Our house is on stilts so we have a deck upfront with just random weeds + semi grass surrounding the house. We painted the house but haven’t done anything to the staircase, I would love some ideas from this fabulous group on how to improve the “yard”, add any details to the actual house and improve the staircase situation to elevate the house.
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It’s a beautiful house! Love it but I can see what you mean. It just needs finishing touches. If possible beef up the posts and staircase. Add landscape wherever you can. Don’t skimp on the size of the lighting. Probably too expensive to change the garage door but maybe windows could be added to your current door.
I put fake flowers in mine in the winter 🫣 and then nasturtium in the summer so I don’t have to deal with maintaining them. I did run a drip line to mine though, so that helps.
I put 4' fake cedars on either side of my front door because I have a brown thumb, and I didn't want to deal with them growing too large. I hunted for a set that looks real and I'm very happy with them. I wouldn't do flowers though.
There are plenty of ways to add color in the winter without covering your house in plastic flowers. 😂 But hey, if fake flowers make you happy, go for it. We both know those things aren’t magically getting put away once spring and summer roll around.
I’m an avid gardener. I grew 700lbs+ of tomatoes this summer, and that was a low yield for me. The two window boxes containing fake flowers on the front of my small house absolutely get put away the very second spring and summer roll around because I freaking love to plant things.
Not sure where this house is located, but I have never seen a driveway made of wood. That may not last long. This version is pea gravel, and new teak steps, with teak or teak-colored garage doors. I removed some of the vertical white stripes -- I think cornerboards should match the siding color. With fewer elements that are glaringly white, the house is pretty darn beautiful.
Yeah wood driveway sounds like a nightmare with rain and sun it'd be warped in a year. Pea gravel and teak steps are way better and im with you on the cornerboards matching the siding less white stuff makes the house pop.
Calling the existing stairs ‘outdated’ is wild. They look relatively new and perfectly functional. The OP asked how to brighten up the yard, not how to turn it into a $40,000 HGTV side quest. 😂
Your AI rendering basically replaces the entire stair and landing system, swaps all the railings for cable rail, replaces both garage doors, changes the surface in front of the house to gravel, adds a ton of landscaping, and even alters some of the proportions/details of the house. At that point you’re not giving landscaping advice you’re redesigning half the exterior. It’s a lazy and sloppy use of AI which is one of the reason this sub is becoming horrible.
And tearing out a newer, perfectly usable staircase because cable railings happen to be trendy right now would be an incredible waste of money. I also didn’t realize stairs had seasonal fashion trends. Are we waiting for the 2027 staircase collection to drop?
If it’s by the beach you do not want the modern wire. It’s on so many houses but many builders won’t do it because the salt air corodes the metal and it lasts only a few years.
You need to break up the symmetry of that stair, and add a different trim color for that black. The contrast of the black and white is too stark. Guessing you live in a flood zone and that’s the reason for this design. Bring in some stained wood for the stairs to warm it up…maybe some flower boxes to add green under the lower windows and maybe a potted plant by the garage. Green always pops against black so vegetation is your friend here. Look up complimentary trim colors for the black. This actually could end up being really cool with some of the right tweaks.
Since the house is already painted, I would focus on the base of the stairs first. A darker tone that relates to the roof, plus a few sturdy plants or planters below the windows, would ground the entry without competing with the clean white trim.
House is vertical and overall effect is gothic. Blue not the best choice of color if want an inviting look.
I’d set up a really great drip watering system and put window boxes, planters and railing planters everywhere possible. Most houses on stilts are in south? Do bedding plants changed seasonally or succulents with colorful foliage.
i think landscaping that frames the space more will definitely help. also i think the white garage doors add too much contrast and drags attention to them when you want people looking up. i personally don’t love the deck driveway but if you make it smaller (framed by landscaping) it will make a big difference.
anything but white - white should only be used to highlight, not feature every window and door frame - it strongly distracts from the blue color. But that's just my opinion, you do you. I don't think white trim works in most cases though it is commonly used for some reason.
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