Borealis Palace

I know what you’re thinking, “they are about to have a baby and here they are fantasizing about their front yard! where are their priorities?!” Read your mind? Well. Never fear dear readers. That’s what planning is for.

Spring is near and while we’ve been focusing a lot on the kitchen and baby plans, we’re taking a break to think outside the walls. Our front yard has been a thorn in my side for quiet some time. We’ve made feeble attempts to spice it up by adding the lovely berm, the stepping stones and pathway, and removing those dreadful awnings. But still, it’s ugly boring and the only thing that sticks out is that lame trellis we made last year (see image below). We finally realized that our attempts weren’t working because we were doing it patchwork style – that is to say, we didn’t have a well thought out plan of attack for the WHOLE front yard. We were looking through a telescope instead of a panorama. So – today I set out to put all of our front yard fantasies into one giant plan. We thought about what we wanted in the front yard, where we wanted it and how we wanted the outcome to look.

March 1, 2013

Here’s what we want:

• More privacy: There’s a bus stop a couple houses down from us, so we get a lot of pedestrian action, we also live on a pretty busy street, so we end up with closed curtains all the time. 
• More “Portland”: We love all the little bungalows and unique character so many of the houses in SE or NE have. We want a yard with more pizzazz and spunk.
• Less grass: We’ve tried getting rid of the moss growing in the front yard, but let’s face it – shit grows back the very next year. Most of the green you see on the left side by the driveway is 85% moss. In the summer, it dies and the whole yard turns into yellow hay.
• Less maintenance: Let’s face it, we aren’t going to have the free time like we used to, and on the weekends we’ll be wanting to play with our baby – not mow the lawn and weed. We need something that will take care of itself for the most part.
• More nature: Brian grew up on top of a mountain. I come from a southern home with a goose-haven and a sprawling backyard of wildlife. We want more shrubs, trees, ferns, ground covering.
• Less vinyl: I hate that ugly cream vinyl siding. Tearing it down and residing would cost waaaaay more than what we’d like, so we’d like some way to cover it up.

Fall 2013

Here’s how we’ll get what we want:

• More privacy: Build 2 more large trellis and position them in front of the bedroom window (on the right side). We’ll build a smaller trellis to balance out the left side of the house. These will help cover up the ugly vinyl too. We’ll also plant a small dwarf tree such as a Callery pear or Japanese Flowering Cherry tree on the left side of the yard to help cover the large living room window.
• More “Portland”: We’ll cover the front porch nook with reclaimed stained wood paneling. We’ll also replace the black metal screen-door with a stained wooden screen door. The green steps will be professionally sandblasted and painted red. Trellis plants will live in large pots and flowers will be planted in scattered colorful pots around the yard.
• Less grass: Dig up the grass and lay down river rock pebbles on the left-side of the yard, add large river rocks, plant more ferns, shade-friendly plants and bright-colored ground cover on the island and berm.
• Less maintenance: More rock, less grass and easier for pulling weeds. Yay!

The Ultimate Goal