What climate zone are you in or where are you located? Can you take a photo that shows the entire front yard? I can't tell where you park or how guests walk to your front door. If you search Houzz for 'entrance gardens' you will see many examples of homes with wide paths leading from the street to the front door. Do you like to garden? You have a lovely house and would not want to hide any of the porch area so keep the plantings around the porch low. You can plant some taller plants at the base of each post but these should also stay low and not get higher than 3' to 4'. It looks like the garage may be in the back of the house with a fence along the driveway. You could have low growing roses along the fence and flower beds at the front of the house if you like to garden. Location and more pictures would help us to give suggestions for the garden.

There's a few but Google Sketchup is probably the most available. The thing is, you'd be better off dealing with your architect for this because they would be better to tell you what materials are actually practical, they would know costs, installation times, etc. For example you might not be able to do a lot of masonry in heavy seismic zones and certain other types of cladding may require thicker foundation, etc. Not only that there are a myriad of different ways to stucco a home and so forth. I mean you could use Sketchup to mockup some ideas, but this is work that is honestly best done in concert with an experienced professional.

Hi anne, that's what I was originally thinking, my issue is what colour I use for the 'pop' :) I keep coming back to a teal/turquoise colour (it's one of my favourite colours!!), I love blues, purples, teal/turquoise - many on here have suggested yellow but I'm really not sure about it. Here in New Zealand we're in Autumn, nearing Winter so uncertain about the yellow. I found these cushions that I've fallen in love it, and wondering how I could make these work.. do I try teal and mustard together, as an interior designer suggested?

Hi Courtney, Great to hear from a 'native' fan. They can be such a good choice and when well used can result in a lower maintenance garden with lots of textural highlights. All the best finding that home when the time is right.... best regards Craig Wilson FORM garden architecture