How to Give Your House Slow-Down-and-Admire-Me Looks
Kerb appeal is about more than just the front fence, it's the details of your home's facade that make people admire it
There are many ways of layering your home’s frontage that make all the difference to its street appeal. Jan Gehl, the celebrated Danish architect and urban designer, says that people-friendly public architecture has enough detail that it makes you want to stop (or at least slow down to about 5 kilometres an hour) and appreciate what it is you are seeing, rather than just speeding past. You can also create 100-kilometre architecture, though, where all the detail and care – or lack thereof – that has been put into a building can be picked up as you zoom past on the highway at 100 kilometres an hour.
The same principle can be applied to a house’s street frontage and gardens. Are they appealing enough to make you want to slow down and take a further look, or are you keen to just walk/drive/zoom on by? Here are some simple ideas to help you make your home’s facade something people want to slow down and admire, instead of an indecipherable and unmemorable blur.
The same principle can be applied to a house’s street frontage and gardens. Are they appealing enough to make you want to slow down and take a further look, or are you keen to just walk/drive/zoom on by? Here are some simple ideas to help you make your home’s facade something people want to slow down and admire, instead of an indecipherable and unmemorable blur.
Softening the landscape is the job of plants, from turf to towering trees, from minimal schemes of a single specimen to massed planning in vast swathes of colour. The options are boundless and there is a suitable solution for all properties and garden sizes.
Connect with passersby
Making living areas private is important but too often we see a wonderful renovation or new build finished with a huge fence, which effectively blocks the view of the property from the street. There are, of course, children and pets that need to be kept safe and contained but a happy medium can be reached with a lower fence or localised fencing.
Making living areas private is important but too often we see a wonderful renovation or new build finished with a huge fence, which effectively blocks the view of the property from the street. There are, of course, children and pets that need to be kept safe and contained but a happy medium can be reached with a lower fence or localised fencing.
Embrace the streetscape
The thing with character homes is that they were designed to be viewed from the street, because they were built in a period where people walking, and not speeding cars, ruled. Their appeal is that they have that attractive facade complemented rather than obstructed by the surrounding landscaping.
That’s why many character-filled neighbourhoods’ street frontages are now protected by council regulations, to ensure that the look and enjoyment of the area is maintained.
The thing with character homes is that they were designed to be viewed from the street, because they were built in a period where people walking, and not speeding cars, ruled. Their appeal is that they have that attractive facade complemented rather than obstructed by the surrounding landscaping.
That’s why many character-filled neighbourhoods’ street frontages are now protected by council regulations, to ensure that the look and enjoyment of the area is maintained.
Rather than getting frustrated and annoyed about these restrictions, embrace them and turn them into a positive experience, knowing your home’s value will benefit from its position among similar homes. Pretty streetscapes are appealing to buyers.
As the house owner or resident, you are also an occupant of the street and of the wider community. You use the footpaths and the streetscape for your own pleasure. To be able to wander down streets filled with homes with attractive frontage landscaping that allows views of the properties makes a stroll so much more enjoyable.
Consider the finer details
Even in modern, car-oriented suburbs, I believe homes and their frontages deserve to be ‘5-kilometre architecture’. That way, we slow down, we appreciate, we take in detail. It takes us longer to walk down the street and we enjoy what we see as we are doing it. Take a test – walk past your own property at your average walking speed of a leisurely 5 kilometres an hour and see how its curb appeal rates.
Even in modern, car-oriented suburbs, I believe homes and their frontages deserve to be ‘5-kilometre architecture’. That way, we slow down, we appreciate, we take in detail. It takes us longer to walk down the street and we enjoy what we see as we are doing it. Take a test – walk past your own property at your average walking speed of a leisurely 5 kilometres an hour and see how its curb appeal rates.
Does the house, front yard and fence have enough detail to interest you, to keep your mind engaged? Does it have enough features, however subtle they may be, for your subconscious to register and start ticking over and building a memory of something nice for you to appreciate and take with you?
17 easy ways to maximise your home’s kerb appeal
17 easy ways to maximise your home’s kerb appeal
Avoid common planting blunders
Let’s address some common mistakes when landscaping a front yard. Improper placement of plants is common. It’s easy at the beginning while the plants are small to place lots of them together and make the garden look finished. But without considering what size the plants will grow to and what soil type or level of sunlight exposure is best for them, the result may not be harmonious.
Being short-sighted on planting will make life difficult later – you need to know the eventual height of the plants, how they spread, reproduce and what maintenance they require. Here, the homeowners have marked out the main entrance to the house with specimen trees, and then used swathes of smaller shrubs to open the path to the street, welcoming pedestrians.
Let’s address some common mistakes when landscaping a front yard. Improper placement of plants is common. It’s easy at the beginning while the plants are small to place lots of them together and make the garden look finished. But without considering what size the plants will grow to and what soil type or level of sunlight exposure is best for them, the result may not be harmonious.
Being short-sighted on planting will make life difficult later – you need to know the eventual height of the plants, how they spread, reproduce and what maintenance they require. Here, the homeowners have marked out the main entrance to the house with specimen trees, and then used swathes of smaller shrubs to open the path to the street, welcoming pedestrians.
Also consider whether sunlight will be blocked to your house when the plant or tree is fully grown. Be sure to pay attention to the label on the plant for its expected full-growth size so you know how much room it will need (as well as what conditions it prefers). Choose something that is going to look good all year round. A deciduous tree that will provide shade in the summer but loses its leaves in winter will regulate light into your property.
Remember also the view from inside your house. Before you plant, place an item of roughly the same fully grown size (such as an outdoor chair, a ladder or umbrella, even a tall pole) where you plan to put your tree or shrubs. Go inside and look through any applicable window to see what they’ll look like, how they might frame or block a view or light. Remember to consider any distant views you want to capture and equally those you want to hide, privacy from the street or from neighbours. The aim is for your view to be like a painting, the glass framed with beautiful trees and foliage.
Take a look at some interesting hedges
Take a look at some interesting hedges
Don’t overdo it
Less is more. Mass planting of a few appropriate plants provides harmony and looks better than a bit of everything. Symmetry and balance also never fails to deliver, so consider balancing your frontage with matching plants and trees either side of your entrance. A stroll around neighbourhoods you find appealing, or streets with similar houses to your own, is sure to yield inspiration.
Less is more. Mass planting of a few appropriate plants provides harmony and looks better than a bit of everything. Symmetry and balance also never fails to deliver, so consider balancing your frontage with matching plants and trees either side of your entrance. A stroll around neighbourhoods you find appealing, or streets with similar houses to your own, is sure to yield inspiration.
TELL US
What makes you stop and admire the front yards in your neighbourhood? Share your Comments below.
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See more noteworthy front yards
What makes you stop and admire the front yards in your neighbourhood? Share your Comments below.
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See more noteworthy front yards
You can’t beat nature. That’s why it’s important, when detailing a street facade, to include a soft landscaping approach to the house – and to both sides of the fence. A garden’s design can completely change people’s impression of a house.
Character homes vary greatly in design, but they are united through architectural features. The most appealing and welcoming of these streets of homes have established gardens, hedged frontages, broad grass verges and mature trees. When first building or renovating a house you may not have a garden that equals the house in its grandeur or complements it. Perhaps you don’t have a front garden at all. However, with careful planning an impressive and inviting garden can be established to match the house.
Kiwi front fences say Kia Ora to the world