Perhaps if you look at your outdoor spaces as outdoor rooms, it may help you personalize and organize the areas. What I see in the photo is a small front yard divided in half, and a tree placed exactly in the center of the other half, within a little square of bed. I expect you would not do that with an interior room. A visitor will be compelled to race down the hallway to the front door, and probably not even notice the tree, since it is not part of a composition, a furniture grouping. You enter your living room to a welcoming composition of a furniture grouping, lamps, pictures on the wall, drapes (I hope) on the windows. You get the idea. Would you put a post lamp in the middle of an empty room? It would tend to diminish the size of the space and it's usefulness as a space. Would you put a carpet down the center of a room? -- only if you were creating two separate scenarios of equal size. You need some on-site advisers, whether they be landscape architects or interior designers, someone or more than one who will offer their experienced suggestions for you to consider, but not immediately act upon. You need to live with your new spaces and walk through their ideas for weeks, or months, before making a decision on how to proceed. Perhaps it would help you to read the thoughts of some international designers like Bunny Williams, with her book, On Garden Style, where you will get the feeling that the views of the outside rooms from within the house are as important as the views from the street. You will want to move the maple out of its central location, remove the central path, - and the conifers scare me. You really have a very small space up front here. Take a look in the park at the size of a mature conifer. They will occupy your yard and that of your neighbor, as they develop as nature intended. They are very beautiful, a work of art, but space-consuming. You may have room in the back yard, but be careful when blocking the magnificent views from within the house. Perhaps you will provide an entrance to your outdoor room over to the right, near your property line, with the tree, the lamp post, a small chair or bench, a bed of small plants that have beauty and fragrance throughout the seasons - a space you would like to sit in yourself, perhaps have coffee with the neighbor, or the kids hang out with a pal. Then have the walk work its way over toward the entrance area - not the door, but the welcoming area before the door, slow them down to enjoy the sequence, while providing a most pleasant view of this area from within. Make the plantings permanent, with no soil or mulch to show, after two years, as the groundcover plants mature and cover the beds. Keep all the annual plants in containers, to be stored away if empty, so the views of your spaces are not distracted by an open area in the bed where the annuals have departed, or an empty pot. Consider excluding your auto from your outdoor room, your welcoming area. You don't have room for a real screen, so just a suggestion, as a small hedge or plant bed to stop the eye before it gets to the drive. Perhaps the view beyond the drive is attractive, so all you need to filter from the view is the driveway pavement itself, as the car belongs in the garage, yes? Sometimes a little perimeter fence with a gate says welcome to my special space. In your case perhaps a darker color, not the typical white, which would be a high contrast to the house and not appropriate here, grabbing all the attention. What I have offered may be of no use to you, however, the intent of my words is to provoke you to analyze first, then plan. Consider alternatives from all viewpoints before deciding how to proceed, as these spaces and plants will be a part of your life for many years. Good luck to you. Continue the process at the tortoise pace, not the hare.

I think that the problem that you have is that you have too many flat surfaces and angles with nothing to lead your eye away from the blandness. You have grey concrete, grey roof, grey walls and the emotional response to that is a feeling of flatness and blah. The only thing that brings any kind of relief to the view are the plants and the steps that introduce different levels. My suggestion would be to look at adding texture, different levels for contrast to the flat surfaces and colours that unite those elements. Take a look at how the red lid on the rubbish bin pops out amongst the muted tones. Maybe bright red pots with taller (and healthier) looking plants in them on either side of the bench with a textural artwork or screen as mentioned above in between. You could be really bold and paint the steps red!, but don't do the pot plant suggestion if you do that. Once the air conditioning unit is removed I would put more boards down the front to cover up the gap and dirt underneath the pot plants. If you have the available space in front of that, place some seating and maybe a table, perhaps toning in with the grey tones but with a colour pot or cushions that tie in with the plants in the coloured (I suggested red, go with what you like) pots. I would also like to see what sort of door you have to access the room and yes, put the bins somewhere else if possible, they are unsightly.

Hi Olivia, What a magnificent opportunity to bring some light, colour and joy into your space :) We offer a variety of artworks as professionally framed fine art prints, boxed framed canvases & classic canvases with different sizes and orientations to suit your needs. We are happy to do a digital proof of any art you choose for your wall so free free to email us a photo of your wall, and through the magic of Photoshop, can show you how a chosen artwork can look in your space :) With your colours of pink, grey, green & white, I think any of the following artworks would look gorgeous! We are also proud to offer Houzzers 10% off any purchase over $150.00 by entering code HOUZZ at checkout :) Please don't hesitate to reach out to us at www.thewildheartcollective.com or email me at nik@thewildheartcollective.com if we can assist you and your wild heart, in finding the perfect piece that will set your heart aflutter ;) https://thewildheartcollective.com/collections/framed-fine-art-prints/products/custom-design-the-greater-your-storm-the-brighter-your-rainbow-inspirational-quote https://thewildheartcollective.com/collections/framed-fine-art-prints/products/fairytale-part-2 https://thewildheartcollective.com/collections/framed-fine-art-prints/products/rooms-on-fire https://thewildheartcollective.com/collections/framed-fine-art-prints/products/soul-nebula-obsessed https://thewildheartcollective.com/collections/framed-fine-art-prints/products/sugar-plum https://thewildheartcollective.com/collections/framed-fine-art-prints/products/whimsical-part-2

I would use viburnum as they are a great hardy plant, there is the sweet viburnum , or emerald lustre or dense fence, lovely lush foliage and white flowers, need a good free draining soil and to be watered regularly, you can grow them to whatever height you like, they respond beautifully to clipping and enjoy all weathers , a slow release fertiliser during spring keeps them looking beautiful.