Ellsworth-Hallet Home Professionals that is the driveway in front of the house. It is a circular driveway. I am attaching another picture from that shows the 2 large trees that are there now. I love the trees but soon they will need to come down because they seem to be dying. Half of the trees are not producing leaves. Your suggestion is to take all the plants by the house out. Should I not plant tall plans near the home? I am not a detail person so visualizing what would look good is not easy for me. My budget at this time does not allow me to hire a landscaper, so any suggestions of type of plants to use would be appreciated.

leeweber I do need to eventually resurface the driveway. The home sat empty for about 10 yrs and had a lot of trash and old oil cans and things by the garage so it is a mess. Another comment suggested removing the plants and bushes by the home also. If you have any suggestions on what to plant I would love to hear them. Thank You

jen046 I will post a link to the MCM thread as soon as I can figure out how to do that lol

decoenthusiaste I like your ideas and I am going to some of the solar window film. I am assuming that it is something like window tint in a car.

To find your climate zone and the appropriate plants, type your zip code into this page: http://www.garden.org/zipzone/ . For example, Zone 9B is southern California coastal and inland valleys.

Big trees are stressed by lack of water due to the drought. Hang on for a few months to see if they sprout when rain comes.

I will do that . I sure hope they do because I was one of the things I loved was the large old trees. I have several in the backyard that seem to be doing alright so far. I'm assuming that they didn't get watered for many years and I'm surprised they are still alive.

What is your zip code or planting zone? You need plants that are 3 or 4 ft tall at maturity. Take a picture of your house to,a local nursery for advice. You should also tell them which way your house faces.

osheryl, great house.

midcentury houses are long and low. you need to be able to see the house.
Look up eichler houses and you will get many good ideas.
this is what I would do:
- remove bushes. reuse if possible
- do stone, mulch and xeriscapic landscape. that grass will never look good there

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Grasses will look so beautiful!
http://www.burpee.com/perennials/perennial-grasses/

And something like black-eyed susan vine (thunbergia) or nasturtiums. Nasties would be my first pic, but they're annual and I'm not sure how much you like gardening. :)

This is what I did in my midcentury ranch. is not as modern looking as your, but the landscape works much better and so does a good paint color in earth tones.

house as it was, intermediate steps and finished and 2 years later. landscape makes all the difference

Wow, that is just amazing! Did you get a landscape designer to come up with a plan or are you just a brilliant gardener? So often people with a house in a certain style ask for curb appeal and get suggestions are to add all kinds of expensive out-of-character bits to the house. Beautiful landscaping and an in-character paint job is so enduring and gives the homeowner something special to look at year 'round. Bravo for figuring that out.

landscape designer, just because I was having so much work done inside I could not tackle this. I told him what I was going for: no grass, no watering past the first year. I love the look of gravel and grasses, and most of the stones were already in the property. the roses are knockouts, so no maintenance, and catmint is hard to kill. I want ed mostly natives to the area (northeast). And I wanted low, to keep with the house.

When we bought our current house, I was concerned about the two front bedrooms being so dark and gloomy. I was going to deal with that issue right after we moved in. I didn't realize that we had two bushes right in front of the windows that grew almost to the top of the windows. We tore them out and put in plants that would not get taller than the sill and I have two sunny bedrooms right in front. I guess the former owner didn't like them being so bright. I would dig out those shrubs and believe me, the job is not for the faint of heart. Soak the roots after digging a trench around them to make it easier. Be sure to choose plants that won't outgrow the space unless you just love to prune bushes in your spare time. Also, drive around your subdivision and look for ideas for paint colors and plants for the front yard. If you talk to the neighbors, they probably will share plants when they divide them in the spring.

@osheryl: any changes since you posted last year?

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gpRwBUBlAOs

Trim all the bushes and paint bricks trim lighter

Hi, I hope you know now that MCM homes are very popular in the US! They are classic of American design! I looked a long time to find mine. I wanted to share this blogger that writes about MCM design stuff with an article about MCM traditional paint colors: at http://www.madformidcentury.com

I just repainted mine from a boring mocha brown to a dark graphite grey with black trim and a red door! Don't be afraid to use a dramatic color scheme, whatever you pick! It will look great in that bright Southern Cali Sun!

I think there are two good options. You can go with a neutral cream/beige color with a bright door. Or you could paint the house a light olivey green with a wooden door. Definitely trim the bushes down. You could cover windows with trellises with dense ivy growing up them instead of the hedges. Or use blackout shades or curtains.

Post is from 2014 I'm sure the project is complete

Some ideas and a link: http://www.moderndallas.net/casa_view_cliff_may_home_tour.html#.WUAOMMa1vIU

Remove all those bushes. MCM house requires low profile plants.

Look at "mid-century modern exteriors" on Houzz. There are lots of color choices you can pick from, and the photos will also include landscaping ideas. This is what Houzz is all about!

You have a wonderful home. Any updates?

I am just now getting back to working on the outside. The painting is almost finished. Then the decision on what to plant. I will post pictures in the next few days.

I love the potential and excitement. You can find someone on CL to cut those shrubs and haul away. I also painted my ranch myself, one section at a time. I first did the front then the back. I actually think I did a better job than a pro since I meticulously prepped the surface and used SW Duration paint. That was 10 years ago and it looks as good as the day it was painted.

Following...

An update of the outside paint...finally !!! The house is still being painted in the back. It has been a slow process.

Sad and cold.

Huge improvement over the "before" photos!

Love that you came back and updated this post. Congratulations on getting your house painted. Let us know how the rest of your updating goes.

Oh dear. Need appropriate landscaping.

This house is gorgeous, congratulations on owning your first home it is a major accomplishment and the biggest purchase most of us make in our lives. Just need to cut down some of the shrubs in front and then spend some time looking at mid-century moderns online and doing your research. You will know what looks right when you see it. Just be true to the architecture and the rest will fall into place. Don't rush.

Thanks for the update. I like what you are doing and believe me I know what it's like with getting our homes together. I'm too am repairing my home and it can be overwhelming. Take it one step at a time. Great Job!

Looks fantastic!

Great job painting and cutting back the bushes. You'll probably need to get more brutal there (and/or move some shrubs) in order to keep good visuals of your facade, but the gray really gives your front a sharp modern swagger, and you can get to more landscaping (maybe hammering up the driveway out front) at a later date.

Thank you for the positive feedback. I appreciate the comments and suggestions. I am still working on the landscape and it is a little overwhelming. I also need to refinish the front door to make it more appealing. If anyone has a suggestion I would be happy to hear them.

Sophie Wheeler I need to say that your comment was not needed. If you are a professional why not be helpful and suggest something that would help or just don't comment at all. I feel it was very unprofessional of you to make a comment like you did when so many of us come here looking for help.

A cold unfriendly painted gray is exactly the wrong choice for anything MCM. MCM needs warm colors and natural materials. If you want to showcase this great home, get rid of that prison primer gray. A warm green, or even a very warm gray would have been a much better choice. Leaving it alone would have been a better choice.

Just hacking back overgrown shrubs isn't addressing the real problem there either. An actual landscape composed of naturalistic plantings rather than a sad vestige of a formalistic planting bed is what is needed. Ripping them out and having nothing would have been better than just hacking at them.

There. Better with suggestions? You want affirmation of a big mistake, not help. But future posters can learn What Not To Do.

Thank you for giving me some direction. I appreciate it.

http://www.homedsgn.com/2011/07/12/stunning-mid-century-house-renovation-by-mitchell-weisberg/

I live in the Midwest and we have tons of Midcentury homes. Your "prison gray" home would fit in fine. I find that if we do what we love it will rest on the eyes longer. Take your time, live with it and it will tell you what it needs.

Looks like your color.

I really like the blue green door above. That would be nice for you door.

How deep is the plant bed where I marked with the arrow? Online it looks very narrow but distance is deceiving in photographs

http://www.homedsgn.com/2011/07/12/stunning-mid-century-house-renovation-by-mitchell-weisberg/

I'm sorry about the link. The actual home is displayed here on Houzz with some great closeup shots. Check out PBH Keith Heights midcentury exterior. Also Google gray mid century exteriors
Your home has a wonderful roof line. I would try and highlight that area as well as the area around the entrance. Is it possible to paint your window trim? It's kinda hard to see your pics on my phone. I'll try and upload photos later when I get back home. Meanwhile I'm sure that others will provide you with more details.

Thank you for the links that you included. It helps to look at the photos to see what others have done to narrow down choices for me.

Emmarene I am guessing the depth of the area you marked is about 3 ft. I will measure when I get there and double check.

I would suggest you remove the overgrown shrubs and have the roof re-designed so that it is all one, continuous level. I do not know what the large grey box is above the entry way, but it looks dangerous. If possible, have this device put on a concrete slab on the ground and conceal it with a little fence. I would suggest you paint the exterior of the house a soft white with bright white trim and have the chimney faced in a light grey with a salt-and-pepper effect.

old post

HI there...I'm also doing a mid century renovation. I think that's the title of the thread for our house. If I could give you a strong suggestion it would be to find a landscape architect to work with you.

They can create a plan and you don't have to do it all at once but as your budget allows. Ours always says, "No landscaping is better than bad landscaping" and I have to agree.

I'd remove all the plants, trees etc near the windows and as a say a designer can help you. If you don't find an affordable landscape architect I think there are landscape designers. They don't have the degree but they would have the eye to see what it is that would be right for the house.

A landscape architect would create a plan that includes plantings but they also design the hardscape...The driveway etc...It looks like your driveway may need work.

Don't be afraid to paint brick if you're tired of it. It's coming along though with the painting you've done. Looking good! Keep at it. It takes time and patience. Sometimes it can feel overwhelming but staying with it is the key. Don't finish with the painting and throw in the towel. Go the extra mile because it's the landscaping that will really make a difference.

Hi there, your house is coming along! I'm working on one too and talking about here and have gotten great ideas from people.

We have two fireplaces and painted them white along with the rest of the house. If the feel like a feature is complementing the house then leave it, if it's detracting then get rid of it or make it 'disappear'. White paint would make it disappear but you'd be left with the dimension it adds to the house.

I'd focus on the landscape and working with a landscape architect or landscape designer who can give you a plan. If you go out and just start planting things you'll be back where you started in a few years.

Architects and designers understand how fast or slow a plant grows, how big it gets and how to use plants to enhance and not distract.

Keep going and don't give up...