In the front yard, it can be challenging to strike a balance between presenting a welcoming exterior and providing privacy to homeowners. Wall-to-wall fences or tall hedges might offer the most privacy, but the fortress-like effect they create sends a less-than-inviting message to the neighborhood. On the other hand, a front yard without any privacy can feel too open and exposed, particularly if you live on a busy street or would like to include front yard seating. The following six front yards all fall somewhere in the middle, balancing a degree of seclusion from passersby while still presenting a welcoming view from the street.
Before Photo
1. Entry Courtyard in Los Angeles
Before: The original front yard of this bungalow in West Los Angeles consisted of a lawn running from the sidewalk to the porch. They hired garden designer Akiko Komori of Yard Maven to help them reimagine their front yard.
The home is located a short block away from a major thoroughfare, and the homeowners were craving more privacy from the busy street. They were also looking to replace their water-intensive lawn with low-water plants better suited to Southern California’s dry climate.
Before: The original front yard of this bungalow in West Los Angeles consisted of a lawn running from the sidewalk to the porch. They hired garden designer Akiko Komori of Yard Maven to help them reimagine their front yard.
The home is located a short block away from a major thoroughfare, and the homeowners were craving more privacy from the busy street. They were also looking to replace their water-intensive lawn with low-water plants better suited to Southern California’s dry climate.
Komori’s new design features an entry courtyard enclosed by 4-foot-tall stucco walls to boost privacy and complement the home’s exterior surfaces. She came up with a new planting palette of low-water perennials, ornamental grasses and succulents that changes with the seasons and provides interest and color year-round and also cuts down on the client’s landscape water use significantly.
“The homeowners appreciate the buffer and feel safe, whether they are heading out or coming home,” Komori says. “Layered plantings that replaced the lawn further draw your eyes to the foreground, rather than straight to the house.”
“The homeowners appreciate the buffer and feel safe, whether they are heading out or coming home,” Komori says. “Layered plantings that replaced the lawn further draw your eyes to the foreground, rather than straight to the house.”
A turf removal rebate program offered by the local water agency helped offset the cost of the new wall. “You do not necessarily need a tall fence or hedge to enhance privacy,” Komori says. “Planting small trees or flowering shrubs in a few key places can deflect prying eyes while keeping the yard open and welcoming.”
2. Layered Plantings in Austin, Texas
A combination of a porch and layered plantings makes for a charming, semiprivate front yard for this home in Austin, Texas. The planting design by B. Jane Gardens includes a mix of lower-water plants arranged in cascading heights. The lowest growers, such as silver carpet (Dymondia margaretae) accented with agave, are planted closest to the street.
A combination of a porch and layered plantings makes for a charming, semiprivate front yard for this home in Austin, Texas. The planting design by B. Jane Gardens includes a mix of lower-water plants arranged in cascading heights. The lowest growers, such as silver carpet (Dymondia margaretae) accented with agave, are planted closest to the street.
One layer back finds mounded ornamental grasses, cactus and asparagus ferns. Taller shrub roses, a palm and evergreen hedges form the mid-height layer around the porch for privacy.
Two trees — an oak on the left and a crape myrtle (Lagerstroemia indica) on the right — screen the windows of the home from the street and provide a leafy view from inside.
The designer also included a small recirculating fountain (seen to the right of the walkway in the first photo) that helps mask noise from street traffic.
Two trees — an oak on the left and a crape myrtle (Lagerstroemia indica) on the right — screen the windows of the home from the street and provide a leafy view from inside.
The designer also included a small recirculating fountain (seen to the right of the walkway in the first photo) that helps mask noise from street traffic.
3. See-Through Fence Plus Grasses in Portland, Oregon
A few subtle privacy-boosting design moves by Pistils Landscape Design + Build helped transform the front yard of this Craftsman home in Portland, Oregon.
The first was the addition of an acid-etched concrete retaining wall to bridge the grade change from the home’s foundation to the sidewalk. The new wall elevates the slim front yard from street level and gives plantings a boost in height for more screening.
A few subtle privacy-boosting design moves by Pistils Landscape Design + Build helped transform the front yard of this Craftsman home in Portland, Oregon.
The first was the addition of an acid-etched concrete retaining wall to bridge the grade change from the home’s foundation to the sidewalk. The new wall elevates the slim front yard from street level and gives plantings a boost in height for more screening.
The second design move was adding a custom cedar-and-steel fence, with lush plantings — including tall ornamental grasses, hydrangea, heuchera and sedum — growing on both sides. Now the homeowners can enjoy looking down on plantings from the porch without feeling completely exposed to the street.
You can get a better sense of the grade change from the foundation of the home to the sidewalk from this view along the side yard. Pistils Landscape Design + Build continued the retaining wall along the side of the corner-lot property with cedar fencing and sidewalk-side plantings of coreopsis, sedum and ornamental grasses.
Before Photo
4. Staggered Screens in Toronto
Before: If the original front yard of this Toronto home on the left had anything going for it, it was definitely private — albeit difficult to reach the front door through a tangle of vines and overgrown hedges.
Green Apple Landscaping came up with a new plan for the entrance that balanced privacy with a more welcoming entry.
Before: If the original front yard of this Toronto home on the left had anything going for it, it was definitely private — albeit difficult to reach the front door through a tangle of vines and overgrown hedges.
Green Apple Landscaping came up with a new plan for the entrance that balanced privacy with a more welcoming entry.
A series of staggered cedar screens appealed to the homeowners’ modern style preferences and were strategically placed to open or conceal views both from home to street and to the next-door neighbors.
The use of plantings instead of fences in sections along the sides of the yard creates a friendlier conversation with neighbors’ yards while still maintaining some privacy.
The use of plantings instead of fences in sections along the sides of the yard creates a friendlier conversation with neighbors’ yards while still maintaining some privacy.
The designers planted tall but airy feather reed grasses (Calamagrostis x acutiflora) and yew hedges (Taxus baccata), which stay green through winter.
5. Midcentury Modern Entry in Arizona
A breeze-block screen offers partial privacy for this front entrance by Coffman Studio in Tempe, Arizona, but still provides a glimpse of the welcoming bright orange front door.
A breeze-block screen offers partial privacy for this front entrance by Coffman Studio in Tempe, Arizona, but still provides a glimpse of the welcoming bright orange front door.
Setting the screen back from the street, aligned with the side of the building, cordons off the patio outside the entrance of the home as a semiprivate space. The orange pot outside the screen acts more as an offering to the neighborhood — bringing a bright spot of color that ties in with the front door. Colorful low-water plantings appropriate to the desert climate further boost curb appeal and provide a nectar- and pollen-rich buffet for visiting pollinators.
6. Welcoming Front Yard Patio in Minneapolis
As part of a larger landscape design for a Minneapolis home, Southview Design reconfigured the front yard to include a front courtyard where the homeowners could enjoy evening drinks and conversation with neighbors. “[The clients] wanted it to be inviting to surrounding neighbors — sort of an open invitation — when the homeowners were out there to come on over and visit,” Karen Filloon of Southview Design says.
A low limestone seat wall sits at roughly 22 inches high, according to the designer. The wall creates some separation between the patio and the street while acting as a handy spot for overflow seating when neighbors stop by for a chat. The tumbled bluestone patio is large enough for a seating area and a small recirculating fountain. Lush plantings of periwinkle, ivy, calibrachoa, geranium and a hydrangea tree add softness and color.
As part of a larger landscape design for a Minneapolis home, Southview Design reconfigured the front yard to include a front courtyard where the homeowners could enjoy evening drinks and conversation with neighbors. “[The clients] wanted it to be inviting to surrounding neighbors — sort of an open invitation — when the homeowners were out there to come on over and visit,” Karen Filloon of Southview Design says.
A low limestone seat wall sits at roughly 22 inches high, according to the designer. The wall creates some separation between the patio and the street while acting as a handy spot for overflow seating when neighbors stop by for a chat. The tumbled bluestone patio is large enough for a seating area and a small recirculating fountain. Lush plantings of periwinkle, ivy, calibrachoa, geranium and a hydrangea tree add softness and color.
Your turn: Tell us how you balance privacy and curb appeal in your front yard in the Comments.
Content provided by Lauren Dunec Hoang at Houzz.com
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