Landscaping Ideas for Split Level House Needed

[Palum6o]

I have a classic 1951 brick split level house that needs to be landscaped in the front. Everything is original as it was back in the 50's. I want to put in a different path to the front door with nice shrubs in the front. I'm planning for the spring. Has anyone recently landscaped a split level house and care to share your pics?

[JavaBrewer]

Some pictures would help...

[cantdrv55]

I jus had my place re-landscaped. It is a tri-level. You should post a pic of your place and I'll send you one of mine if it's applicable. I had the backyard done as well with a composite deck and waterproof ceiling under the floor for extra storage. I can't stand up under the floor but it's close.

[azasadny]

Boxwoods look nice and are easy to keep looking neat and tidy....

[Palum6o]

[DARISC]

Before I started landscaping I'd level the roofs to match and bring the garage floor level up to where it oughta be (a flat lawn is easier to mow). Of course the new sloped driveway will be expensive.

[Dueller]

Here's an interesting site on "Landscaping 101 for S/L Homes

http://www.splitlevel.net/landscaping-philosophy.html

[crashmy911]

Hide it with big shrubs!!!!!

[Palum6o]

Some after shots:

Flagstone and brick

[Dueller]

WOW!!! That turned oiut very well. Really draws attention to the entrance. Do the work yourself? Expanding the driveway really helped to balance it as well.

[Palum6o]

Oh I wish, I had the design of the walkway and I knew what materials I wanted. We had a landscaper do the driveway, mason work and the planting. We added a few plants since the photo. The driveway is now 20 ft wide so there's plenty of room for 2 vehicles side by side.

[Dueller]

Lemme guess...$12-15K?

[Palum6o]

Thats about right, well worth it in my opinion. If I did it myself, I'd probably be just finishing the excavation part of it.

[Dueller]

Originally Posted by Palumbo

Thats about right, well worth it in my opinion. If I did it myself, I'd probably be just finishing the excavation part of it.

I'll agree. IMO it really makes the house look more updated without diminishing the 50's charm and character. Before the house looked kinda non-descript...now a much more dramatic curb appeal. I know you didn'ty do it for sales purposes but I think you'd get more than your investment back if you were to sell.

Is that a metal roof?

[Zeke]

Originally Posted by Palumbo

Some after shots:

Flagstone and brick

I think that was very cleverly done. I don't know what plants are used, but the only suggestion I was going to make was to make the shrubs under the sorta high bay window come up to the sill. The wall below the window looks a little bald.

Also, if you aren't using the area at the left side of the garage, I'd put something tall in there, an evergreen.

Very nice house. We don't have brick houses in CA.

[Palum6o]

Those are skimmia - and there are three in front of the window, they will have a nice broad growth and will fill out the space. There is another home on the street with more mature skimmia and they look nice against the brick and should get taller than the azelias. You can't really see it, but there is also a kousa dogwood that will grow fuller and taller to fill the corner. The smaller plants on the left are vinca (myrtle) for low maintenance, however, I may change my mind on this. My wife recently planted 6 small begonias along the path on the right side. I'm also getting some low voltage lighting 3 bullytes and 2 pathlytes for subtle lighting should be completely done in the next few weeks.

[Tobra]

Earthquakes are sorta tough on brick.

Evergreens are sort of messy. How about a nice hardwood tree left of the driveway? Get something that won't drip sap all over your cars, nice to have a shady driveway.

[Palum6o]

The house is very solid - cinder block and brick, but then again we don't see many earthquakes here! The history of the brick is interesting, all taken from the Broad Street station after it burned down. Our little pocket neighborhood in Devon all used the brick from the wrecked part of the building.

Here's what the Broad street station used to look like: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Broad_Street_Station_(Philadelphia)

[Porsche-O-Phile]

Can be, but it's all in the detailing. You can make masonry just as good as any other material in a seismic zone.

The reality is 99% of the "brick" you see today is just veneer anyway. But even if you go with honest-to-goodness load-bearing brick exterior walls, they can be tied back & reinforced to make them plenty strong in earthquakes.

You're probably thinking of unreinforced masonry such as is seen in third-world countries and used to be seen in very old structures (before seismic retrofits were required). Those are just basically piles of bricks w/ grout. Yes, very dangerous when the ground starts moving.

[crashmy911]

Looks good. Not over crowded. Plants will fill in just fine. Less is best.