Front yards provide such an opportunity. They are spaces that could not only welcome you home but also add to your home’s value. Secretly, I also love to make these outdoor spaces help improve the environment. I rarely put a lawn in the front yard (unless a client insists on it or if the house is on a court where the space would be used) because these spaces are more transitional. For this front yard, the homeowners hated the lack of curb appeal. Coming home to a messy front yard is never very fun, it just gives homeowners anxiety instead of enticing you home.
Before
This front yard really needed to have some curb appeal. Guests had to walk up the driveway and step across a broken concrete walkway to access the front door. I really have no idea how the Amazon drivers dealt with this front yard. (Although once a package was delivered, no one would know it was there since you couldn’t even see the front door from the street.)
In our area, so many front yards were planted with juniper back in the day. Yes, they grow fast and are easy to care for, but the way they’ve been used in design here in California isn’t beautiful compared to the specimens found in Japan. Today, they are a known fire hazard and a nuisance as they house rats and always look messy and unkempt. So first things first, we needed to remove the juniper, which is no easy feat.
Design
Once the juniper was removed, we needed to add a walkway to the front door. I always prefer a front walkway over having guests walk up the driveway. It’s much more welcoming to walk up a front pathway. Due to the large trees and extensive roots, we chose pavers as the material. This allows for adjustments if the tree roots impact the pathway over time.
In front yards, I like to focus on evergreen plantings as they provide interest throughout the seasons and require less maintenance, making them easier to keep tidy. While I do love adding perennials, they are always the backdrop and just add seasonal interest. I want to ensure my clients come home to a space they are proud of throughout the year without thinking they have to do yard work. Under the base of the trees, we created a carpet of manzanita that will fill in, along with asparagus ferns, dianella, and dwarf flaxes. Perennials such as salvias, lantana, coreopsis, and lamb’s ear were used as well to add additional seasonal interest. In addition, a western redbud tree adds a colorful focal point for the front window.
Closer to the house, we added a swath of green in the form of kurapia, an evergreen groundcover that is low-water and flowers in spring, summer, and fall, providing a playground for bees. Adding kurapia made the space feel more spacious. If we had packed the front yard with plants, it would have felt much smaller as it is essential to include areas of negative space—a place for your eye to rest.
The front fencing on the sides and the left front adds an area for the homeowners to sit out and connect with neighbors, making the space feel more expansive. We also added the fence there to create more privacy for the interior room while still allowing them to get light in and look at something beautiful. To cap off the design, we added large pots to flank and accentuate the front door, planting them with topiary “Little Ollie” olive trees for evergreen interest.
After
This has been a major transformation and one of my favorites for adding curb appeal and style to a front yard space. We didn’t just plop lots of plants into the space; we curated a style out of all the design elements, giving the front yard massive curb appeal.
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