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landscape design Garden Exterior

HELP PLEASE! Improving street appeal

3 years ago

Looking to improve this whole situation - garden, facade, driveway and carport - the works!!! The land slopes upwards towards 1970 spilt level home located in Adelaide, SA. The front door is on upper level as lower level is garage only.
There are two significant trees, roadside Liquid Amber now has exposed roots due to erosion. Middle section used to be grass but doesn't grow well due to shade of trees, clay soil, slope of land and visitors walk up the middle when they park on the street. Frontage is approx 19m wide and 10m from curb to house, there is also a gradual slope across the block towards driveway. We are prepared to add retaining walls, possibly terrace with steps up the middle. Hoping to create a low maintenance garden that ties in with the 70's feel, the bush across the road and the tropical vibes out the back. Your suggestions are much welcome 🙂

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Comments (4)

Kate
3 years ago
I’d remove the 2 small trees in front of front door and replace with something lower that doesn’t conceal entry, Bit of terracing and path to front door.
Landscaping, what you have is the result of low maintenance
I’m not fond of cream brick so I would paint it or add something decorative to cover
New bigger letterbox would help too.
fianou luca
3 years ago
I would focus on landscaping and minor updates. I would repave between the carport and stairs with a brighter more white paver. I would paint the little edge bits of concrete stairs. you could leave the original tile or find a modern retro style. The garden bed needs completely stripping out and replanting. a lot can be divided and replanted though. I think those bulbs could be hippeastrums, and are they bird of paradise (strelizia) against the carport? They get a bit tired and bound up unless you lift and divide them. The beds ended up with some holes iykwim? I'd add foliage plants with colour and texture and succulents like agave and yucca for height and a more modern sculptural feel. I think you absolutely need to get some big bright ceramic pots. I like a deep blue galzed pot for balancing the orangey brick and making it pop. I would put them on the patio and near the stairs and FILL them with mother-in-laws tongue. I would repaint the metal railings, and the carport posts and beams a dark grey or black. I'd remove the metal louvre awning completely and opt for nice full length dramatic curtains and sheers inside the windows. You know the kind that sort of attach right up near the ceiling? I would also replace the lattice on the carport and build a little breezeblock halfwall.
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1) My cost saving suggestion to you is PAINT, this is going to give you the cheapest tool to change the Miners cottage appearance to attract attention. 2) Leave Roof as is, no Paint ,the roof being left natural to me gives it a studio edge.(and saves precious dollars 3) Wall colour in a darkish grey with all white trim, I was going to suggest a beige colour but it looks like your neighbour has these colours so that's why I'd go bold with wall & fence colour. 4) Perhaps you could build a small fence like the metal one I sent you, this would be made up with scrape material nd place to the R/H side of the driveway, can't see whats on that boundary 5) Gutter and eaves same colour as walls 6) Gates shinny black 7) Keep existing window & door shades and paint them all white, no stripes 8)Front door of your choice, Red and make the studio door a different colour to help students find there way, Yellow 9) Looks like you have a crushed gravel path running along the side of the house to the studio, try to define this from the gate so that you don't have everyone cutting across the verandah, 10) It would be good to have some screening on the Verandah, mesh or other affordable material. 11)Trim the grass, plant some hedging behind the fence and plant some red NZ flax plants off to the right side of the garden 12)Paint garage like house this would help to bulk out the building and make it look a bigger property 13) PAINT good luck
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With all due respect I am going to disagree with amonymousanne, and say painting everything white is completely wrong for this style of home. It is in the "Sydney School" style where the rustic nature of the brickwork and oregon beams make up part of the character of the home. This style of your home is about organic texture and drama, so I would only paint what was previously painted, possibly in a Dulux colour called "Luck" which complements your brickwork beautifully, and is a deep brown/black colour similar to this photo. Your home may even be one of the much loved Pettit and Sevitt homes which are currently undergoing a revival in popularity if they have not been modernised beyond recognition. However the paint is only secondary to the main issue which is your landscaping which is at odds with the architecture. The style of home is more suited to an informal, native Australian garden, rather than trimmed, box-shaped shrubs that look quite alien. Your landscaping should also draw the eye to your entry, the current landscaping is concealing it. Improving the landscaping is the key to improving the street appeal, and new paint, without new landscaping won't be enough to do it. Best of luck, Dr Retro of Dr Retro House Calls
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I think the task of transforming homes like these is an exciting challenge! If your budget is not huge then timber trimmings and paint can make a huge difference here. You could paint the brick, or better still clad it with weatherboard to soften the house, but if the budget does not allow the whole house to be clad just do the front and go around the corners by about a meter and then paint the bricks at the sides and back to match. You definitely need a verandah across the front, with the steps centred and going straight down to meet the gate - this will transform the facade and is worth spending the money on. If you dont want to change the windows consider framing them with timber to make them look larger and replace the front door with something nicer, luckily your door is centred with same size windows either side. Id suggest replacing the fence with a picket fence and matching gates to hide the concrete driveway and then screen off the long side driveway and camouflage the overhang with a picket gate to match. Paint choices here are really important, it looks like your neighbours homes are beige or grey? Consider painting the house a classic colour such as dusky blue or sage combined with light trimmings to make yours stand out from the surrounding neutral homes (ive done a couple of quick mock-ups below as examples) You need some plants but your front yard is not large so a single, low height feature tree with mulch or pebbles instead of lawn would look wonderful plus a couple of strategically placed pots. Good luck!
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julie herbert
3 years ago
Hi Hayley,
Great house, I would paint all of your trims in a dark grey, this would highly your retro tiles, build retaining walls with steps leading up to your porch, planting could be tropical or structural, could look fabulous.
fianou luca
3 years ago
every thing you have in the garden, can be dug out and repositioned. the yuccas and agaves... they look good in clumps where the sculpture of the plant can be highlighted. But spaced out can look a little ho hum. Then you can find new plants to fill the empty spaces. the garden beds are a bit thin. but start with what you have and then buy the hero plants that will really make it pop.

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