that has good curb appeal!

So fresh and inviting!

This look is really pretty and so cohesive! When the time is right (cooperative weather, time, and budget) add a few coloured flower plants in front landscape garden, you know, ones' that are essentially low maintenance. Perhaps you could continue with yellow flowers and add one or two different coloured flowers to complete the look. For example, one flower shade to choose could tie in with your front door colour. Also, you could also further hide your A/C unit (really like its new cladding camouflage!) with ornamental grasses of various heights and varieties. Such plantings are very "no fuss, no muss!" Too, you could plant a few ornamental grasses near your front door. These would mirror the ones' at the very front of your home and they would give you some additional verticality and therefore, create even more visual interest for your curb side facade. But that's it really. You've done a wonderful job. Your home is very inviting, polished, yet welcoming and comfortable! You must be so pleased. :)

Cheers,

Sharon Black, interior designer and contractor

Thanks, Sharon, for the great suggestions! I did plant daffodil bulbs last fall so had a splash of bright yellows last month. I love the idea of ornamental grasses; what's your favorite one? I thought they spread too much and had shied away from using them. We are very pleased with the end results. Now my eyes are drawn to the front door and not the A/C unit. :-)

Hi There Bedominick:

So glad you liked my suggestions! Daffodils are a lovely choice. As I was out and about running errands last evening, I thought to myself, "Now why didn't I think to mention planting some black (or brown) eyed susans around your A/C unit. You'd have the marvellous "pop" of yellow, they are easy to maintain, plus they would provide you with some excellent verticality, too.

You are right, ornamental grasses do spread, but without too much grunt work, you can cut them back in the spring when doing so is easiest. I love "giant maiden grass" which usually grows to be 7 to 9 feet tall. "Japanese blood grass" is also quite beautiful with it streaks of red that appear on each elongated green leaf. An assortment of let's say two or three different grasses would be just super. Again, so visually interesting. Plus, you won't be busy constantly pruning them, deadheading them, etc. :)

From your great photographs of your home, I get the idea you live in a region that experiences cold winter temperatures, snow, et al. If this is the case, keep in mind that if you do plant ornamental grasses, you can leave them at full height during the winter. You likely know already that they turn a very pretty wheat colour. Leaving them in place until spring helps make the winter months a little less dreary. Another thing I just love about ornamental grasses is watching them sway with the wind. Such a simple pleasure, but so incredibly soothing and relaxing.

I once did plantings of ornamental grasses for a client that included giant maiden grass, Japanese blood grass, and Elijah Blue Fescue. The latter are just gorgeous in terms of their blue-green tonality; they will stay close to the ground, like the other grasses are a perennial, and do spread to a certain degree. You could always give family, friends, and neighbours any additional growth portions that you cull from your garden, or simply discard.

If you do go with some ornamental grasses, just make sure you choose perennials, and not annuals. Sometimes, it's easy to be fooled by which is which. If one is not an expert (which I certainly wasn't when shopping for ornamentals) be sure to visit a garden centre with knowledgeable, helpful staff that will spend enough time with you, ensuring you get just the right kinds and numbers of plants. It's always good to measure your garden bed or beds first before shopping. A simple aerial view diagram to take along with, will help you and the garden staffer better visualize, and therefore, choose what's best.

To further jazz up your plantings, you could add two or more spike plants, which are annuals (and quite inexpensive) to your flower pots; good to plant them in centre of pot and then build out from there. Oh, and another great addition to such flower pot plantings would be the potato vine, especially the lime green coloured variety. It too is an annual, but provides such a vivid, lush look it's well worth the effort to plant them; they are very inexpensive, as well. The potato vine is also very nice for creating a natural garden bed border.

You could even make your front garden bed larger and more curvilinear. For example, you looking directly at the front of your house, you could "pull" the garden bed more to the righthand side, even wrapping it around the righthand corner, going somewhat beyond the corner, proper; you can easily choose how far to wrap it around, i.e., 3 feet or more. Just don't make this wrap effect too small (footprint wise) or will look unfinished or not well thought out. In this newly annexed section, you could add giant maiden grass which would soften the corner of the house and be a good balancing counterpoint to your beautiful entryway. This new section of your garden could, let's say, come out front your front facade by, 3 to 4 feet, then wrap around the corner, curving back in. Sort of like creating a slightly asymmetrical puddle, but with dirt. Hope my description is clear enough, here. :)

Thanks for replying. This has been so much fun! And you're so right: one's eye is now immediately drawn to the proper focal point, your front door with its great, dramatic colour, rather than your A/C unit!

If you are able, please let me know what kind of ground cover you have surrounding your big, beautiful tree out front! It's lovely. :)

Cheers,

Sharon Black, interior designer and contractor

Wow, all wonderful suggestions! We live in NJ so you're right about cold weather. The ground covering around the magnolia tree is pachasandra and grows great in shady areas. It doesn't spread crazy fast like ivy or periwinkle. I'm sure you have many satisfied clients!

Dear Bedominick:

Aw, thank you so much for your kind words. Gosh, that's a magnolia tree, wow! It must be absolutely spectacular when in bloom. It's one of my favourite species of tree. We live in the countryside in South Central Ontario, i.e., approx. a two hour drive from Toronto. There tends to be a fair bit of snow in this region, plus our house is situated on a bit of rise and is surrounded by farm fields and not many trees. It gets very windy and cold here, otherwise, I'd plant magnolias in a heartbeat!

Actually, when we were looking at this property, the second time we viewed it the now previous owners', a married couple, were present. At one point, while walking around the grounds, the wife said, "There's always a breeze up here." My husband is fond of quoting her when we are out in howling winds, ice and snow, walking our two great pyrenees dogs. Sometimes he also says, "There are days when I really do get sick of all this wind business." Then we just laugh and get on with things, as overall we really do love it here. :)

Thanks for letting me know proper name of your ground cover. I've heard of it, but never used it for a client (we do mostly residential design/build, with some landscaping work on occasion, if called for and doable, i.e., not overwhelmingly extensive) nor had it in any of my own gardens. New Jersey is much like here, climate wise, so this plant would be great for our own place. We have 1.3 acres; we moved here three years ago. The previous owners weren't really into landscaping and our now "countryfied" pocketbook hasn't allowed us to do much more. Pachasandra would be a wonderful addition to our rather sparse landscape! :)

Please keep all of us posted over time, sharing any updates, with photos of course! that you make to your lovely (I know I'm repeating myself here with this superlative, but it really is!) home.

All The Best,

Sharon Black, interior designer and contractor

It sounds lovely. FYI, this isn't a southern magnolia but more like a japanese magnolia with pink blooms and it's deciduous without those classic glossy magnolia evergreen leaves. It's spectacular each April! Deer won't eat the pachasandra so it's a great ground covering.

What a change.. looks great!

Your house looks so much bigger with it being one color. Love the red door ...from one red door owner to another!

Now, because your house is one color, I think you need to pop up the landscape. I would consider putting some sort of edging around that circular bed to give it that formal feel your contrasting shutters/door created, but extend it out a few inches and add some colorful mulch. You have a lot of shade so it's difficult to find color in those circumstances so mulch can fill in. I had the same problem until 2 years ago when a small tornado swept over my house and took down 3 trees! (No other damage and the trees were getting old so it turned out to be a blessing.)

For the bed near the house, which you could and should easily incorporate into the tree bed, as well as extend to the walkway (hint, hint), I can't tell what plants you have there but they aren't doing much. You should look into hostas - they come in all shapes and sizes as well as various colors of green and they grow easily and spread. They bloom in the spring. If you're okay with additional gardening, you can look into impatiens and caladiums (annuals) to fill in some spaces for color during the summer. If you extend the garden to the walkway, it looks like that area gets a bit more sun so you could plant a bush - butterfly bush, weigela bloom off and on threw the summer - or maybe a knockout rose in red.

Other than that, big improvement and I'm sure you are feeling really proud of yourself, as you should.

Hi Bedominick:

Ah, a Japanese magnolia. Very interesting! I have never heard of this variety before, so good to know! Perhaps I will try one here and see if it is rugged enough to withstand the cold and at times, extremely high winds. We could always protect it with burlap (when it's still small, of course!) to help it along.

Great to learn that pachasandra is not a snack favoured by deers! We definitely have deers here. Fishers, coyotes, wolves, and brown bears, as well. Oh my! :)

Lastly, would like to mention I really like and appreciate many of contributor Columbia93's comments. The only point I disagree with is installing a more formal edging to your front garden bed. Likely this is simply a matter of taste. I prefer a bit more of a casual landscaping look, more country, not too (or completely) structured. I believe adding visually interesting varieties of flowers, grasses, etc., of varying heights will more than do the job of providing a strong, anchored, and attractive garden that will balance well with the rest of your front facade.

If you wanted, you could also add a bit of well chosen statuary to this front garden; there are some truly beautiful, tasteful pieces out there. You know, it's not all elves, and cheesy looking frogs. Hey, some frog statues (when executed properly) actually rank as attractive pieces of art! No kidding. :)

Oh, another thought is using river stone, either along with or in place of mulch. You can edge your front garden with it, or cover the entire bed. So many ideas and choices! The river stones can be monochromatic or multicoloured. Whatever strikes your fancy. Obviously, stones that are all the same colour have a more cohesive, even serene appearance - particularly when married with those ornamental grasses I keep banging on about! I believe monochromatic river stones have a lower price point than the ones' sporting a colour variance.

Thank you for being in touch again and sharing such useful gardening tips!

Cheers & Best Wishes,

Sharon Black, interior designer and contractor

Great look! One thing that I might add would be larger address numbers and remove the two small yellow flower pots and install one large pot at the bottom of the stairs with your yellow flowers it will scale better.

bedominick, you've done an amazing job! I love the white/black with the red door. I agree it makes the house look larger.

You mentioned Japanese magnolia. We love them and have the "Alexandrina" variety in our yard...so pretty!

One thought...at some point you might consider larger shutters. They should be in proportion to the windows so, if actually functional, they would cover the windows when closed.

Again, kudos for a great job!

A couple of tall evergreens would add to the curb appeal without blocking the meter or injuring the plants that are already planted. Just make sure to read spacing and sunlight requirements, prior to planting :-)

I wish they had tried the black shutters before painting the brick. They could have painted the door and side lites black. I love white most of the time. I hope they love it.

We held up black shutters to the unpainted house and felt it still looked too disjointed. We do love our all white home and found painting the brick (which wasn't a very pretty brick; I hate to paint brick usually!) helped make the house look larger and more uniform. Plus, to me there's nothing better than a red front door. :-)

good job

Has anyone mentioned flower boxes? I found some ornamental iron that had a curved balcony design. Mine are 54" wide the same as the windows (no shutters) My house is a ranch and traditional with a bit of the "builder's version" of Spanish touches. These actually look so good that my neighbor took down his wooden ones and got some similar to mine. I have round topiary greens in mine. My neighbor planted some really attractive vines. Your house reminds me of some of the homes I saw in the Polish rural areas. Many were painted brick with balcony's and window boxes. These homes were really old but still made my heart sing. I remember seeing lots of gravel or brick patios with iron outdoor furniture right in front of the house. If I had your home, I would try and move in the direction of charm an personality instead of trends.

A friend did recommend window boxes but since it's mostly shade, I was worried about not having very showy flowers. I hadn't thought about topiary greens in it. Thanks for the good idea!

My house faces North. Every summer I purchase 6 Boston Ferns and put them in big pots on my front porch and patio. The topiary are actually "faux." I put them in metal pots that fit in my window boxes (4 in each) and put them in the garage to "winter over." My neighbor faces East with a tree blocking the sun. Whatever vines she plants don't care about sun either.

bedominick, regarding the window boxes, there are lots of shade-loving plants with color...just check online or ask at a local nursery. You could also add some English ivy...perfect for containers in shade.

What a nice change!

Quite the transformation!

Great job!!

Great update, love the new curb appeal!

beautiful!

That looks great! I see that there is some wear patterns in the lawn area. I would suggest a nice flagstone path, larger pieces, meandering between the trees.

What a beautiful transformation. Very inviting!

Very nice!

Great job!!!

So very beautiful.