The front-yard of a house give’s the house its “first impression.” If the front yard is over-grown with weeds, lacking in character, or riddled with patches of dry, brown grass, the impression is the place is worn-down. However, with a little creativity, some layered planting, and some walkway modifications, a front-yard can go from blah to wow even on a shoe-string, DIY budget.
One of the nice things about a smaller front yard is that there’s less maintenance that needs to be done over time. Using a creative garden plan, plants that thrive with minimal care for that region, and a bit of up-front yard work, small spaces can be inviting and give the house a charming facade. These tips from Sunset.com are terrific to accommodate small front yards:
- Break up the monotony of a straight to the door concrete path. Instead, swap it out for a more meandering, paving stone walkway. Embed the larger walkway stones with gravel and line the walk with plants of varying heights.
- Ditch a boring lawn. Instead, break the yard into small “sections” using recycled materials, pavers, low-maintenance plants, and small swaths of grass. Fill the plant beds with wood chips for soil protection and a deep, rich color.
- Don’t shy away from size and color. Large plants can be used as a dramatic entry.
When was the last time you sat in your front yard? Rethink your space; the front yard can be a combination of both private and public. Section off areas using recycled wood fencing and taller plants to make a private sitting area so that you can actually utilize the yard. It’s silly to let the front yard go unused. With a little creativity, you can make it functional and inviting.
Have you overlooked your front yard lately?
9 Comments
We have a curved walkway as well! Look great but in winter clearing the snow on your walkway can be challenging as you need to have a mental picture of the curve to avoid hitting dirt with the shovel! 🙂
@MoneyCone – Good point. As you can tell, I wouldn’t of thought of that since I don’t live where it snows! 😉
Our front yard is a disaster! We definitely need to work on that. We want to add more lighting, plants, and clean it all up.
@Michelle – I hope these plans were inspirations for you. Better Homes and Gardens actually has plans you can print out and follow step-by-step if you need more of a structured plan.
Those yards look great! I don’t have to deal with that kind of things now that we live in a condo. 🙂
I don’t like yard work at all.
@Joe – I really didn’t like it very much either. But I did like my large patio and flowers. I do miss that. 😉
I’m house hunting so I have been doing a lot of driveby’s as a first pass to screen the homes I might want to visit. I also look at the neighbor’s properties too. One house that has a ton of land has a neighbor that has not 1 but 2 broken down pickup trucks in the front yard, oh and the house is painted electric blue…which may work in the Mediterranean but definitely looks odd on a New England farmhouse.
Curb appeal is very important to me. The style of the house and the surroundings help me decide whether I should step foot in a place. I have to start looking past poor landscaping because I think a lot of the densely wooded lots would look a lot better if they had more trees cleared out from around the homes, so they look less like dank little hobbit holes (We’ve got an over abundance of trees and forest here)
Good points as always.
@First Gen American – I think the curb appeal is very important; it can tell you a lot about a neighborhood and the people who live there. The broken down trucks are a bad sign! However, I like the sound of the forest – I miss the forest. 😉 We have mostly shrubs where I live.
We spend more time in the backyard, so yes, the front yard is neglected by default. We’ve purposely planted the front beds and the mailbox beds with perennials, requiring little maintenance.