The concrete steps leading to this Seattle home are steeper than they look and are cracked, uneven and worn. The reward for making this climb is a yard full of dead grass, plus more steps up to a postage-stamp-sized front porch.
Wider steps and two new terrace levels break up the space (and the climb) while creating new living spaces. A much larger deck helps conceal the garage area and gives the homeowners a perfect vantage point to enjoy their view of the Seattle skyline. Get another view of this front yard.
The interior of this Phoenix home reflects the eclectic style of the homeowners and their love of Spanish-Colonial and Tuscan decor, but the front yard looks more like a moonscape than a landscape. The homeowners want a circle driveway and a front courtyard.
The dramatic design combines natural desert beauty with the Old-World style the homeowners love. In addition to the circular drive, they'd wanted a xeriscaped landscape (a front yard with no actual grass) so the mix of plants includes agave, desert willow (Chilopsis linearis) and small cacti. Lantanas and potted geraniums provide plenty of color, and an enormous saguaro cactus confirms that this home is a desert hideaway.
The homeowners love their cute, trendy Venice home but not the chain-link fence, a tired lawn and unimaginative concrete walkway. They want tropical plants that are better suited to the diminutive size of their California garden.
A custom curved fence, quartzite-paved hardscape and an abundance of tropical plants combine to create a dramatic entrance to the front yard.
Visitors can barely see the house, and the homeowners can't enjoy the mountain view, thanks to the overgrown junipers and hedges. Plus, the homeowners want to highlight the charm of their home and its distinctive architectural elements.
Source: www.diynetwork.com
Landscaping Tips
Though your home is your castle, there is no necessity to surround it with a moat. Here are 5 tips that will help you to make your landscaping feel more warm, welcoming and cozy.
1. Put some flowers nearby your entrance. Flowers make any area look more welcoming and attractive, so greeting your guests with Petunia, Snapdragon, Lily-of-the-Nile or some other garden flowers is always a great thing to do. What is more, to add some space between your house and the entrance, you can consider adding a little white fence. It will create an illusion that your front yard is bigger than it actually is. What is more, adding fence will create a great space for planting flowers to add some color and coziness.
2. Add rambling vines to make your yard look absolutely lovely. You can not deny that rambling vines always create romantic and even magical atmosphere. So why not to use this tip while decorating your yard?
3. To hide the unattractive driveway, consider adding some color, texture, and height. You can easily do it by adding various sorts of flowers. To start, create an island of green lawn right in the hub of a drive. Then add a couple of low boxwood hedges with flowers toward the back of your island.
4. If you want your yard to blossom and flourish bust still do not have enough time to maintain it, consider planting low-fuss lilies. Such flowers look absolutely gorgeous and come in the variety of rainbow hues, so you can pick the one you love most. What is more, low-fuss lilies do not care about the sort of soil, they love the sun and welcome hot, they do not afraid of drought. In other words, Crinums is an ideal flower for all those who are looking for low-maintenance solutions.
5. The last tip also touches the low-maintenance aspect. To make your life easier, group plantings into beds and islands. This will help you to avoid mowing and trimming around each individual plant, save a lot of time and even money.