This Post is in partnership with Yardzen. 

When we bought our home, we knew we had our work cut out for us. But it had good bones (both inside and out), which is why we felt confident putting in our offer. We’ve done a lot to the exterior ourselves: painting the exterior, painting the fence, chopping down shrubs and trees, planting new plants, putting down DG, rocks and pavers, fire pit, porch stencil, lighting, shade etc. However, I had some bigger ideas for our property as a whole, but wasn’t sure how to implement them and needed a bit of help with the design. I started seeing Yardzen designs popping up on my Instagram feed and thought how incredible it would be to have their experts weigh in on my ideas. For this round of designs I wanted to see what our property would look like with a $30,000 budget (planning on chipping away at the projects little by little).

FRONT YARD WISH LIST:

1. Add a fence

2. Add more privacy

3. Create a solution for the weedy grass, a more drought tolerant solution

4. Change the shape of the pathway

5. Change the shape and material of planter beds.

I think I’d like more of a white stucco fence, or a horizontal modern wood fence, or a mix of those two. And have the privacy from plants around the permitter, rather than up against the house. I want to be able to see the arched window and all the beautiful Spanish details. I’m not super in love with this, but it’s okay, it’s the first draft, and I can still make edits, and give feedback.

So the fence was one of the challenges I was facing when trying to figure out how we could implement one. We live in Southern California and our property lines and homes are right on top of each other. So with the fence where it is here, we wouldn’t be able to open our car doors, which was the same problem I was having. Hmm…. So what to do now??

DRIVEWAY WISH LIST:

1. Privacy Plants along the house

2. Weed Free Grass Alternative: DG, Rocks or Turf

   I’d like privacy plants along the driveway, but they’d need to be tall and skinny as we also park cars and the Airstream here. But there aren’t any cars in the driveway, it would be nice to look out at greenery instead of the neighbors (no offense neighbors:).

I’m also thinking more earthy tones like California Gold, DG or turf would be another options.

SIDE YARD WISH LIST:

1. Privacy

2. Stucco or modern wood fence

I love the idea here, but I’d like to achieve privacy without fully hiding the house.

BACK LANDING AREA WISH LIST:

1. Create a more cohesive outdoor entertaining area

2. Create a solution for the stained cement

3. Possibly add a landing deck out the back door instead of the railing.

I really love this deck idea. I love how they warmed up this sitting area so we don’t have to use outdoor rugs everywhere.

I think I’m going to add Yarzen’s new Windows and Doors package, specifically for the garage. I looked into doing a glass garage door, but I’m really picturing centered large glass doors that either fold away or glide away, creating an indoor outdoor space including the garage.

I like how they opened up the back porch with the little deck. But I think the back door and windows also need some Yardzen loving as well. The windows right there are for my office, and someone installed cheap vinyl windows before we moved in, and you can’t even see out of them. Oh, and our backdoor is pretty much hollow from termites, so that’s gotta go too. I’d love to see french doors or something??

I’d love to switch out the Palm Springs grandma porch we have going on at some point. Thinking wood, but a little more earthy and rustic. Thoughts? And I’d love to see more cacti and desert vibes…

BACKYARD GOALS:

1. Bring everything together and make it look “finished”

2. Get rid of the grass - turf?

3. Finish the planter beds with fresh rocks or DG

4. Dial in the fire pit area

5. Add a modern cowboy pool

6. Add privacy along the back fence

As you can see, our grass is super sad. I will say though that we tried to keep it going, but the weeds took over. And with the lack of water in California, it doesn’t feel right to me to be wasting water on grass when we could replace it with beautiful turf.

Soooo I wanted a pool, but not this. We decided to hold off on an in-ground pool for now, but I was picturing more of a modern wood framed cowboy pool.

This is the first draft. I can still make edits, changes and revisions. I think we had a little disconnect on the style and vibe that I was going for, but that’s okay. When I went through the Yardzen quiz, they gave me multiple choice photos to choose from so they could get my vibe. However there were a few sections where I wasn’t feeling any of them. I think because our home is from 1920 and very specific being Spanish, it’s not your typical build.

I want to stay true to the style and era of my home, but also incorporate my own personal style. My personal style is a mix of California Spanish Bungalow meets Joshua Tree, meets Mykonos, and a little Surf Shack vibe…. is that even a thing?? However, I’m 100% confident that we can get there. My only feedback would be to add in a few other options for style choice, because I don’t think my historic bungalow had a category.

So now I think my plan is to throw out the budget and have Yardzen show me what the full potential of my property really is. I know over the next few years we can chip away at everything so I say let’s go for it.

Stay tuned!

And PLEASE share your comments below, I want to hear from you!