Is that the permanent location of the propane tanks?

Your aesthetic instincts are good in general. Having a deeper (wider front to back) bed along the front of the house would be needed if you want shrubs there because of snow/ice dump potential off the roof in winter. So I would likely have an area with mulch or groundcover closest to the house with shrubs placed in front of your current gravel/edging (far enough to be out of range of snow coming off the second floor roof) and perennials either in front of or mixed in with the shrubs. I think you will want that whole upper area btween the mid-lawn wall and the house filled with ornamentals or put a mulched path through the middle. I don’t think that you will want to leave a narrow band of grass which would make maintenance difficult. You may want to make the low wall high enough to reduce the slope unless your area gets a good amount of rain.

Research the height of shrubs carefully (don’t just rely on the tags which often give a 5 year size for plants which can get much larger) and place a larger shrub or small tree diagonally off the right corner, medium shrubs between the windows, and in front of the window, use shrubs that will not block them. Be sure to use some evergreens or plants with berries or brightly colored winter brancheches so that there will be a garden presence during winter.

Hi cecily 7A, we’ve tried to brainstorm other places to put them in the past but don’t have a lot of options. I’ve wanted to put up some kind of decorative shield of them but it hasn’t happened yet.

IMO you want to eliminate much of the lawn in the front and replace it with perennials. Cascading plants would soften the appearance of the wall.

The wall along the front is unsightly. Can you face it with something or clean it up to make it look better?

I found this company that might be a great source of material and ideas for your project. Landscape Alaska They have great articles on-line.

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Some option. You can use gravel instead pavers.

Lovely! Thank you for the inspiration everyone!

Dont know what kind of evergreens you have in Alaska …..but the four big wall spaces across the front would be a great background for a sculptural evergreen….another option would be to hang lattice panels in those same areas for some texture and dimensional relief…again….if there are any perennials that will grow there…and what you have done so far is beautiful…the only sore thumb is the bottom wall by the street, but perhaps a mottled paint finish with a cap/top made of the same wood as the railings will make it look more rustic than dilapidated🤷🏼‍♀️