If you’re like most homeowners, you’re squeezing more out of your outdoor space but overlooking a key area: the front yard. We’ve packed our backyards with outdoor kitchens, play and lounging areas, fire pits, and gardens. In the process, we’ve unintentionally missed out on front yard landscape improvements. Both the numbers and the experts support the value of upgrading your front yard landscape.
For starters, those improvements can add curb appeal and value to your home. More than half of homeowners — 57% — believe that beautiful landscaping and exteriors can increase a home’s resale value by at least $20,000, and 16% say the increase can be more than $50,000, according to a 2023 survey by Thumbtack and Nextdoor.
An outdoor landscape upgrade provides an estimated return of 100% when you sell, according to the National Association of REALTORS® 2023 outdoor “Remodeling Impact Report.” The survey defined an upgrade as adding a natural flagstone walkway, two stone planters, several flowering shrubs, a deciduous tree, and mulch.
“The front yard creates the first impression of your home,” says Janet Loughrey, a contributor to “Garden Design” and a garden photographer. “There are many ways to repurpose a front yard into a beautiful and functional space for relaxing, entertaining, or recreation.”
#1 Spotlight the Front Porch
Potential home buyers rank the front porch as one of the top home features they want in their next home, according to a 2024 survey from the National Association of Home Builders. Showcase it as a place to relax or connect with neighbors by providing seating areas, such as Adirondack chairs, a bistro set, a lounger, or a porch swing, Loughrey suggests.
Embellish the porch with flowery hanging baskets and use potted flowers in bursts of color next to the front door to “guide people’s eyes to the core of the home and in providing a welcoming look,” says Jackie Mosher, co-founder of Dzinly, a Royal Oak, Mich.-based company that helps homeowners and real estate professionals digitally design exteriors.
#2 Play Up Pathways With ‘Entangled Design’
An on-trend front yard idea is to channel “entangled design” with grass in-between pavers. “Whether driven by aesthetic requests or as a byproduct of maintaining onsite drainage, we’re seeing increased interest” in this, according to the “2024 U.S. Houzz Home Design Predictions” report from the home remodeling site Houzz. The design offers a more natural look that softens up pathways by breaking up large expanses of a hardscape.
#3 Add a Get-Together Space
No front porch? No problem. You can still create a porch feel. Pave a stone courtyard to accommodate patio furniture and for entertaining, Brundage says. “A walkway with a small pergola creates an instantly inviting feel that will make guests feel welcome.”
#4 Decorate Window Boxes
Dress up your home’s colors and architecture year-round with boxes filled with seasonal flowers, fitted along the bottom ledge of outside windows. Use three different types of flowers: greenery, a taller plant in the center, and a colorful accent flower, Mosher says. Not every window needs a flower box. Maybe it’s just the large picture window or the windows on a second story, she notes.
#5 Balance Privacy and Curb Appeal
With a front yard, “there’s a desire for privacy, yet an opposing desire to allow some of the home’s architectural elements to remain visible from the street,” says Jeremy Martin, CEO at Willow Gates Landscaping in Mohnton, Pa. Decide on any areas you want to shield. To block car traffic, consider placing trees in the corner of the front yard. “This allows the home to remain visible, but the viewing window is so short that passersby really can’t observe many details,” he says. “If the primary need is privacy from foot traffic, a more continuous hedge may be needed. A fence may work, but in the front yard is often limited to three feet or four feet high by local codes and ordinances.”
#6 Light Up Walkways
Add lighting along walkways for safety and nighttime ambience. Accent both sides of the porch, for instance with boxed lanterns in a black or antique bronze, Mosher suggests. Use spotlights pointed up at the house to highlight the architecture and up-lights on your favorite plants or trees. (Tip: Use solar-powered spotlights to bypass extra wiring costs.) Also, hang an oversized hanging pendant or chandelier above the front door. Pick a fixture about one-third or one-fourth the size of the front door, including the trim, Mosher recommends.
#7 Get Creative With Front Yard Garden Ideas
Don’t just tuck everything into a front yard flower bed. Use vertical planters, especially for a vegetable or herb garden. Lush greenery can comprise a living wall, dressing up an otherwise ordinary wall and adding privacy. Metal trellises and arbors can add height to a landscape. Consider a trellis or arbor covered with plant climbers like roses, clematis, or fragrant honeysuckle, for a welcoming front entrance, Loughrey says.
Spruce up a front yard garden by adding seating areas, like a bench. “These seating areas add dimension to a home and provide a charming look,” Mosher says.
#8 Incorporate Rocks (but Not Too Many)
River rocks or crushed gravel are lower maintenance alternatives to mulch. However, they’re pricier to install, don’t enrich the soil, and create a “hard” surface look, Martin says. Avoid using too much river rock and consider using plants with soft, flowing foliage, he adds. Also, boulders nestled within a landscape can “complement the home. “Boulders also work well to ease grade issues without using a block retaining wall.”
#9 Choose Plantings With Multiseason Appeal
“Choose plant varieties that have multiseasonal attributes such as colored leaves, flowers, berries, bark, and fall color,” Loughrey suggests. “Use evergreens and plants that bloom at different times for year-round color.”
Martin’s picks for trees: dogwoods, redbuds, and crab apples for their colorful blossoms. He also likes magnolias, such as the stellata (which tends to form as a large shrub rather than a tree, reaching about 15 feet tall); saucer magnolias (with vibrant colorful, spring blossoms); and the sweetbay magnolia, with fragrant, white flowers in the summer and large, red fruit in the fall.
Evergreens add greenery and privacy. Beware white pines and Norway spruce, though. They can reach up to 50 feet and overwhelm a yard, Martin says. Choose more-compact varieties, like the Vanderwolf pine (about 20 feet tall); the Red Beauty (about six feet wide and 10 feet tall); the Dragon Lady (about 12 feet wide and 20 feet tall); and the Nellie Stevens and Thuja Green Giant (both up to 15 feet wide and 25 feet tall).
#10 Weave in Water Features
“Adding a water feature can boost curb appeal while bringing an upscale feel to front yard get-togethers,” says Brundage. “Water fountains also are great for blocking background noise, such as traffic or noisy neighbors.” You could install a large, two-tier fountain with cascading water as a focal point or incorporate a cast stone fountain as a small landscape accent. But think about added maintenance and electrical costs (the change could add $20 to $150 a month to household bills, according to Angi estimates. For low-cost options, consider solar-powered outdoor water fountains.
