Help with Curb Appeal needed!!
We have lived here for 7 years and had the old bushes removed and installed new landscaping about 6 years ago, and it made a huge difference. Now we're at a loss as to what to do because it just looks so plain! It's an unusual design with the 2 "wings" jutting out with the courtyard in the middle, obscuring the front door for the most part. Half-circle driveway? (are those costly?) Add siding somewhere to break up those 2 peaks in the front? We don't know! (on the photo of the courtyard, please overlook the dying tomato plants that my husband hasn't taken down yet!)
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But, all plants need tending to. Your trees obsuring the front entry look unattended to since you move in. Did you plant these? You're letting them grow to wide. They also look too dense for this locaton. You at least need to prune them to allow someone to see and walk to the front entrance.
Have you thought of hooding your front windows there with rounded awnings?Also, paint the metal housing boxes you have on the front wall a similar tone to your brick to help hide them.
Hope this has been helpful.
Good luck-
The Virtual Designer
Your house is great; the landscaping is not. Open you house up to the street so the roof lines and the front door can be seen.
I think the color of the shutters and the trim needs to change. Perhaps black around the windows and a light taupe for the shutters.
Focus on the courtyard for curb appeal. Perhaps the walkway could be wider.
I agree the maples need pruning or (even better) replanting elsewhere. Then give the darkened bricks a good blast with a hose to clean them up. The house will look much better with big beds of light colored plants where the maples are now. White flowered azaleas or other low-growing flowering shrubs would be lovely.
Perhaps you'd consider repainting the shutters a color that contrasts more with the brick, perhaps off white or dark chocolate brown. Window boxes filled with annuals would be very pretty. This company has inspirational photos:
http://www.hooksandlattice.com/windowboxes.html
With the maples pruned or removed, you also have the opportunity to make the courtyard a small jewel box with annual or perennial flower beds. It's a small area. Do the design first, then install new plants as budget permits. Part of it can be a vegetable garden, of course.
Consider beefing up the trim along the roof line and paint the color of the shutters. I would paint the curves above windows the color of shutters or at least a deeper shade of wall color. At some point think about changing shutters to match the shape of the window including the arch and a bit wider.
I can really see a nice little gate in the courtyard, perhaps shaped like a U in the middle and left open to let people in, wood or iron, painted in a contrasting color so it shows up, and concrete caps to the brick pillars, sloped from the center to drain water, and an ornamental finiale (acorn, round or pineapple) or an urn up there once the trees are out of the way. Add some hydrangeas or roses for a cottagey look and some color.
Also agree that a different shutter color and painting the arch and maybe the window frames would help, as well as toning down the white garages. I can see a mossy or forest green on the shutter and doors to match or a brighter color on the doors, like a yellow, or if black shutters, the moss green or even a blue.
I think the lampost is fine. I would not do awnings in the front--will distract from the Neo-Colonial styling, but might be nice in the courtyard.
Believe it or not, we painted the shutters when we moved in, and they were very dark... but I haven't noticed that they have apparently faded in the sun! (the house faces southeast). I'm laughing at myself because I guess I still think of the house as it was several years ago!
I like the idea of new shutters and I LOVE the idea of beefing up the molding under the roofline! In fact, we were considering taking the house in a whole other direction and getting faux tile roofing and a "smear" over the bricks to make it a more mediterranean look. What do y'all think about that?
Regarding the landscaping, actually, there is liriope (green with white stripes) planted underneath the maples, you just can't really see them due to the leaves (our leaf guy is not the most reliable, but inexpensive, so, you know...). And the reason the bushes on the right look so much larger is because they are supposed to be... they're both camellias, which bloom the same-ish color, but the ones on the left are low growing and the ones on the lright are larger, because the lot slopes and the "wing" on the right is actually 2 stories and the one on the left is just 1 story. In the courtyard, we do have knockout roses, but they've been pruned way back recently... I was keeping up with these things pretty well until my parents both became ill 2 years ago, and long story short, they both died this spring. So i've been busy. But sadly now I have more time.
I love the idea of the boxwoods on either side of the walk and up to the door! When we first bought the house, there were all of these totally overgrown holly bushes and azaleas in the front of the house and in the courtyard and there was an iron gate on the courtyard entrance that matched the security doors over the front door (those things were the first to go... this is not an unsafe neighborhood!) So I'm a little leary about gates, but the ones your showed are so much prettier!
So, I'm calling a landscaper today to get someone over to do some maintenance on the plants! Those poor things have been all but neglected!
Thank you all for your ideas!! You're all so creative and I really appreciate it! If anyone else wants to chime in, please do!
We're removing the shutters and not replacing them, and those random boxes on the left (which belonged to the long-extinct security system) are coming off.
We're still contemplating relocating the maples.
Appreciate your suggestions!