you entrance be the focal point.
I love your garden plans and new walkway. I think they completment the front of your house and the entranceway perfectly.
Good luck.