I am pretty serious about making your front entry beautiful. This is how we welcome our friends and family, give a preview of our style, and create the vibe for what it’s like at your house. Chances are, you’re into making your front entry lovely too – there are entire TV shows about curb appeal! The problem is, so many front entrances to homes are lacking. The walkways are too narrow and use boring materials, there’s no focal point, gathering space, or thought put into the layout, and the plants are sad – smushed up against the house and boring shrubs choices at best. I really want us to do better!

Apparently I can’t stop talking about it – here’s a blog post I wrote all about creating a front entry – check it out for more details! There’s also even more information in this post about a blank slate, new construction landscape. Both of these posts will give you great background info on what makes a front entry great.

Heard enough? We created a front entry design that you can download and use at your own house! It’s a great intro to what you get from working with Red Fern for a landscape design – you’ll have scaled planting plans and hardscape plans, 3D views, materials and plant lists, a bloom chart, a maintenance plan, AND plant info sheets for each plant in the plan. If you’re ready, grab it to start planning for this spring!

 

When you’re designing a front entry, here are three major things to think through:

• Space for people to comfortably walk
  That’s a walkway 5 feet wide! I talk about this all the time, but you can’t walk up to somebody’s door carrying a birthday gift and juggling a toddler on a 36-inch balance beam! Much less, you can’t easily walk next to another person without at least 60 inches. Make it wide, y’all.

• Quality layout and design
  Your walkway needs a focal point- something to draw the eye. It needs to aim toward the front door (you’d be surprised how tough that one is…) And it needs quality hardscape materials rather than crumbling leftover concrete.

• Good plant choices
  Front entries and front foundation plantings often consist of a couple evergreens shoved up against the house that will outgrow their space in a few years. The adage “right plant, right place” certainly applies here. Think about shrubs that max out at 4 to 5 feet in height and width, ornamental grasses that bring motion and energy in the winter, and ornamental trees for scale and beauty year-round.

If you’re intrigued by the idea of a better-than-builder-grade front entry, check out our FREE front entry design plan! Designed to be tweaked for your specific front yard, it’s got all the details you need: plant lists, hardscape lists, scaled drawings and 3D images. Get all the information you need to create your own gorgeous front entry!