Hello everyone, first off I would like to say thank you to everyone who gives feedback to the design dilemmas posted on this site. Some of us are just a bit clueless when it comes to design and it's much appreciated when creative geniuses reply with their ideas that we haven't even considered. We have a 100+ year old Victorian home in New England. It used to be our parents home and I grew up in it so it is very sentimental. However, the upkeep is much too much for us and we will likely be selling in the next couple of years or possibly renting it out because I can't bring myself to part with it, just yet.
We are finally ready this year to tackle projects including exterior paint but the stress of the home is wearing on me and would love some landscape ideas for the backyard where I can go and relax and take a break from all the projects.
I would love a nice relaxing area on a budget that won't require much upkeep and that will also increase the resale. I also bought some tomato plants and not sure the best area to plant them - the area to the right of the carriage house gets the most sun. I would love an area for sitting and relaxing in private but there isn't much privacy since there are apartment buildings at the end of the street that have a clear view into the backyard. We got rid of the wood fencing that separates the neighbor's driveway since whenever they had their driveway plowed in the winter, there would always be damage done to our fence so we replaced it with wired fencing. The area right in front of the carriage house has this wood frame my dad built for a grape vine and it's falling apart and needs to come down.
I'm also not sure what I can do in the triangular grassy area right off the back porch.
Please keep in mind we are on a budget and would be doing most of the work ourselves.
We appreciate any and all feedback regarding landscape or anything else you notice in the pics that should be fixed or replaced. Again thank you very much in advance for helping us with our design dilemma! We just don't have a good eye for this stuff.
I also added a fun pic circa 1930ish of our carriage house we found.