The overwhelming kindness and incredible support our family received yesterday has been both humbling and profoundly moving. Thank you for your encouraging words and for sharing your personal stories. Now, let’s shift gears from the profound to something a little lighter and more expansive. We’re excited to take you on a long-overdue photo tour of our new yard, offering an extensive look at its current state and our ambitious home exterior transformation plans. Think of this as the “before” chapter in our journey to create the ultimate outdoor living spaces.
While you’ve caught glimpses of our property in previous posts – exploring our carport and driveway, peeking into our unique “alley” access, and admiring the stately magnolia tree out front – there’s so much more to reveal. This comprehensive tour is packed with visuals, serving as fair warning that it’s quite photo-heavy. It took us several weeks to sort through over a hundred initial shots and meticulously craft this detailed exploration, so settle in for a thorough look at our property’s potential.
Discovering Our Front Yard: A Vision for Enhanced Curb Appeal
Our journey begins in the familiar territory of the front yard, a space that subtly features in our blog’s header. This area is notably more compact than our previous home’s front lawn, with the house sitting closer to the street. Initially, this felt like a welcome advantage, promising less grass to mow. Indeed, the existing landscape, comprising various bush borders, sections of groundcover, and a prominent dirt circle beneath the magnificent magnolia, ensures that there isn’t an overwhelming expanse of lawn to maintain. While our long-term vision encompasses a complete transformation of our home’s curb appeal and virtually every square foot of our outdoor space – a gradual process we embraced over four years at our last residence – specific plans for this area are still evolving. Nevertheless, we’re excited to witness how this space will evolve and flourish over the next few years.
Our primary objective for the front yard landscaping is to cultivate a more open and inviting atmosphere, particularly towards the front porch. Similar to our previous home, the property is characterized by numerous borders of dense bushes, predominantly boxwoods and azaleas, which currently encircle the grassy area. While they serve as a natural boundary, we find they create significant visual interruptions, hindering a welcoming approach to our front door. We’ve always believed that shorter, squat homes, such as ranch-style houses, benefit aesthetically from expansive open areas complemented by lower, more varied plantings rather than tall, imposing shrub walls that can inadvertently dwarf the structure.
Currently, our front door sees little traffic, primarily serving as a point of contact for unsolicited visits. Even delivery services like FedEx prefer the side door by our carport, and honestly, we can’t blame them. The existing front pathway is exceptionally narrow, hardly extending an inviting “walk this way” gesture. On move-in day, I even had to trim back overgrown bushes just to maneuver furniture through – a challenge made tougher by a dusting of snow. Given that the path beautifully extends the charming paver stones used in the driveway, our aspiration is for it to at least *appear* usable someday, even if the carport remains the preferred entry point for most.
Our vision for improving this critical entry point involves strategic trimming, removal, or transplantation of some of the current bushes. By opting for lower-profile landscaping, we aim to significantly open up the entrance on both sides of the path. This transformation will not only make the approach feel more welcoming but also better showcase our front porch, which holds immense potential for future enhancements and personalization.
Navigating the Liriope Sea and the “Wild” Side
While bush borders are a recurring theme across our property, they pale in comparison to the sheer abundance of liriope, also known as “monkey grass,” found here. Observe the sloped area on one side of the front yard: it’s not just above the stone wall, but also below it, extending in a dense planting that’s more than ten plants deep.
This particular expanse of liriope is, in some ways, a blessing. It creates a virtually self-sustaining and low-maintenance landscaping feature. However, we envision adding more vibrant colors to this area in the future to break up the monochromatic green. Our focus, however, isn’t solely on this section because we’re equally captivated and confounded by the adjacent “wild” space. This sprawling, untamed patch of leaves and tall grasses, situated next to the stone wall and brick path, is indeed part of our property, presenting both a challenge and an opportunity for unique landscape renovation.
This wild area strategically separates our house from our neighbors to the left, and we genuinely appreciate the generous breathing room it provides. This brings me to an interesting point about our new lot: it’s surprisingly similar in size to our last property, nearly an acre, but its shape is quite different. Our previous lot was a long, skinny rectangle, with about half of it being dense woods at the back. In contrast, our current lot is more square. The advantage of this squarer configuration is the increased space it places between our home and our next-door neighbors, offering a more immediate sense of privacy compared to a seemingly endless forest hidden behind the house. However, the trade-off is that instead of a maintenance-free natural forest, we inherit these “wild” spaces like the one pictured above, which are visible directly from the street.
While we haven’t finalized a plan, our desire is to naturalize this area further, transforming it into a lush, semi-foresty landscape rather than its current appearance of being oddly bare and somewhat untended. We’re considering incorporating native tall grasses, wildflowers, and perhaps additional large trees and shrubs to create an intentional, ecological haven. There’s no immediate rush, though; we’re confident we’ll discover the perfect solution for this space eventually, making it a beautiful and integral part of our backyard design inspiration.
Backyard Unveiling: From Wild Expanses to Charming Corners
Despite our new lot being less elongated than our previous one, we still possess a substantial amount of raw, undeveloped land at the back. It’s truly an expansive area. As a side note, it’s remarkable how different the back of our house looks compared to the front, largely due to a charming addition with an attractive peak. One day, we hope to introduce similar architectural peaks to the front of the house and update the exterior by painting the hardboard siding and potentially the brick to create a more cohesive aesthetic. However, such significant changes are likely five or more years down the line, requiring careful consideration to avoid any hasty decisions we might later regret.
This large expanse, which regrettably now serves as little more than a leaf depository, was apparently once much more heavily wooded. It’s a bummer, really, as we deeply cherished the private, wooded ambiance beyond the grassy area of our first house’s backyard. The “old us” would have instinctively scattered grass seed to make the entire area look finished. However, we’ve matured beyond our “let’s grow grass everywhere” phase, largely influenced by insights gleaned from reading The Organic Lawn Care Manual last year. Our current strategy is to intentionally keep this portion of the backyard “wild,” thereby reducing the amount of land we need to actively maintain, mow, water, or weed. Our plan is to gradually introduce fast-growing evergreens, which will provide essential privacy and help re-establish that cherished wooded feeling. After all, the existing landscaped section of the backyard already offers plenty of maintenance for our tastes.
Overall, we find the existing landscaped backyard incredibly charming. This comes as a bit of a surprise, considering our disdain for pathways lined by bushes everywhere in our previous yard. The crucial difference here is the use of brick pathways, a significant upgrade from the pea gravel that proved to be a constant weeding nightmare. While these brick paths could certainly benefit from a quick pass with a leaf blower, their foundation is solid. However, those round planting beds situated on either side of the path that branches from left to right in the photo above? Those are slated for removal. Sherry envisions planting grass in these spots to create a more expansive, unobstructed area for our dog to run and for future kids to play. An open, lush green lawn would be ideal for games like tag or races, especially as our offspring grows older and more energetic. Therefore, our plan is to retain the charming brick paths but eliminate these restrictive round beds, creating a more cohesive and usable outdoor space.
While the low-profile liriope border along the path is undoubtedly an improvement over the bulky, obstructive boxwoods we had in our last backyard, we’re not entirely satisfied with it, particularly its depth of three or four plants in many sections. This density makes the paths feel narrower and more enclosed than we prefer. Given our preference for more organic transitions over rigid, distinct borders, we’ll likely embark on a major liriope removal project eventually. We might even post a “you-dig-it-and-it’s-yours” ad on Craigslist to help with the effort. Our goal is to simply grow grass right up to the edges of the brick paths, achieving a cleaner, more seamless, and flush look that enhances the flow of the entire garden design.
Liriope, however, isn’t the only border prevalent in our backyard. We have an abundance of stone borders, more than one could possibly count – or break a stick trying to point at! These stone edgings are a visual feature throughout the space.
Sherry isn’t a fan of their visual impact, finding them too interruptive for her aesthetic preferences. Personally, I dread the task of having to use a weed-whacker to trim the grass precisely against them. I could potentially learn to live with them in certain strategic locations, such as where they create a clear delineation between the manicured grassy yard and the wild, leafy expanse beyond. However, in other areas, like around this small tree situated in the middle of the grass, they feel particularly disruptive. Sherry, in her quest to de-clutter the grassy area, is already keen on transplanting this tree into the more woodsy, naturalized back portion of the yard anyway.
One thing is for certain: all those stone borders become a significant nuisance during my mowing routine, adding extra time and effort.
Yes, I rely on my gas-powered mower for the backyard. My trusty push mower, while great for straight, even lawns, simply isn’t efficient enough for the back’s uneven and non-linear terrain.
The Side Oasis: From Doggy Haven to Future Patio
Having thoroughly explored the front, side, and main backyard areas, let’s move around the house to one final, intriguing spot we recently touched upon in this post. (You can note how much older these tour photos are by clicking over to that link for lusher foliage and more vibrant scenes.) This area, nestled behind our carport and directly off our sunroom, has earned various affectionate monikers, from “Liriope Heaven” to “Burger’s Bathroom.” Here’s the current view of it from the carport:
For Burger, our beloved dog, this space is absolutely perfect. It’s securely fenced on all sides, completely visible from the house, and offers an abundance of intriguing spots for sniffing and marking. It even features a charming little zen lawn ornament, adding a touch of whimsy to his private domain.
As we’ve mentioned previously, we’re eager to extend our “liriope-removal party” to this area. (Yes, I’m trying to psych myself up by calling it a “party” – perhaps a “free liriope” Craigslist ad is indeed the best approach!) Following this major clearance, our exciting plan is to embark on a DIY stone patio project. If all goes well, we’ll construct it entirely ourselves, creating a much-needed, usable outdoor living space for entertaining and relaxation. Burger, I’m sure, would argue he’s making plenty of use of it now, but he was out-voted at the family meeting. Poor guy! However, he absolutely loved lounging on our back patio at the old house, so I suspect he’ll ultimately be on board with the new plan once it’s realized.
Currently, our only designated outdoor entertaining area is a small patio situated off the sunroom and living room. It’s barely large enough to accommodate our grill. (For context, the patio furniture seen here was left by the previous owners, and yes, Sherry’s broken ceramic dog still forlornly guards the door.)
Interestingly, the sunroom itself was originally an outdoor space before being enclosed. You can still clearly see the original brick staircase that once led up to it. It’s a bit amusing, isn’t it? Well, amusing to you and me, but quite annoying to my wife. She simply can’t fathom how someone could go to the trouble of completely enclosing the sunroom, adding heating, cooling, numerous outlets, and a ceiling fan, yet neglect to remove those rather odd stairs. I’ve suggested placing some potted plants on them, but she feels that would make the area look too busy and cluttered. So, we’ll have to devise another plan eventually, a future project on our ever-growing list of outdoor living space ideas.
Embracing Potential: Our Outdoor Sanctuary in Bloom
All in all, we are utterly smitten with the outdoor spaces that came with this house. None of them are perfectly “us” yet, but that’s precisely why we’re so incredibly excited about them – they are brimming with possibility and untapped potential. Even if some of that potential is currently buried under rows upon rows of liriope!
As spring progresses and everything begins to bloom and green up, we find ourselves falling more deeply in love with our surroundings each day. A prime example is our new “Most Favorite Tree In The Universe” – a magnificent maple that has been grafted to display two distinct leaf colors. Yes, that’s just one tree, showcasing nature’s incredible artistry. It truly rocks my socks!
Perhaps we adore it so much because it offers this breathtaking burst of color through the window of our guest room, a vibrant spectacle we catch a glimpse of every time we walk down the hall from Clara’s room. This picture, I assure you, does not do its splendor justice.
It’s actually a real shame I didn’t wait a little longer to capture these images; three weeks from camera to blog post is admittedly inexcusable. Just yesterday, our azaleas began to show their first glorious colors. Rather than further delay this post by retaking and resizing all these images (which might very well add another inexcusable three weeks to the wait), Sherry quickly snapped a few exquisite flower shots for me to include here at the very end. Ooooh… ahhhh…
Phew! Now that you’ve had a comprehensive tour of these “before” pictures of our yard, and with the weather consistently improving, we’re finally ready to dive into some of those outdoor projects. Well, as soon as Sherry’s seasonal allergies calm down a bit. Last week, our car was so coated in pollen it looked like it had been custom painted green! But she’s tackling it with her Neti Pot like a seasoned pro. You’re welcome for that vivid visual!
Update: Apparently, this initial post proved a bit confusing (even for Sherry!), so for a clearer understanding, please refer to this updated post, which includes a helpful sketch and a video tour.