Chris, there was a neat front yard makeover featured on Houzz entitled “Order Meets Wildness in a Denver Front Yard Makeover”, that might give you some ideas. If you are looking for low maintenance, grasses contained in cor-ten planters are a good bet. A pretty tree with sculptural qualities or seasonal interest might be a nice addition. Look for natives, like service berry, aspen or an evergreen. Love the contemporary architecture and lovely fence. Beautiful structure to work with.

A front walk ought to be more like this...

Thank you to both of you for your input. Stacey, I will look into those and thank you for the compliment! Yardvaark, thank you for the picture, it is a good start. Anyone else, feel free to make suggestions as well!

What we see here is one of the downsides of filling the entire lot with house, as there is barely enough space to walk down either side.

At side A, have a look at a short retaining wall to prevent the neighbor's soil encroaching and put in a simple gravel path.

Ornamental grasses are your friend. They are low maintenance and have a contemporary look. Fewer plants, or a mass of one species also works well. Here's a job I did with a more contemporary front foundation planting. Boulders, Japanese maple, ornamental grasses, ferns, hosta, and boxwood. The homeowner had a bench and gazing ball she wanted to incorporate.

Hi Tony, interestingly this house maintained the original bungalow footprint from the 1960s when the lot sizes were much more generous. But as you pointed out, there isn't a lot of room to work with along the sides. The short retaining wall is an interesting idea. I have had water pooling issues at that side of the house in the winter when the ground is covered in ice and the water from a quick thaw cannot absorb into the soil fast enough. The grade difference between the two lots directs a lot of water to this side of the house. Perhaps there is a drainage solution that can be incorporated into this side as well...

The retaining wall with drainage would be best as a joint venture with the neighbor although I know how hard that is to pull off. If his water is draining onto your property, and I can see the erosion and this also explains the state of the path, there is certainly an issue. Depending on local laws this may be his responsibility to fix, but I suggest diplomacy.

"Yardvaark, thank you for the picture, it is a good start." The limits are imposed mainly by your picture. There is no good single view of the entire house front including surroundings. Whereas two basic views are needed to get things kicked off. The first is a wide panoramic view that shows the whole front, about 20' - 25' of yard space in front of it, taken from a central, straight-on point of view, that pans wide enough to capture the front of your flanking neighbors' houses. To get that, you'd stand in line with the center of your house, backed up far enough that you can see to top of roof while looking through camera viewfinder. (If you see much sky you are too far away.) Staying in that exact spot for all pictures, start by aiming at far left (your neighbor's house) and take a series of slightly overlapping pictures as you pan rightward, until capturing your right neighbor's house. That is one complete scene. Don't substitute a computer/camera generated panorama as it will be too small.

You'll also need to back way up, still staying in line with the center of your house, until you can see the whole front yard in a single viewfinder frame. (You'll probably be in or across the street to take this picture.)

Hi Yardvaark, noted. I will try and take some additional photos perhaps this afternoon!

Ideas for side A:

I think the gravel in side A might be on the neighbor's property Doug.

You 'liked' that Doug? I realize the difficulty with this kind of mock-up so don't fret.

I'm not fretting anything. The stone is there as a french drain , if needed.

You obviously took my comment the wrong way, sorry.

No need to be sorry, I was very tired when I read your comment.

Thanks for the ideas Doug, the drainage and walkway look nice together. What are those wooden privacy screen looking things called? I've seen them used in some landscaping but not sure what the actual name is?

It is a trellis.

Took a little longer than expected, but I managed to snap a few more pictures as Yardvaark had suggested.

From left to right...

Took a little longer than expected, but I managed to snap a few more pictures as Yardvaark had suggested.

From left to right...

A few bonus pictures... this is the left hand side of the house... pretty bare right now:

Right side walkway that I despise and can't stand to look at any longer....

Rear side of deck where I would like to put a small lawn mower storage shed along the back wall and a simple walkway from the narrow gate to the backyard.

Rear of house from left to right

Thanks again to all so far! Hopefully these new pictures are more helpful to those who wish to do some more editing!

I took another look at your first picture. Are you sure you're not living at the public library?

Not sure what you mean by that?

Joking. Front of house looks like it could be entrance to library. (It is not a not a dig. I have good opinion of libraries.)

Ah I see what you mean. It's definitely not traditional... maybe modern/contemporary, not sure which one exactly. I'm sure there is a difference but I seem to hear the terms thrown around interchangeably.