Brick homes can look stark and imposing because of the large mass of brick that is seen in front of the home. In order to improve curb appeal for the front of a brick home, it is necessary to soften the harsh lines.
Plants such as trees, shrubs, and perennials are truly the easiest tools to use in reducing an imposing structure down to a visually appealing structure. Curb appeal is improved greatly with the appropriate plantings. In order to try out what plants work best for a homeowner, try utilizing the iScape app as a way to layout the plant structure inexpensively before installation.
3 Tips to Soften a Brick Home with Landscaping
- Use the Color Wheel When Landscaping with a Brick Home – The exterior brick color might lean white, gray, tan, pink, orange, or red. Some bricks are multi-colored. Find the color which you feel is the dominant color and decide from a design perspective if you want to calm the color or compliment the color. Red, for instance, has green as it’s opposite on the color wheel. Strong traditional green colors will compliment and contrast the red. A calming color to use with red is a color that sits next to it on a color-wheel, such as violet flowers or use white as a neutral. Orange’s color wheel opposite is blue. Using blue-gray foliage plants will stand out strongly from the street. Yellow flowered plants would be a warm, yet calming combination, because the colors reside on the same side of the color wheel.
- Plant the Edges of a Brick Home – When looking at the front of a brick home, it often looks very angular. In order to soften the home’s look, it is important to plant the edges. A loose large flowering hydrangea or evergreen shrub planted on the corner of the home softens the hard lines a bit. Trees can also be used, but must be planted far enough away from the corner of the home to not interfere with underground systems.
- Entryway and Walkway Gardens for Better Curb Appeal – Another way to soften a brick home is to bring the entry of the home into focus. Using the entry as a focal point with a well-painted door and updated hardware is a first step. Then surround the entryway with conifers or another tall evergreen plant – either in ground or in matching pots. Bring the walkway into play as part of the entryway, by planting on either side of the sidewalk so that shrubs or perennials make a welcoming aisle leading to the front door. This technique pulls your eye away from the hard outer edges and brings your eye into the welcoming front door area.
In this before and after photo sequence, you can see how the iScape app is utilized to design the area in front of a brick home before ever breaking ground. This can save money and enhance the design by enabling a landscaper to make changes in advance of breaking ground.
Download iScape now and discover smart ways to improve curb appeal with landscaping creativity. Or, if you need some design help, Hire-a-Designer now and let the iScape Pro’s help guide you! iScape it!
