We purchased this home in January. It is on a small urban lot in Madison, Wisconsin, near the UW campus. We would like simple landscaping ideas of how to enhance the front. The stairs will most likely be painted. Thanks so much for your help!

What a cute house. Paint the steps and railings a soft gray green (see the roof color) Choose a warm terra-cotta red for the doors. Plant shrubs that will not mature to a size larger than the space allowed to avoid extra maintenance. Do not plant them up against the house. Plant a 3 foot diameter mature plant size 1 ½ feet from the house. Place the tallest shrubs at the corners of the house and on each side of the stairs. These should be the same plant. Select 1 or 2 smaller shrub varieties to fill in along the sides & front of the house. Repetition is the key to a good design. Think about the leaf colors and textures and of how the plants will look in summer and winter. Make sure they will live in your climate with your average annual rainfall, and in your soil.

A foundation planting will certainly improve the curb appeal of your home. The one thing I always tell my designers is that less is more. What I mean by that is.... use smaller numbers of plant species and plant them in larger masses, larger masses of the same colors and textures are much more dramatic and appealing to the eye. Another very important part of the equation is choosing the right plant for the right space. You will almost never buy a mature plant at the nursery so you must take into account the mature size of the plant. Choose a plant that will fit into the space you have allowed in the planting bed. If you take the time to do this and do it well you can have an almost maintenance free garden. One thing i noticed about your house is that large white space in between the two small windows out front. You need to break up this white space a bit. I would try to find an upright narrow plant to break up that dead white space a little. This will also draw your eye up and then back down to the lower plant beside it. This is another very important element to the design process as well. You do not want your eyes to follow one height through the entire landscape, you want it to move across, up... then back down...maybe across again..then maybe up on the corner again. One other thing that I would try to do is to mix shrubs along with some perennials. This is always a good look.

Hi Gail, I grew up in LaCrosse, WI. How about some dwarf Lilacs, perhaps dog wood shrubs for their beautiful red stems in winter, and some ornamental grasses near the Dogwood to give more color and lushness in the winter.

I used to own a similar age/style of house in St. Paul MN. You may want to try Lily of the valley around the foundation- would be nice and help cover it up plus it smells heavenly. Maybe mix in some hostas or ferns as well. A lilac bush or 2 would also go well on either side of the front steps. If you have actual beds in front of the house (can't tell by the picture) you could plant tulips/daffodils next fall for a burst of color next spring and then pop in some of your favorite annuals.

http://www.crocus.co.uk/plants/_/convallaria-majalis/classid.78114/

Thank you all so much for the great suggestions. We're truly amazed and really appreciative.

A few comments related to comments/suggestions-the siding is actually the cement board siding that is on lots and lots of old houses. We had it inspected and it is in good shape. We actually have extra boards in the attic. The inspector said that it takes paint very well. We are planning a picket fence (the chain link is really awful-just need to work on a few inside projects first.

victorianbungalowranch brought up some interesting points about the design of the front. The rectangular window above the front door is actually in a large closet off of the master bedroom. I've found a design in an old house design book that calls that space a dressing room-with the closet on the end-so I think that's original. The front entrance, though, I believe might have been an open porch, (or part of a wrap around porch) as when they enclosed it, they really didn't insulate underneath it, and or, critters have eaten what was there. We do need to put a "skirt" around the bottom of the new porch (built by the former owners),to keep critters out and will insulate-but want to think through this thoroughly.

This is a real estate photo from four years ago before the stoop was replaced.

The two little windows in the front are on either side of a totally faux fireplace in the living room (another thing the inspector said he sees lots of) there's a fireplace red brick facade but no evidence there ever was a chimney.

(Photo from real estate listing-I'm not home right now).

The two windows are really what I think look strange. The proportion is really off-which makes me wonder if there was a large porch that would have taken the focal point away from those windows.

We love the house and want to bring it back to the grand lady it was in 1906 (I really wish I had a picture of the original house-I'm working on finding one.)

Thanks again for all of the help!

I would suggest you add green shutters that match the roof and then add white-painted window boxes with a strip of green trim on them. I also would suggest you find a lighter green that harmonizes with the roof-and-shutter color and use this lighter green for the treads of the steps, porch floor, porch ceiling, and possibly the door. It also would be nice to have the gables and other triangular shapes painted in this lighter green. On the porch covering pediment, I would leave the bottom horizontal board white but would paint the rest of the triangle the lighter green. Then, I would paint the rail the darker green of the roof and shutters and paint the spindles and the risers of the steps white. Red, pink, and yellow-green plants will emphasize the green in the color scheme, but be sure you have the proper space for the landscape items.

I just saw the comment about the two small windows that flank the faux fireplace. There is a craftsman style bungalow in my town that has the same sort of small windows above bookcases with a real fireplace in the center. I have a hunch that someone was trying to copy this style, for all that your house looks Victorian, and installed the small windows and bookcases while installing the faux fireplace. If you do not like these features, perhaps you could remove the faux fireplace and replace the small windows with long, double-hung windows that match the others in your home. It looks as if this first-story space could accommodate three windows with a pair of shutters on each OR a bank of four windows with just one shutter at each end.

No or very little insulation was common up North too in Craftsman houses, and most houses before the 1970s or so.

Shutters do not belong on a Victorian house, (I would classify this house as a Folk Victorian) especially nonfunctional shutters that are not sized properly to the window. The siding you have probably has asbestos in it, unless it is pretty recent. The fake fireplace looks rather 50s-60s to me, although the arrangement is typical of Craftsman houses. Without being able to look at it closely, I would say these things all add up to a major remodel around 1960 or so. My house is similar in some ways. The nearly all white paint job is common too of this era.

A large trellis and some foundation planting will reduce the awkwardness of the small windows, which I am pretty sure are not original. If you want to do a major remodel, then matching the window on the second floor could work, or centering a 3-unit window with similar proportions, maybe with a stained glass transom. A box bay could look very nice too.

If you are up to tearing off the front entry and restoring a small porch, that would restore the Victorian flavor. A wrap around is possible too of course. I would terminate it at the edge of the enclosed porch.

Approach weatherizing the enclosed porch with care. Take care of vermin and structural issues first. Adding insulation can create moisture problems. Treat it like a small basement and completely enclose and air seal it, and add a dehumifier if needed, or open to the basement. I would keep the wood covers, or replace with similar, to keep it looking right, but enclose it behind. Venting crawlspaces is frowned on these days. It is worth consulting a specialty company before embarking on this.

Again-wow-thanks for all of the great suggestions.

We did have the siding tested, and it does have asbestos, but intact the current "expert" thinking is that it is no hazard, and is really a good siding material (this came from an asbestos remover and information from governmental agencies that advise homeowners about asbestos).

We're most interested in protecting the structure and making it look good, but respecting the period that it came from.

Thanks, again for the excellent suggestions. We are going to proceed cautiously.

Asbestos containing siding and roof tile has a lifespan of about 80 years and is not dangerous as long as it is left in place. Great stuff--too bad the dust causes lung cancer. Its use as a building material was never actually outlawed, but its use has dropped tremendously since the 1970s. Unfortunately, asbestos siding does tend to take away the detail on a Victorian and makes the window casings look rather flat. I think paint and landscaping are great ways to add back in some interest inexpensively. Other changes are possible, but the costs do add up. Personally, I think the fireplace and windows aren't so bad and would invest in other things for the house.

I like your house