Hi Rachel,

You have a great spot here with a lot of potential. There is a wide variety of options you could pursue to really boost the curb appeal of your home. Your site seems to be very densely shaded which tends to limit the amount of vegetation you can get to grow. To start, I would recommend removing the two large trees in picture one, the tree to the right in picture 2 (on the corner of the house) and the tree to the right in the final picture. This will provide much more sunlight into you site which will allow you to grow a nice lawn as well as healthier landscape beds. Also, the roots from these trees appear to be damaging your driveway, which will continue to get worse.

Next, I would recommend planting taller shrubs along the house in picture 2 to gain some height. But make sure you keep them atleast 36" off the house to prevent them from growing into your siding. Then in front of the shrubs you can start planting colorful perennials and grasses. A few that I could see looking great with your home are Astilbe, hosta, bleeding hearts, pulmonaria, ferns, japenese forest grass, packysandra, hellebores. Rhododendrons and azaleas are great border plants that provide great color and a good amount of privacy once they are large enough.

Overall, try to continue that same theme throughout your landscape. Plant taller shrubs in the background and then colorful perennials and grasses in front of them. If you are going to have planting beds along you're driveway, I would recommend staying away from planting shrubs too close because of snow damage (depending on where you are located).

Once you have a landscape plan put together, I would highly recommend installing landscape lighting as well. It is a great way to tie a project together. And adds an incredible visual affect on your home.

If you have any other questions, feel free to let us know. We have several examples on our profile of landscaping and lighting projects we have completed.

Thanks and good luck with your project.