Outdoor makeover contest Week 2: Neighborhood eyesore

I realize this is a “backyard” makeover, but I am hoping that our front yard will be considered.

Our front yard is the eyesore of the neighborhood. Just ask any of our neighbors — they will agree!

Like our backyard, the front yard is missing any blooming flowers or plants. The only shrubs do not match or are cut down to stumps.

During the warm months we like to visit out front with our neighbors as they play with their children and/or walk their dogs. This is a friendly neighborhood with nicely manicured lawns except ours! We want to redo our yard, but need guidance and help!

Please consider our front yard as part of your backyard makeover contest. It is an embarrassment and neighborhood eyesore.

Transformation by Northwest Lighting and Accents

Budget: $2,000*

* Lighting products only

From the experts:

This house was ready for a front entry makeover, and it doesn’t take much to make a big impression. They had a perfect space in front of their porch to add some beautiful and easy-to-maintain landscaping. By adding LED landscape lighting, they can be confident that their lighting will be as easy to maintain as their landscaping! And don’t forget about the outdoor lantern; we suggest resizing the fixture to the appropriate scale so that it provides ample illumination and doesn’t look too small for the home. Now this family can be proud of their home and have an inviting place to hang out with their friends and neighbors.

A. Upgraded the outdoor lantern and resized it to the appropriate size for the home. A rule of thumb when sizing outdoor lights is to select a light that is approximately 1/3 the height of the doorway.

B. For a unique approach to house numbers, we added the numbers to a large decorative boulder and illuminated them with an LED accent light.

C. LED path lights were added to the new landscaping to highlight the foliage and provide a safe walkway when outside at night.

D. An LED accent flood light was added to highlight an ornamental tree and add interest to the landscaping.