Wow @BeverlyFLADeziner I didn't know that was even possible! Would you recommend that the pitch of the canopy be the same as the roof? In terms of placement, I assume this would cover the existing "arch" in the current entryway. I would love to work in a larger lantern somehow. Thanks for your suggestion!

@BeverlyFLADeziner - did a few more searches for structures we think might work, ranging in scale/cost. But we do like the idea of having a slightly larger front porch! I'm curious what angles and styles best compliment our house?

Here is your house with a canopy that aligns with your entry niche. I would advise you get sidelights for your front door. I have provided a source for the large scale wood brackets.

https://www.prowoodmarket.com/

Wow @BeverlyFLADeziner thank you!

A&B, you may not want to do as many traditional details on the canopy so that it fits with the modest details of your home, but at least this would provide you with an idea of what could be created. The white sticks out on your home, but it could just as easily be painted black or gray.

@BeverlyFLADeziner I agree! As we're planning things holistically, when it comes to the addition of a walkways and steps I could see this working well with a semi circle landing & the slate pavers pictured, respectively, below.

Crude, yes, but here's where I'd do the dog yard with a gate on the back corner of the house. You have room to make it quite large.

@decoenthusiaste That's an option we hadn't considered -- thank you!

Even though asked in a lighthearted way, my first questions were serious ones and I didn't see an answer. Do you intend to screen the front of the house for privacy from the road? Or do you want to play up the curb appeal aspect of the house and front yard and display it to passersby?

I don't see a plant in the foundation bed that is savable for any reason.

Are the boulders/rocks along the street loos set? Or are they mortared in? I think they are being used in a very ineffective and contradictory way. I would look at them as material ripe for being repurposed elsewhere in another way.

What are the plans for a retaining wall along the drive? Is there an actual plan view of it?

@Yardvaark Is it possible to have a balance? For example, in lieu of the boulders you mentioned (they're all loose), I can imagine a line of white dogwoods.

I don't have a plan view of the retaining wall yet, but it'll be straight along the driveway. Still considering the best style to compliment our desired walkway (cobble pavers) and door steps (cobble/slate topper).

By "have a balance," do you mean of privacy versus street appeal? The two possibilities there that have the best hope of achieving that goal seem to be: being halfway concealed, or having and all the way filtered view ... or some combination of those.

Not sure what the boulders have to do with having a line of dogwoods, as they are not at all comparable, or an even medium of exchange.

I would consider using the boulders elsewhere ... where you need a similar curb or retaining wall.

Correct. A filtered view would be best IMO.

I agree that the boulders are useless and can be used better elsewhere. Removing them subsequently frees up space to better level out that area for additional landscaping. I suggested dogwoods as a way to maintain the "balance" referenced above.

I agree that for a filtered view, you'd want to thicken it up over what is there now.

Thanks @Yardvaark I'll start doing some research on best practices!

Not forsythia. There are so many wonderful natives in Maine that will be better. Mountain Laurel --- mine reliably blooms in dry shade. There are native rhodos. Physocarpus, Fothergilla, Clethra, shadbush.

Get "Native Plants for Your Maine Garden" by Heffernan.

The UMaine Extension YouTube channel is pretty good, too.

As in the Wildseed Project website.

Most nurseries I go to have native plants and people who can give you advice about them. O'Donal's in Gorham, Broadway in SoPo, Skillens, of course; Allen Lathrop in Falmouth.

Wow, thank you for this Yardvark. I don’t think I’ve seen something quite like this! With improvements also made to the frontage, it would create the exact ‘balance’ we spoke about earlier. I’ll start gathering information for a plan view!

Thanks Sigrid - googling!

Hi @localeater my guess is they weren't well maintained or properly pruned. We're in Zone 5b. I'll take a look at those, thanks for suggesting them.

We're definitely taking into account snow removal - especially the overtired plow driver. Care to share some designs that look like Maine? Everyone's input here has been invaluable.

I want to emphasize, again, that my drawing is HIGHLY conceptual. As I view it again myself, I think the steps/walk look too huge and expansive, and that the near retaining wall is too much wall. It would probably be more like a curb, terminating before the trees (since it cannot wrap and include them.) It is a rough thought about how to create an entrance approach that looks welcoming. I do like how the bed projecting into the driveway area at the right side of the house partially obscures and distracts from the back yard steps. However, I'd imagine that that "wall" would reduce down and be more equivalent to a tall curb. All the measurement particulars cannot be known with exactness at this rough, conceptual stage.

I think the comment about it 'not being Maine,' is misplaced. As a rough concept about general physical organization, where absolutely no details, materials, final sizes, specific layouts or any of those kinds of things are known, we wouldn't have any idea how it would morph out in terms of specifics. So it is premature to think that it is in any way a suggestion of specifics. As well, and to use an analogy I had cause to use elsewhere mere moments ago, if "being Maine" means in any way that something must be downgraded in order to be acceptable, I liken that to being born into the caste system where upward mobility is forever denied. It might work for those who enjoy the status quo, but not too well for those that want to excel beyond a predetermined strata. (Which does not fit with most Americans.)

@Yardvaark, that's how I understood your sketch. I couldn't find an image identical to my home's set up, but I understood the wall and steps to look similar to this, which I quite like. Even more so how it pulls the eye to the front of the home.

I appreciate everyone's input, especially knowing how much a landscape architect could be charging me right now!

@localeater I can see 'Maine' coming through the types of stones and plants chosen.

House: 34 1/2’ long

Width of door archway: 68”

Length of existing walkway: 21’
Width of existing walkway: 59”

Right bed: 4’ deep
Left bed 9’ deep

Front Yard frontage: 91’
Front Yard width (house to stones): 51’

Front Yard, far left corner

Facing house. Right side of yard will be graded, driveway will be paved.

It bugs me the way the rocks/boulders interface with the trees. It seems uncomfortable. It's almost as if the rocks are the leading edge of a lava flow that is on the verge of overtaking the defenseless, escaping trees. It's not how a tree island should look. It would be much better if an 'island' of groundcover encapsulated the trees, as in an oasis of safety for them, and the rocks were the leading, lower level protective edge. (I don't know if that is possible or if it would be an issue with the road. But from an artistic point of view, it would look better. If the rocks couldn't be used that way, using them in another way, elsewhere would be preferable to their current use. Here's another crude concept trying to explain the thought. Also, without rocks in their present location, I'd like to see the soil approaching them at the uphill side, be tapered down some. I don't think it would cause enough total root damage to be majorly harmful. (An island would expand to accommodate more trees if they were added along the yard side.) Groundcover would do a lot to smooth out soil roughness.

Thanks YV! Same here! We looked into the town code and that would be fine. Rebuilding the free standing stone wall a bit further out would be beautiful.

One tip ... trees do not look that great when they're smack at the edge of an island. There needs to be some clearance from the edge. Here, the space is constrained on account of the road, so a balance must be struck.

Thanks YV

As mentioned, the eventual goal is to add a portico, but before we do that we’re going to replace the stairs/ widen the landing and replace the walkway to the driveway. Any suggestions/ tips for how the walkway should curve away from the house?

Here are some better photos of the entryway

Another view

For reference, this is the design of the future portico, with a bluestone landing and cobblestone risers. Not sure if we should do bluestone or cobblestone for the walkway.

Use the cobblestone for the edging, not the walkway. It is an uneven surface - harder to shovel snow and more difficult to walk on for the elderly or with high heels.

Bluestone isn't great for shoveling either. My front stoop is bluestone, and every single slight change catches the shovel.

Bluestone and cobblestone don't really suit your raised ranch. I think wood or brick stairs and concrete walk

Thoughts on the current path? Is it fine where it is or should some changes be made?

The whole front of the house has to be worked on as one piece. How far the walk should be from the house depends on what sort of foundation plantings are being planned, and the exact plan for the portico. If the foundation plans are going to be just groundcover, the beds are fine. Shrubs will need more space.

BTW, where is your septic system, front yard or back?

Thanks @mad_gallica (z5 Eastern NY) that's helpful. Septic system is on the side of the house.

more like this @jck910? we certainly like the look of wood steps as well (it'd save us some money as well), but I'd prefer to add a bit more character than concrete when it comes to the walkway. Maybe stone pavers.

@mad_gallica (z5 Eastern NY) I'd like to increase the size of the right bed so that it's even with the left side. So the walkway will most likely need to be curved towards the driveway. Is there a standard or preferred size for steps and landings like the ones below? Getting all my ducks in a row.

Yes like those steps

You could use concrete or large pieces of slate inside with the cobblestone edging for the walk, or all brick. I would NOT use wood for the steps - it is very hard to maintain and a solid surface will look better. You can keep the walkway straight but curve out the landscaping on the other side of the walkway near the driveway.

Or curve the sidewalk itself and use asphalt that continues into your driveway.

Cobblestone Edge · More Info

Again, details don't matter here, (so overlook any mistakes that I'm sure are there.) :-) I'm just refining the scheme and pointing out a couple of things.

Across the house face, you'll want the grade to be level (white line), whereas presently, the grade at the left corner seems a bit high. (if grade were level, the gap between red and white line would be uniform for its whole length.) Also, since water needs to drain away from the structure all the way around, in order to lower the grade at the left corner and have grade pitch away, a subtle swale would need to be created (chartreuse lines.) (The swale might actually drain to the back. I don't know the lay of the land enough to know.) The blue line represents the bottom of the swale. One would take into account all the grading necessities when figuring out the "retaining wall" along the drive. It might be more like a curb. (We are not yet talking about what anything is made of here.) When a walk is placed between walls or curbs, it must be made spacious at the onset as there it no possibility of expanding it later without major demolition.

Something that would be good to do when you visit the site, is take a pruning saw or loppers and cut down the four scraggly shrubs that are in front of the house. On account of placement they're not useful there, and on account of pronounced deformity, they're not useful anywhere.

As always your sketches are so helpful @Yardvaark. Since the area between the yard and driveway will now be graded (no retaining wall needed), could we follow a similar concept but have all of the edging be flush with the ground? (Except for where we extend the right bed for a tree?) It'll be more of a standard walkway, but I think it will still have the same welcoming effect and be a bit more manageable for me. If you don't mind, just for visual reference, is it possible to swap in the portico I sent below? Can't thank you enough!

Amateur attempt at SW's Color Snap :)

"... could we follow a similar concept but have all of the edging be flush with the ground?"

I think that is better being a more open approach to the entrance. (And staying level across the house front.)

Thanks you @Yardvaark! What tools/supplies would you recommend to accomplish this, especially the steps & creating the swale to make sure everything is level across the front?

"What tools ...?" is a question better answered by the contractor. Keep in mind that I have limited and somewhat vague (to me at least) information about your property. A contractor would need to be working from a prepared plan, for which someone made all the accurate grading calculations, especially with the hardscape, in order to be sure that the yard drains properly. Once the hardscape was actually built, then it would start becoming obvious how it had to be graded in order to drain properly. Someone needs to work out the layout and details in plan view.

Insofar as materials, I think all the hardscape should be masonry. I could see anything from concrete to brick to stone (but not too rustic.) But one would pick materials when wrapping up the plan. Without the plan, we don't know exactly how curves and details are structured. What they do and how they are, might impact the materials chosen.

Building the stoop or steps out of wood has little appeal to me, as it seems a downgrade and is not near as durable.

Fantastic, thank you for the additional context. I'm going to continue my research in hopes I can gather as much of this as possible.