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This small stoop offers little interest until the designer opted for matched concrete bowls, each featuring a haute modern species of Sanseveria. If you are interested in landscaping around front entries, then you will also want to check out my tips on foundation plantings. We use the latest and greatest technology available to provide the best possible web experience.
A new bumped-out entrance follows the elegant curve of the door, and a muted gray-green base color keeps the expansive exterior facade from feeling too overwhelming. This challenge is usually met by installing landscaping steps, as in the picture above, although some homeowners might prefer a multi-level deck . For curb appeal, brick pillars frame the approach to the stairs, and the pillars are topped with pineapple ornaments. This deals with your visitors as they transition from the car to the front door on a walk or pathway. Third is the sense of arrival, that tells the visitor he or she has reached their destination.
Cohesive Exterior Design
Multipane windows with wide trim replaced the old versions, and a new stained front door and a charming picket fence announce both entry and border to passersby. Black details provide balance and grounding to the mostly neutral color scheme. Before, a lack of architectural features, such as an overhang or stoop, left the front door feeling lost and floating in the home's facade. Now, this exterior entryway demonstrates that even the smallest details can make a big difference when it comes to improving curb appeal. In addition, bright white trim around the windows and at the roofline give subtle contrast to the warm gray color scheme.
In this picture, the miniature decorative fences lead the viewer's eye nicely to the front door entrance. As in the prior picture, the picket style is used for these decorative fences. A common element of cottage-style landscape design, picket fences have a charm about them rarely matched by other fence types. In conjunction with the colorful snapdragon flowers, these parallel decorative fences soften the harshness of the pavement pathway. The original millwork, color, and distinguishing features of this home's exterior entryway were trapped in a time warp. The curb appeal upgrade demonstrates what you can accomplish even without a major addition or structural upgrade.
Exterior Entryway Refresh
After functionality has been addressed, then you can consider "curb appeal" . In the examples of landscaping for front door entrances that we've considered so far, the ground between the street and the entryway has been level. In such cases, pursuing the objectives of leading the viewer's eye to the entryway and making the route to the house entrance inviting are not pressing matters. The bottom line is that visitors to your house will eventually find the front door entrance, regardless of the landscaping.
Note also the brick pathway leading from the fence to the front door entry; visually, it picks up the brickwork in the house across the street, suggesting that this landscape is right at home in its neighborhood. Previously hidden under a deep extended roofline, the front door felt unimportant, and old-fashioned colors and materials made the home feel nondescript. After an exterior entryway makeover, new shake shingles and bright white trim around windows and doors add charm to the home's front facade.
Cottage Style Front Entrance
Follow a visitor in your mind, visualizing where they park, how they walk to your door, and what they feel when they get there. Most important of all, turn that vision around to know what they'll see and feel when the party's over and its time to go home. See how new concrete steps and pilasters provide the look of a grand entryway in this courtyard.
This planting is located out on the lawn, several feet away from the front door. But from various points on the street, the two dwarf alberta spruce trees nicely frame the entryway. Like it or not we are an automotive society, and much of what we see is from the front seat of a car. A good designer also knows this and strives to avoid the frustration caused when it isn't clear where a visitor should park.
Before, an overbearing, uninteresting facade, too-small windows, and lack of details prevented this home from reaching the full potential of its exterior entryway. Originally, the front door was tucked out of sight and the shrub line created a physical separation between home and walkway. The homeowners relocated the entryway, giving it presence and style with an arched window and columns. Windows were enlarged, too, to give them a sense of proportion with the expansive home's size.
White trim and railings emphasize the entrance, making the front door a focal point of the home's highly decorative facade. The front door entrance pictured above is not located very far from the street, which reduces the need for landscaping. But that hasn't stopped the owners from making their entryway more welcoming and interesting. The use of planted Grecian urns in a symmetrical arrangement as shown in the picture above is popular in landscaping for entryways. Such a design is certainly in keeping with the house style, as indicated by the impressive classical columns.
An extended entry gives presence to the front door, and large concrete blocks play up the organic feel of the new exterior color scheme. For the most part, this brick home's entryway details worked well together, but a boring swath of ordinary lawn didn't match the elegance and grace of this home's architecture. Now, a wide, stone front walkway gives a feeling of discovery and importance to the home, and a formal collection of boxwood shrubs adds a touch of graciousness to the yard. On the facade, removal of first-floor shutters, new front windows, and redone brick details on the second story helped to better tie the two floors together. Sometimes a slope prevents a homeowner from enjoying outdoor spaces as they should.
Install sufficient lighting at path level to clarify its edges and grade changes, particular if the walkway is sloped. With no finished upper level and awkward straight-angle brickwork, the original structure lacked historic appeal. To gain more family space, the homeowners of this circa-1934 brick Tudor added a finished upper level, which also gave them more room to flex their design muscles on the exteriors.
What makes a house exceptional is how its landscape greets people through a series of experiences, all of them well known to every landscape architect. When you come to understand them as well, you can help the designers exploit every opportunity when dealing with the conditions, challenges and opportunities of a home's front yard. This formal-style house is complemented nicely by the symmetrically arranged planting urns on its porch. The benefit to having a large stoop allows those in a group to stand comfortably as you come to the door. An arbor or overhead structure can be added to make this space more sheltered in inclement weather while punching out the visibility of a minimal doorway. When lots became smaller, builders began designing homes with the garage more prominent than the front door.
When designing a larger homesite, the vehicular circulation is even more vital, hinging on designating the location of guest parking or a drop-off point. All in all, I'd say the homeowners in this case turned a challenge into an opportunity. What could be viewed as a difficult slope to climb instead has become the canvas for an attractive entryway. This design draws the viewer's eye to the front door entrance by framing it with Grecian urns planted with dwarf Alberta spruces.
This Front Entry is Framed by a Lawn Planting A symmetrical planting on the lawn framing a front entry.David BeaulieuA planting doesn't have to be located smack up against a front entry to have an impact on it.. David Beaulieu is a landscaping expert and plant photographer, with 20 years of experience. He was in the nursery business for over a decade, working with a large variety of plants. David has been interviewed by numerous newspapers and national U.S. magazines, such as Woman's World and American Way.
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