Front Yard Landscaping: Introduction & The "Befores"

After years of rocking a dirt patch of a front yard - five years to be exact - we are putting in new landscaping.  F-I-N-A-L-L-Y!!!  The next phase of the #cadinteriorshomerenovation has kicked off, and we are continuing to turn our attention to the exterior of the house.

As a refresher, we spruced up the facade of the house at the end of 2017.  We replaced all the rotted board and batten throughout the exterior, patched any stucco cracks, added new stone, widened the front doorway, installed a new front door, hung new light fixtures, cased all the windows and openings, put in new gutters, and painted the entire house!  On the backside of the house, we also replaced all the old sliding doors and installed new french sliders.  A few years ago, the old crumbling brick walkways were replaced with new pavers.

Here's a current photo of the front exterior pre-landscape:

Now that the exterior "hard" improvements have been addressed, it's finally time to put in the softscape/landscaping.  Our front yard is not big, but it needs major help to amp up the curb appeal.

We hired a local landscape contractor to help us transform it.  Neither my hubby nor I have a clue about landscaping - especially what plants would thrive in our local climate and terrain - so we hired out.  I'm actually having my hubby handle the landscaping because it's just not my thing.  I just want it done and to look pretty. 😉

We had two primary requirements for the landscape design:

• Must be low-maintenance (we are not gardeners)
• Must be drought-tolerant (we live in Southern California, which is considered a desert climate)

The crew already tilled the soil and cleared the above-ground weeds.  The old sprinkler system (likely original or near original to the house) was also replaced with a new irrigation system, which is on a timer!  Putting in a new sprinkler system was a significant portion of the cost, but well worth it in the long run.

Over the past week, our yard was on a timer to be watered daily to allow for weed growth.  This process is essential to preparing the soil for new plantings.  It helps ensure that any old plant matter, specifically the crabgrass and weeds/roots below ground, have died off.  We are now at the end of the "weed germination" phase - which lasted about a week from when the soil was tilled.  Up next... physically plotting out the landscape and installing the plants AND trees!

You can follow me on Instagram to see the behind-the-scenes evolution of the front yard transformation.  (Note: I saved the related stories under "Front Makeover")