Here is area to left of front of house in first picture. This is where I am thinking of a dwarf ornamental tree of some sort, but don't want to totally block view from windows above chairs on porch.

Add a pergola.

Thanks for the idea but I am really just looking for landscaping ideas, not structural changes at this point.

When I look at your house. The two windows (eyes) and the big green nose bother me.

I think you should take out the nose, create a curvy (just to break up the straight lines of the house) nice big planter there, and put a couple dwarf japanese maples... Waterfall is a good one with a lot of amazing low color that grows and blooms in your zone..

The planters should be large enough to hold varying heights and distract people from that big green nose. I would use bricks like your house to build up a planter...

Only problem is, the planter walls can be 1' high, but there must be drainage away from your structure.

Suzi

A few ideas. The blue thing between the windows is a flowering vine covered trellis.

Desertdance, I won't be able to look at that bush now without it being a "nose". It is definitely gone just as soon as we figure out what to replace it with. I can't really picture a planter and how it could have drainage. I don't think I can add a foot of dirt up against the existing brick. Yardvaark, thank you for the mock-up. I have thought of a trellis but wonder about it being bare in the winter and spring and wonder how that would look. Do you think a dwarf spruce would look bad in that spot between the windows? I really like that tree to the left of the front of the house-thank you! Your picture also shows me when we replace the current tree in the front yard it should move to the right to frame the house instead of block it.

"Do you think a dwarf spruce would look bad in that spot between the windows?" It's not the shape I would go for in that spot. But "bad" ...?

A trellis itself can look nice if you make it be so. (Not a store-bought trellis!) Many vines provide winter interest.

Also, there is the possibility of a non-vining woody plant espaliered on a trellis.

This post was edited by Yardvaark on Tue, Apr 15, 14 at 20:47