Well to avoid being overwhelmed by trying to plan for the end result immediately, just step back and do a few simple design steps first and build upon each step to come up with a final plan.

For example, tire tracks in the bottom right hand side of the photo and the array of backyard items suggest starting off with a simple list of what you need from the landscape. What types of areas (or functions) are needed (e.g. defined driveways/parking, kids play areas, storage, and BBQ/social areas) and where around your house are these best sited to fit your lifestyle?

These few simple planning steps will help to form the basis for your landscape plan, as they will suggest locations for hardscape, pathways, fencing, and screening plantings.

Your "tuna can" reminds me of Frank Gehry's first home... try googling his other works and the landscapes around them.
You're probably not going to paint over that green metal, but the part around the front door looks paint-able; if you're lost in green, you could try a contrasting color there.
Since the house itself is radical, why not do something unusual in the landscape... wire mesh walls and metal trees, all covered in vines? Water curtain? A bed of ornamental rhubarb? Painted rocks? A yellow brick road? (Just kidding...)

Here is a link that might be useful: Gehry's house

This is a Design forum. The first consideration of any design must always be safety -- especially that of young children. It is absolutely negligent to be worried about getting lost in the green when, in the event of a fire, your kids may never get out of the house alive. PUT IN A SECOND EXIT DOOR!

For a couple hundred bucks or less you can install a brand new steel, exterior door. The money you are "saving" by not doing this is exactly the value you are putting on your kid's lives.

IronBelly

I know you asked about landscaping, but my first thought also went to not having a second means of egress. If that is something possible sooner rather than later down the line, consider moving the white door (I'd paint the door in any case - a shade of burgundy, perhaps, to get the oval light to recede into the background) to any new opening since the door and the oval light seem jarring. I've always liked doors of Ireland (easy to Google) for stunning styles and colors.

The cardinal sin is talking plants at this juncture, but it's probably spring already where you are. And if you'll be collecting plants from friends, relatives, etc., think about carving out a "holding bed" somewhere off to the left of the photo to have some transplantable things at the ready when a plan emerges. No point in passing things up when they come your way.

I can see where you might want to retool the entry; too narrow foundation planting bed defined by plunked rocks. The flat, bland surfaces are screaming for something.

Come back and tell us what you would like or think would give your home the biggest boost - that would give responders something on which to work some ideas.

Well,
I Agree completely with the second door, but the owner is a lil on the stubborn side and since we live here free I can't argue too much. The part where the front door is use to be the front porch til we had to go from a 2 bedroom to a 3 when Alisa arrived. I am begging and have promised to buy the door for the back entry.That was the first issue on our house the second was coming here for help with the color scheme and how things should look. There was a driveway with rocks where the tire marks are but over the past 3 years the dirt and grass have taken over and with us working out of town then it was gone before we returned. I can see a beutiful entrance in my mind but can't put it on paper much less writting. I have pondered the idea of a porch across the side where the door is. I am really looking for something to go along the front of the house to determine a line between the grass and the house. I have also pondered shutters. Green and white are very boring but I am not sure what other color or colors to use with it. I agree on painting the door-I would never have choosen white. This house was made by a family not a contractor. We moved here after losing our other house to weather damages. The yard is huge both front and back.

As far as plants go I love them all as long as they don't harm the children. I have fond memories of roses, iris, and daylilies from childhood and want them incorporated in. I would love some egding ideas-the plunked rock is all I had at the time for border.. I just want nice strucures that suggest a warm welcome home feel so that my children are happy to come home to this house instead of considering it a tin can or having children on the bus make fun of them for living here. I know that there is wonderful people on here with great ideas and after lurking around for months I decided to be brave and post our home after overcoming the fear of its appearance also. I will be an at home mom at the end of March and the yard is where we will be alot of the time. You don't have to tell me what you dislike about the house if you choose not to but I really would like your inputs that way we can be put in the right direction. We are starting to redo this coming weekend and want to know what elements are first and foremost..

Again Thank you all with your interest...

I kinda like this house......it's pretty funky :-) I'm not sure I'd describe it as a tuna can, but it does have character and a somewhat unusual one. And if it were me, I'd play up on that. Here's just a few random thoughts.....not sure what you might be able to do since you are not the owner, but if you can convince them that it could increase their investment, however modest that might be, you might carry a bit more clout.

1) Match the siding on the new addition/converted porch to the rest of the house. It looks like it's just covered in tarpaper at the moment and.......well, to be honest, looks just a tad trailer trashy as a result.

2) By all means paint the door. Something very bold and splashy - magenta, a light fuchsia, tangerine, chrome yellow. Use this as your major accent color and pick whatever flowers you can scrounge, beg or buy to match. (And do work on getting that second door, too)

3) Define the driveway and entry. A load or two of gravel is pretty inexpensive and the different material can delineate a clear drive and parking area that will begin to give some form to the yard. Pull out the entry porch to make it more generous and move the planters to the outer edge to mark it. Fill them with some colorful annuals to accent the door. Try craigslist or whatever freecycle opportunities you have to find some cheap materials - concrete pavers, bricks, recycled concrete chunks, etc.

3) While you're at it pull out those front beds as well to give them more depth. I'm not even going to begin to tell you what to plant and I'm not sure it makes a lot of difference. The character of the house is such that you can indulge in some pretty eclectic plant choices. But do try to repeat whatever door color you choose in the plantings and flower colors. That will start to bring some cohesion to the project.

4) I see a BBQ by the playset. If you have the resources, you might want to consider some sort of more formalized patio area for outdoor dining/entertaining - a floating deck, graveled area, even woodchips within a wooden border. Visit flea markets or thrift shops and find a cheap breakfast set or table and mismatched chairs that you can paint (bright colors again!) and that will hold up outdoors. You can add some taller shrubs along one or more sides to define and provide a bit of privacy screening to this area. Or get creative at those thrift stores and find something that could work as a privacy screen.

5) Since you have kids and will soon be a stay-at-home mom, consider a small vegetable garden, maybe raised beds. This is a great way to get children interested in plants and teach them about gardening and you will be producing wholesome food for your table at the same time. Add some fun things just for them......sunflowers or gourds, maybe a bean teepee.

6) Finally, I think you need some height. Something that will balance off the playset and draw the eye away from it and to the opposite side of the house. And more than just a tree plunked into the grass - make it a bigger planting area with a bigger tree and shrubs and perennials underneath. I'm not sure exactly where 'front' is but assume the door relates somehow.....what this will do, together with a defined drive, is separate the "front yard" and entry from the backyard play area.

7) Be creative. As this is not your property, I'm sure you don't want to sink a lot of cash into it even if you have it. Paint is cheap. Visit the local thrift stores, yard sales, flea markets, etc. and see what you can find that will accent the garden - furniture, screens, pots. It doesn't have to be intended for a garden originally, only that it will hold up outdoors in the weather. And don't be afraid to ask your landlord what he might do to help. If he realizes you want to improve the appearance of his property, he might well be inclined to invest a little cash if you do all the work.

And I could definitely see a bottle tree somewhere in that garden!

Here is a link that might be useful: bottle tree

It appears that the finish around the windows with the air conditioner is pressboard. If so, it does not stand up well to the weather and will begin disintergrating. It should be finished. Would love to see a natural stone finish if small flat stone is available about the neighborhood for the collecting. Or a horizontal wood siding would work in that small area.

You might think about approaching this project backwards. Set out and see what you can locate in the way of plants first, concentrating on types of shrubs which retain their leaves year 'round for the bones of your landscape. It is easy to propagate roses. Check the Propagating Roses Forum for all sorts of advice. Pot whatever friends are willing to share in the way of daylilies, iris and other perennials. Hopefully one or two of them may have a seedling dogwood, fringe tree or other small tree type they would be willing to give you. Once you have all assembled in pots, set them out in front of the house and begin designing. You have the room to do a wide swath around the house front with a path through it. A combination of evergreen shrubs, roses and perennials. Your house design and large space allows you the latitude to play, unhampered by rules. You can make up your own. You will find that all colors work well against a green house.

If you're not going to live there too long, then a lot of hardscape or fencing may not be in the budget. There are fast growing shrubs and trees that can be used for border delineation and framing how the house is viewed. These may not be best long-term choices for plant material, but that will have to be your choice. The big-box stores sell plant material that is quite inexpensive, so these won't contractor quality plants, but they'll grow into nice features if taken care of.

Another source of plants could be the woodland behind you. From the description it sounds like a non-tended area, and you may find some native smaller tree/shrubs in there that can be transplanted. Having said that, if you go this route, then take only those that would be thinned out anyway if the forest was tended.

Good Luck with your efforts!

It sounds also like you are at the stage of learning some of the landscape and gardening "lingo"--how to describe what you envision, and how to interpret the advice you may be getting. If you can check out a number of landscape and garden design books from your library, it will help you connect some of your ideas about curb appeal and welcoming with what you see in pictures, and connect you to some of the descriptions on the forum. Don't be overwhelmed or intimidated by the "perfect" photos--they are always over the top--but think in more general terms--how certain colors look good together, how neatness is appealing, how shrubs may soften an area, and so forth.

I agree with trying to focus first on the extra door and making the home's external walls look more finished or uniform--if possible, of course. The entry area is usually the next area of focus. So again, you can usually find books with sections on some of these specific goals.

Then, this is a home that I think would benefit from "foundation" planting, meaning, planting near enough to the foundation/walls to soften it. The suggestions above, for using inexpensive plants and shrubs from friends, sales, box store specials--should be do-able.

Ideally, one makes an overall landscape plan. If you DIY, that would require you to take some time to learn about design. You can get started from books. But, another approach is to pick one area that's most visible as you drive up or by and just map out a relatively small area--4 X 10 or something--you'll know better if you are out there measuring--and create a "vignette" of a few shrubs, daylillies, some annuals from seeds--in that area. This may give you some focus and something pretty, living, blooming to feel good about.

Are you in zone 8? Then you will have a large variety of shrubs to choose from.

Also, don't forget the power of annuals for quick and long-lasting effect. These are much easier to start with than learning how to combine perennials and working with the quirks of maintenance and bloom times.

I like the house, it has a practical modern appeal to me. My taste would be to go very modern with cacti and patterns of ornamental grasses, but that doesn't match your wishes. So...

Select an area a short distance from the house with full day sun to plant a large "pool" of irises. Plant an adjacent broad swath with daylilies. (Kill the grass, amend the soil, lightly fertilize, and finish with a thick mulch.) That will get you started, let the rest flow from that, your imagination and memories will lead you, and you will learn as you go.
{{gwi:12711}}

Thanks to everyone..
My mind is going 90 to nothing with all the ideas yall have given me. I Have picked out a red for the front door it is more of a maroon red and ready to paint as soon as the weather allows. I have scribbled alot on paper and I am going for a large bed across the front that is the side with all the widows. I'm trying to find diffrent trees and shrubs with daylilies placed here and there and iris but will be using alot of annuals to play off for color. The owner has bought some cypress to put along the new addition so that will help alot with color. We visited Lowes and got alot od ideas and books on decks. We are gonna add that to the back of the house.. We picked up alot of materail to build a carporch that was given to us. And a bottle tree sounds so nice I have seen them in different places, where do you get the blue bottles from? Again Thank you for everything. I am trying to jot everything down as I read..
Jamie

Btw, as far as a second way out of the house - check and see if every bedroom at least has an operable window with enough area to get out. (I can't really tell from the picture.) I will say Gehry's house also came to mind when I saw the picture, fwiw.

I will say, this is the sort of house that seems like it would lend itself to using lots of found objects and a good sense of humor, aside from any practical considerations.

There was a recent thread at the Cottage forum (I think in the gallery) with a blue bottle sculpture that included a discussion of where people found blue bottles.

If you are just getting started, try not to do too much at once - make sure you have time to maintain it. Are you in the southeast where there has been a lot of drought lately? You may find it difficult to keep many plants alive if you do have another drought - annuals and most new plants in general need a lot of water. One big bed should be do-able, especially if you use a soaker hose that covers the entire area. I find I get in trouble when I have a bunch of different new areas to maintain at the same time. ;)

Where to find blue bottles:

- yard sales, flea markets, thrift stores
- antique shops
- wholesale suppliers
- various bottled water suppliers (Saratoga Spring Water, LeBleu, various private labels)
- liquor store - various tequila, gin and vodka all come in blue colored bottles. And think how much fun you can have emptying them!

It probably wouldn't take alot of $ to put the Green metal on the rest of house. You could even do vinyl siding.. I like your idea painting the door a Red type color. You could pour concrete for a small Front Porch area and maybe a small awning above the door, Or build a lean-to type porch (this would also help when raining) You could add a porch rocker and small table for a flower pot/plant. If your family has extra Crape Myrtle, you could line your drive with those. Along the side of your home, you could plant small dwarf type shrubs or azalea (not sure on spelling).

As far as your house - not very far fom me, someone is making a house from an old Chicken House...wish I could get a pic for you, they have come along way with it. Looking better all the time. The birdbath could be moved and plant a small flower garden around...you could put your rocks around the birdbath, just move it away from house.
If it was me, I would pay more attention to fixing the house before too much on the yards, because the wood will soon rot and also because of what you said about the kids on bus.... Kids can be so cruel.
By any chance do you live in the south?? May have some flowers that I could share with you. I would even donate a Saturday to help you!! Good luck with your project.

Just wondering what you ending up doing to your yard

Why not utilize the tree limbs from the woods to incorporate into your landscape? It would make a great outing for the kids to go "tree hunting". Use the bigger ones to outline the driveway. You could cut them into different heights and put them in a hole for stability. That way when the kids jump on them they will not fall over with them.
Vickie

Thinking of putting in a putting green at home? You may have been looking through the Internet and scouring for people to help you put up your green. You may have also been dismayed at the overwhelming amount of information and contacts that you are coming up with. You may also be thinking of simply doing away with your putting green!

Hereâs a comforting thought: youâre not the only one experiencing the onslaught of information! In order for you to start work done, here are a few tips that might help you out.

First, distance plays a big role in determining prices, so you may want to scout for landscapers in your area and ask for quotes from them. When asking for quotes, it is important to know what you want, how much you want done, and what the dimensions are for your green and the available space that you have. Most of the putting green landscaping companies can offer you good quotes that will include prices of materials, charges on installations, and other fees that might have to do with your location. You may have to be extra-inquisitive with these companies before and after you get the quote so that you know what options are available to you.

Also, donât forget to ask for recommendations from friends and family who have already installed putting greens. Do they recommend certain grasses, certain layouts, or a certain company? Look for people who were happy because of their high returns on their initial investment. You may also want to talk to people at your local putting green: if you spot something nice about it, then ask for tips.

Here is a link that might be useful: All States Landscaping

gnip, I think you missed something in the translation. The OP indicates she gets lost in the green color of her house and surroundings. Although putting in a putting green would be a novel approach - I'm not seeing it as a viable path here and there probably won't be a mad dash to Augstad's for a custom putter.

Also a bit curious as to your connection with All States Landscaping/Utah landscaping - we've seen it here and there. Spamming is verboten.