By J. A. Young
Let’s face it - just because you’ve signed your life (and income for the foreseeable future) over to your new $250,000-plus house does not necessarily mean it looks good - even for the most whopping price tags. Often, new developments are fraught with grandiose entries (generally far too oversized for their lots) and very little greenery or style that is in keeping with the land. Instead of beauty and charm, we have neighborhoods of expensive masonry. However, by concentrating on the face of your home, you can achieve a harmonious marriage between house and landscape with the following suggestions.A great place to begin your quest for greater curb appeal is to address size and scale. Are there features in your current landscape or house that are simply not well proportioned? This can be a tough problem to fix if your two-story house is part of a new development where the trees have not yet grown beyond your shoulders yet. You cannot speed up the growth of a tree, yet you can soften the all-house feel of the landscape. Consider ivy to help mask the “newness” of your house and to soften the façade with all the charm that vines can provide. This simple fix will help blend the house with the lawn to make for a better match.
Tall shrubs and terrace gardens can also help this all-house effect. Often you see homes with large elaborate windows and the plants beneath them barely grow beyond the height of an ankle—this makes for poor curb appeal. Again, by addressing scale, you can create a more appropriate match between the structure and the landscape. Terraces can even be constructed with the same bricks or stones that were used to make the house for an even better blend. By varying the height of landscape elements, you get rid of the look as if the house simply landed there out of the sky and doesn’t seem to belong somehow.
Of course, features of the structure itself can also be enhanced to fit better with the surroundings. A decorative roof can provide great distinction when seen from the street. If your house and landscape suffer from a case of the blahs - too many muted colors - consider green or even red tiles to roof you house with matching shutters and front door. Since a new roof is an expensive proposition (especially if the current roof is in good condition) there may be other cosmetic touches that could improve the house’s curbside appeal. If covering your new house with ivy is too radical, consider extensive use of window boxes and hanging baskets.
Be wary of overtly grand features - especially if you live in suburbia. Even if it is a $450,000 house, if your house sits two yards away from the neighbor’s house, you must consider scale and proportion to avoid a monstrous disproportion. A concrete drive, grand stone planters, a huge entry - these may be great elements individually, but they can also detract from a good fit between house and garden.
Besides scale, you may want to consider the architectural details of house and landscape. For example, is the house a series of straight lines - all right angles, columns, square windows? If so, you many want to soften with a more rounded ornamental tree as a focal point or circular flowerbeds. If the house is long and sprawling, you might want to frame it with an avenue of flowering trees to give the lot some definition. Much can be achieved simply by working with shapes.
Keep in mind that expensive homes are not the only ones that can achieve great curb appeal. Even the most modest houses can achieve great beauty and style by addressing the setting. Don’t fall into the trap of adding on an expensive feature to make the house look better. What you will wind up achieving is a feature that doesn’t fit with everything else surrounding it. For instance a rambling wrap-around porch is a great feature, but if it looks like its strangling the house, it is not well-suited to it. To give the setting more balance, consider a stand alone structure or platform situated off the home.
Material choice can also make for a good blend. If you house is sided, you aren’t going to transform it into a castle with a stone porch or a stone terrace garden. Stick with wood features or a similar material that is in keeping with the structure. When you turn to the landscape, approach it with the house always in the back of your mind. Choose plantings that compliment the structure and do not detract from it. A small bungalow can become buried by an overgrown evergreen for instance; install plantings that frame or enhance the front of the home and do not hide it.
Redefining the front of your home requires you to step back and consider it as objectively as possible. You may love those gigantic stone planters that nearly block the entrance to your porch, but they simply don’t fit the scale of the house. Choose what works between house and setting. If you strive for harmony between the two, you are bound to create great curb appeal.
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