Now the inside is pretty much livable for now it is time to turn to curb appeal. Attached is the pictures of what is there now. Basically it is 3 rose bushes and some green weeds that are starting to yellow. There is an existing sprinkler system as well. It covers maybe 60% of the yard at best so it needs some work as well. Just to give you an idea the fireplace is about 70' from the street so there is a lot of space that needs to be filled in. I can easily fit my full size truck with my flat bed car trailer attached in the driveway so there is some depth that needs to dealt with. The front of the house faces mostly west so the rose bushes do not get a bunch of sunlight. The cement area by the front door sees almost zero direct sunlight

The scope: The area to left (when looking from the street) of the driveway to where I meet the next property.

The budget: I would like to keep if under $500 for materials. All the labor will be done by Tracy and myself.

Things I want to do in no order:

Maintance to a minumum. I am alergic to cut grass so mowing it sucks for me and makes me feel lousy.

1. Fix the sprinkler system so the yard doesn't look like a bunch of bagels are laying on it.
2. Put something under the windows of living room. ( Not sure what :confused: )
3. Cover the chain link fence on the side of the house. Thinking of just doing some dog eared boards like the neighbor has on there fence.
4. Try to cut down on the area of grass that needs to be watered and mowed.
5. Cut down on road noise from cars passing by.
6. Fill in the low areas that flood when it rains. (whats the best thing to use for fill dirt? )
7. Install gutters along side of garage over the front door to the side of the chimney. (Doubt this will fit in the budget)

The roof color is staying. However the eves could be painted. The house color could be changed as well in the future. After all the house right now is 3 different colors depending on which side you look at.

I am up for any suggestions. Paving the whole thing was my idea but I got vetoed on that one

I think you can easliy get most of that done on a 500 dollar budget...

I know that wood fencing is about 45 dollars for a 5 or 4 foot section. That is the price around here. Im sure everything is a little higher there.

Im not sure what you can do about the road noise or how to cut down on the grass to be mowed?




I noticed this while i was there but homes and commerical buildings are so different out there.....

Okay, try cementing from the left edge of the walkway (leading to the door) over to the driveway. That will cut down on the amount of grass that needs to be mowed and give you some added parking space.

Next, try planting hedges under the windows and keeping them trimmed in a box or square shape. This serves two purposes; 1 - it makes things look nicer (hides the foundation of the house) and 2 - it is a deterent for people who are trying to gain entrance in to your home through windows. Make sure it is something with a lot of prickly branches too.

Look around for places that sell fill dirt for the low spots in the yard. It should not be that much to cover what is left after you cement the portion I mentioned above.

Burns is right about the fence portion. It should not cost that much and you can even buy the lumber and build it yourself. Places like Home Depot and Lowes will have instructions for that kind of work.

Finally, you can put up hedges around the remaining perimeter of your lawn to cut down on the noise from the street. These things take time to grow so you will have to be patient. (I'm not sure if you can purchase them full grown and that would usually be more expensive.)

Matt, what about something like this..

Where you have that curving in and out line start and the porch, and go all the way tords the fence, and then back down tords street. With rocks or wood chips in the flowerbed. and maybe some rose bushes under the windows.. (natural defence on brake-in's;)) with some other plants. maybe make the part next to the fence with little hills. and then make a woden gate to match the fence and then a stone walk way

I would pull the rose bushes, I think they are ugly.
You can put in ground cover instead of grass, at least for parts of the yard. Use edging, or even a concrete 'curb', to creat islands for the ground cover.
You could put a dirt berm between the street and the house, and put shrubs and trees on top of it. I see this used in Rancho Sante Fe alot to shield the view and cut the noise.
I think you could do that short section of gutter pretty cheaply, if you use the plastic stuff at Home Depot. You can always upgrade later.
You could have a work party, and we'll all come over and help. ;)

Here ..like this Matt... Please excuse my photoshop skills:rolleyes:

http://www.explorerforum.com/photopost/data/500/new_yard.jpg

the puke color would be rock or wood chips, and then some kind of low maintnace plants. I added rock to the bottom of the house just for fun :D

Concrete is not cheap.

Put down a gravel type rock, and be done with it; be sure to put landscape clothe down under it (but not too deep)

Paint the bulk of the house the same color.

Do the dog ear fence - it's cheap and easy.

For fill, again - gravel and sand. That way, it will drain. I built french drains out of the low areas around my house, and that stopped all of the major puddling (along with re-grading the back yard)

...did someone say party...:shifty_ey

...you could do a desert, no maintenance landscape, and have a tiki as a focal point...

...btw, is that a 75 ford i see...:scratch:

I would pull the rose bushes, I think they are ugly.
You can put in ground cover instead of grass, at least for parts of the yard.
You could have a work party, and we'll all come over and help. ;)

I agree with Bill and Tom (the gravel), then...

http://i184.photobucket.com/albums/x75/HB_Tiki/Random/MattHouse.jpg

Concrete is not cheap.

I just bought ten 80 pound bags at Home Depot for less than $50! You call that expensive???? :confused:

You would probably not be able to put the fence as close to the street as Froader drew it but it would help with road noise.

The best part about the fence is when I looked at the picture I though the snow plows would waste it then I remembered you were in California so probably not an issue.

keep us posted on the finished makeover front yard when ur all done

PVC or fiber fencing would last longer than wood fencing, and is maintenance free.

keep us posted on the finished makeover front yard when ur all done

Better yet keep us hanging. Don't tell us what you decided to do or what you will do in the future. Don't post any pictures of the finished product. Definately don't post sound clips of the traffic going by. (before and after landscaping of course.) It will drive Sam crazy.

Can someone photoshop about 10 parts Explorers behind that fence? :D

Easy ground cover? Pachysandra. Grows all over, and lets you spend time you could be mowing or weeding, off-roading or drinking beer!

http://www.twest.nl/images/fotos/Pachysandra_pad_nw.jpg

http://hcs.osu.edu/pocketgardener/source/description/pa_nalis.html

Might be cool if you get some shade, for around the house- but it looks pretty bright.

You live in the south-so this will work fine
there is a perennial of the peanut family which can be used as a lawn-with excellent results. Since it is a legume it is prety much self fertilizing.

http://www.haystackfarms.com/ecoturf.htm

This will save you from mowing--

peanut family which can be used as a lawn-with excellent results. Since it is a legume it is prety much self fertilizing.

wow that came from left field! James I know you live in Humbolt but who knew you had this kind of plant knowlege?

my house could use some curb appeal upgrades as well, this year though I am focusing on the back yard (front is okay for another season)

Matt plans look good, I am thinking about pouring my own conrete as well, I have done alot of small concrete work and even have a mixer...one area at a time until I have a whole drive/slab that way I could afford it! Gravel/roadbase is great but I need to be able to lay down under the toys, etc

So I finally started a few things on it. One thing I really disliked was that the PO had the sprinklers hooked the hose bib on the back of the house. So the sprinklers fed through some 1/2" copper pipe. Between that and having 14 heads yes 14 heads on one line the sprinkler system brings the suck. So I plan to t off the line right after the meter and run a line directly to the sprinkler distribution area. Then I will continue the line out to the "back 40" so I can have water out there if I ever need it.

Here is the kicker though. The water meter is 3/4" However it exits as 3/4" copper and goes down but comes out of box as a 1 1/4" pvc line. Why would they use 1 1/4" line after a 3/4" meter? The copper line that comes out of the ground at the house is 3/4"

So when I run my line back to the sprinkler hookup point then on to the back 40 should i do it in 3/4", 1". or 1 1/14" ? I have 70psi after the regulator so I have good pressure. Part of me says 3/4" cause I already have the meter limiting me there, and its cheaper. However 1" or 1 1/4" will flow better if I ever end up with an upgraded meter. I plan to do it all in schedule 40 pipe. I will also put a pressure regulator before the sprinklers as to not mess them up.

...The 1 1/4" is for flow of water, as to not restrict it..It is probably at least 1 1/4"-2" on the city side of the service, and the meter is the standard 3/4"...

..When you run your "Anti-Siphon" (as required), it should also take care of your pressure...The top of the "Anti-Siphon" is 12" above grade, and prevents dirt from your yard to be sucked into your house pipes...Also, be sure to put a seperate shut off ahead of the new line...;)

Was planning on the shutoff valves and anti-siphon valve. I will probably end up doing a few shutoff valves. Guess while I am at it I might as well pick up the anti siphons for my hose bibs as well.

...I put them on my old house in Vegas and it cut down the hose tasting water in the house...;)

I don't drink water so I wouldn't know. :D

...It helps with ice, to make your DP all it can be..:p:

Today I cut the main line going to the house put a Tee in and then ran a 1.25" line back to where my sprinkler hookups will be. I put a hose bib on to see what kind of street pressure I was getting.................125PSI :eek::eek: The garden hose was flopping around on the ground like a loose fire hose. I kind of wanted to hook it up to my existing sprinklers just to see how well the would spray. But my brain said if something breaks you will have to fix that as well so I decided to not try it. Need to pickup my pressure relief valve and the rest of my hook up parts this week so I can hook the sprinkler lines up and see what my next move will be.

So we messed with the yard a little bit. The subpar sprinkler system the previous owner put in actually works well at 125psi. We added a few flowers plants and put some 2x4's in the ground to make a bit of a border around the flowers. Still have more to do.

Matt, what kind of fertilizer are you putting on that thing? It looks very inviting. :)

I'll be working on my lawn/landscaping in the next couple weeks. I'm trying to get the lawn all one color first. :D

Green weeds is about all it is. Tracy had a bridal shower at the house a few weeks ago so we just greened up the weeds a bit and tossed a few plants in the ground.