Hello Emily Lah,

You need structure. This may be out of your budget so determine what you are willing to spend. If you were to have a porch created that enclosed or at least 'announced' the door and possibly the small window just to the viewers left, it would create the feeling of a 'front' space. Less pricey alternatives are to paint the door a separate color, to install a specified area of patio and walkway which leads directly to the door and landscaping.

Here are few Houzz examples of porch, patio, colorful door and landscaping which might work for you:

This is a great example of how a little can go a long way; the door is colorful, the porch is small, but directed, and the railings enclose the 'front; area:


Style of house not similar, but you certainly know where the front door is!:


Even a small front patio would define your area of entry:


Again, not your style, but you certainly recognize it as an entrance:


Best of luck with your decorating and please let us know if we can be of any assistance!

Elizabeth

Hello Emily,
There are so many design ideas for this space, but the least expensive I think would be to paint the door a bright color and flank it with 2 large urns with colorful plants.

The best and the fastest implementable idea is to Paint the door .

Agree with both @cypress and Elizabeth. Love the urn idea as an easy fix! A walkway from your driveway to the door would also help. Even just moving the patio furniture and children's play house to the other side door would be an improvement.

Definitely agree with painting the door and any exposed siding (are they all green?). A small brick patio would announce to a guest that they had arrived at your front door (with a welcome mat to dress it up). Definitely on the urns too! Eventually a little pergola with a small gravel size area for a little patio set would be a good place for you to watch them play. You could do the pea gravel patio without a pergola too.

How about a neat light hanging down instead of flood lights? That would help too!

sidney01 you need to check out my conundrum and show me what you think!! rld7007 is my user name. Wow, this is an incredible mock up! Hopefully Emily goes with this idea.

I think it may help a little if instead of the table you go some rocking chairs or something like that and some colourful flowers my help brighten things up.

Thanks for the ideas! The coloring in the photos do not do the green justice. We really like the color and it looks better in person. The brick is an orange w/ gray hues to it. We have not been able to find bricks or pavers that look right with it. We were thinking that maybe we should go with either cement or a gray stone to match the window sills. What do you guys think?

If we added a patio space and/or a pergola where should we place it? We just have the playhouse and patio furniture located where the overgrown bushes used to be so we don't have to move it twice a week to mow. Just a holding place for now, not really where we want it but better then the grass.

Elizabeth- Thanks for all the great ideas! I like those pictures you found. What color of door where you thinking would look good?

rld7007- We would love to replace the flood lights with a nicer looking light but have not found anything that would look nice with the style of house. Have you seen anything you think might look good? Open to suggestions.

Build a wooden landing in front of the door. This will make it easier for the children to reach the door nob, it will trap mud and and make it safer to step outside the door. Plant a shade tree between the house and the clothesline so that you can enjoy the area to the right of your entrance more. The left side of the entrance can then be used mostly as a welcoming walkway and an area to landscape for the view from your bay window.

I think a small wood deck across the front would be wonderful and you could easily make the table look natural, however this would cost a little. When I initially saw the picture my first though was to add shutters to the windows to make it pop. You can get the decorative ones inexpensively from home improvement stores. Paint them the same color as the door and then add pops of color in plantings like dog woods that bloom white flowers and get tall and bushy or fire bushes. LOTS of planting options!! Is pavers are in the plans at all you could do stamped concrete for less...possibly tinted a dark grey.

Emily, we have this light: http://www.wayfair.com/Sea-Gull-Lighting-Sebring-Outdoor-Flush-Mount-in-Black-8869-12-GX3390.html

I think it would work with your house too. Alternatively as this is offset from the front door you could do a lantern style light. My favorite is this one: http://www.potterybarn.com/products/gothic-lantern/?pkey=cpendants-sconces-outdoor

This one is fantastic:
http://www.potterybarn.com/products/barnard-pendant/?pkey=cpendants-sconces-outdoor

But money doesn't grow on trees around here so I might go with something like this one:
http://www.wayfair.com/Murray-Feiss-Terrace-One-Light-Outdoor-Hanging-Lantern-in-Oil-Rubbed-Bronze-MU6077.html

Adirondack chairs in a gravel patio would be cute, comfy and I think you can find them at the end of the season for not a ton of money. Black would be nice but white would be okay too. Especially if you plan to keep the door green (which I think is a great color by the way)! Keep us posted!

I always think red (barn) look great on brick houses and It would probably look good with the green.

That first light is perfect! Thanks for the lead.

The glass (or screen?) door on top of the wood door makes it look like a back door. Just have one door (main wood door).

For better landscape help you should mention how much sun the front of the house gets. You should make areas for sitting/dining, flowers and play. I would put a semi-circular paver area on the left side of the door and include the front door. Since it is shaded and where you seem to have the most stuff. A flower bed on the right side, rather large with a nice small tree. Nice sitting wall around the paver area and creat a bed under the trees.

I would replace the front door altogether with one that will let in more light and provide a better entry presentation. If you keep the storm door, it needs to be nicer looking (I would go without one if at all possible, but know you have kids). I strongly agree that you need a "space" at the entry, an outdoor room approach that consists of a much more substantial stoop or entry point. You say you have a tough time matching the brick - then contrast with it. Go with a concrete that is stamped and stained (great variety of colors to choose from). Use potted plants and some casual hedges that aren't too tall to create some boundaries.

As to the lights by the front door, replace them with an entry light. Take the spot lights out from the house and mount them in the trees (this is pretty cheap and easy to do). You can up-light the trees, light the yard and soft light the "outdoor room". A spot light at the front door just blinds arriving guests at night.

Finally, I don't know what that pipe is sticking up in front of the house, I suspect a venting pipe. Get rid of it, have one installed that runs up the inside of the wall and use a roof vent. Also, trim up the lower branches of the trees, it'll feel more open, let in a bit more light and allow a better view of the house from the road.

You need some definition of spaces. I would put a porch on the front with a peak that defines the front door. I like the green. Now add some pumpkin to tie it to the brick. Try a brick or blue stone patio seating area to the left that is either defines by a low fence or perennial garden border. Break up the lawn by making planting beds sway into and out of the lawn. I see you have little ones for make sure you leave large swathes of grass for them to run around in. You might also want to add a small hedge perpendicular to the house so that there is "parking" for all of the riding toys. These are all easy to care for once they are in. Best.

Emily,

So many wonderful ideas for you! I would try a front door in yellow, salmon or turquoise. Bright colors, to announce the entrance, but not compete with the green that you want to keep.

Best of luck! Please let us see the finished product!

Elizabeth

I think you need to extend the top step to just short of the windows on each side and to the front edge of the walk, in wood or concrete to create a landing (with the second step down to the walk and patio.) Put a nice pot on each side of the door with a topiary and color (flowers) around the base. It also looks like the grass doesn't grow well in front of the door due to shade from the tree or the species of tree. You might put a patio or deck in that area for your table and chairs. You can use concrete or even pea gravel (and maybe more pots of flowers.) If you can't do everything at once, do an area at a time. Maybe later put a short wall around the patio area to create a courtyard. It could be done in 2X4's with wood siding covering them to match the siding on the house - then you don't have to worry about matching the brick.

Paint the front door. Put big pots of plants on both sides of the door. Change the font porch light. You can get one that is a sensor light and looks good. ( i have one from Lowes). Also define a pathway to the front door, gravel looks good and cost effective too. have fun.. Let us see when you get it done.

If possible I would first increase the size of the steps. Even create a landing. They should be much larger than the door. The small steps are so back door. Then make a patio because you hang out there :-) I would keep it casual and relaxed and remember how you use the space. You could use the pre-made concrete (plain jane) paver squares from Big Box Store. I have used them beautifully by mixing sizes, building a 'patio' that fades into a grey gravel patio/path that leads you up from the driveway; then remove a stone here and there for plantings/herbs. I would make the patio area long and mirror the height of your house. Your property is huge and a tiny patio will look strange. But again, casual with plain concrete and grey stone or something. The lighting will help too. You could also uplight the trees and your housefront a bit. Love that you grow your own!

If you go with Connie's idea of the stones and pavers, which I think is a good idea and cost effective . . Find crushed stones in the 1 half inch to 1 inch size (not crushed concrete but crushed stones). You will likely have to call around to landscaping supply businesses. With crushed stone you don't sink in and they are small enough to be comfortable but big enough to not end up everywhere. I suggest NOT using pea gravel for areas where people will be walking, which has a tendency to allow you to sink in and also gets all over the place. I have used both in various circumstances. I just put in a fire pit and large seating area around it, using lanin (like flag stones) stones and crushed stones which worked very well.

sidney01- What software do you use to change the photos?

Elizabeth- I was thinking about yellow for the door too. I'm glad to hear you liked that option as well.

Thank you everyone for the great ideas. Several people commented about it looking like the back of the house. It is the back of the house the "front" faces the ravine and river. The "back" of the house faces the road. So when you walk in what is supposed to be the front door you walk straight in to the "back" of the house. The front door goes straight to the basement and kitchen is off to the one side and a half bath is on the other side. There is no entry area just a 3ft square that had 4 door ways, no walls. Not much of a grand entrance but we don't use the door much. However, we still don't like the front of the house looking so blah. We will be working on the landscaping starting next spring so I am hoping to get the plans made and budgeted this fall. Once the snow starts flying here in Michigan it's hard to get outside and do measurements etc. I will for sure post an update once things start changing. If I get a chance I'll post some of the remodel of inside the house. It was a major fixer upper but we have enjoyed the 5 year project of doing it ourselves from the ground up (or should I say the water well up to the roof).

Hi Emily. i don't have any software to do that. It was just a thought i have to help.

HI Chris. I love the crushed stone. we are going to use it for our drive this next spring. hope to use pavers to edge the drive

Emily, what part of Michigan? I am from Kalamazoo. Keep an eye out for perennials now and into the fall, they become very, very cheap. As do small trees! I purchased a dozen weeping cherry, non-fruit bearing pear and dogwood trees last year from Lowes in Sept. at 75% off! The perennials plants can be planted in the fall and re-planted next spring when you know their final destination. If you are in SW MI, check out Mulders Landscape supplies (Kalamazoo) - they provide to the pros and you can get the best deals for stone, rocks, etc. . . (I am in no way affiliated with them)

i think your front area required proper flooricultural job seasonal flowers bedding and some horticultural job required

Remove the section of roof over the the front door and extent the rakes to be the same on both sides of the roof over the front door. Then add a portico over the entrance and I think you will see a tremendous transformation take place. http://porticokit.com/

My first thought is to play on the bit of roof extension you have over the door now and give it prominence by adding double posts on either side of the entry door. I would use (2) 4x6 posts about 3 inches apart - 4 inch side facing lawn.

Next you need a proper landing - at minimum it should be 3' out from the house with standard step rise of 7" I would meander a 4 ' walkway to the driveway ending at least 8 feet from the house and then tuck a sitting area to the left of the front door in front of the high windows. Make sure to finish with landscaping that is family friendly - meaning no thorny shrubs near the walkway and plant appropriate distance from the house and walkways.

Good Luck.

I think you should hire a Landscape Design Contractors. They will definitely solving your problems. Few years ago, same thing happened to me. I was very confused how to redesign my front yard garden.Finally I got a solution my friend suggested me that I should contact with All In One Landscaper. It is a Temecula based Landscaping company. They solved my every problem.