Front Courtyard Oasis Before And After Makeover

Finally got to pull the final details together on this space we started on late last Spring.

One of the major selling points for me, when we were on the market to buy another home, was for it to have a gated front courtyard and I wasn’t going to settle for a house without it. After a long journey (over a year) of looking for a ranch style home in the right neighborhood that ticked almost all our must-haves, our persistence paid off. Imagine our excitement when we first pulled up in front of this house and saw those security gates with a decent sized front courtyard!  As soon as we stepped into the space with a rose vine growing on one side of the walls, heard the sounds of jolly birds chirping away, and looked up to see the pretty blue sky above our heads, we knew we found a little hideaway and a place we could truly transform into a vacation resort we would enjoy.

The first year we were in the house we had the exterior painted eggshell white with taupe and blueish gray accents. When we bought the house, everything including the garage door, shutters, and the front door was in a dark sandy taupe with what I like to call a “poo poo brown” which did not speak to our style taste at all. Thankfully, the bones of the house were good, and we saw the potential to give it a bungalow feel. That was a huge deciding factor for us purchasing it, given the fact the layout isn’t the norm in the area we’re in. Late last Spring, we had the unsightly flagstone that was loosely placed on the AstroTurf removed. It was so poorly designed that it made it difficult to walk on let alone to place any furniture out there since it was all uneven. We decided to redo it with a weathered brick style in a herringbone pattern with a straight border around – leaving enough perimeter space to plant wall climbing vines. After outfitting the perimeter with a drip irrigation system, we added dark mulch to keep moisture in and topped it off with dark lava rocks to add a good dose of richness and contrast against the house and brick.

The main goal was to transform it into a beautiful, lush, low fuss garden for relaxing and lounging. With that said, we are super excited to have this outdoor living area completed, where we could gather and enjoy breakfast in the morning and have pre-dinner wine together.

We can’t wait for the vines to cover all the popcorn stucco. I’m still debating whether or not I want to add an outdoor rug around the sitting area and string lights. The brick is so beautiful, I’m not sure if I want to cover it, although it would soften and define the sofa area. And as much as I love the ambiance of string lights, I feel it would be a little overkill since we already get the same vibe with the wall lights and candles dispersed throughout.

Remember when I found these pieces of driftwood and the rusted mangled up tin container here? Now, they’re all scattered throughout the courtyard as accent pieces. Have you spotted where they all are?

Pro Tip: If you want a relaxing garden to just enjoy, you need three things:

1. Low maintenance plants

2. Privacy and

3. Durable materials that don’t require a lot of upkeep…

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