how about keeping the brick wall and the 'path' section leading up to the front door (last photo) and dying the brick with Dyebrick..and then removing the garden section in between the path and the drive and putting in some plants to soften the look instead ☺

Thanks Louise! I didn't know that you could dye bricks... What colour would you suggest? And how might you arrange the plants... And what plants..?! (Sorry, we are clueless)

I had a brick extension built but the bricks couldn't be matched exactly so bought a sample pot (£10?)from www.dyebrick.com and diluted it down and it's worked really well. A sample pot did my 2 walls of the extension! It lasts for life so do a hidden area first. go on the website and checkout the gallery. perhaps try 'brick-age'.? I just thought with a limited budget it might do the trick for now. As for plants (I'm no gardener!) look for what you do like, and see if they will like the your plot, sun, shade, soil type etc and go from there. If you really hate the brick path you can by replica exterior victorian tiles from all leading online tile shops. best of luck ☺

Hi,
I hope you can restore the wall. It would be nice to add an iron wall railing on top of the wall.
Keeping your budget in mind, I would keep the path and reuse the rest of the bricks.
I made a design sketch for you that leaves space to get out of the car.
You can adapt the plants to your liking of course, but I gave up you a few ideas too.
I thought you could do a block of evergreen Ilex crenata or box. Do a border with the grey pavers around that.
A topiary tree either side of the bay window, with blue flowering geranium under them.
Lavender with white shrub roses along the wall.

Hope it gives you some inspiration. Good luck with your project.

since you have a tight budget I wouldn't remove something someone has spend a fair bit on but I would ad to it.

So keep the bricks, age them with dye. Buy wrought iron railings and a gate. Any money left you should buy some big planters for greenery each side of the bay- I like the faux lead ones.

I think this will use up your total budget. Later you can retile the step.

Carolins, thank you so much for that sketch! It is really very helpful. I especially appreciate that you named some potential plants. One question: In the part around the central square, are you think I will leave some of the bricks?

In general I really like railings, but we live in a small cul de sac of victorian houses and no house has railings... I think it may look a bit out of place in this context... But I will think more on it. Thanks!

What carolins said! Lift the slabs - much better for the environment / drainage :)

Brick paving is usually laid on sand with sand with sand in the joints so no problems with drainage.

I think softening the space with areas of planting would improve it enormously. A large classic pot by the front door with an evergreen will provide year-round interest.
You don't say if you need this area for bin storage but, if not, I would consider lifting part of the bricks and replacing with planting.

It would be worth keeping the outer Grey blocks which are most likely cemented in and form a nice framework to the garden, including reinforcing the path to the front door and lift the Cream blocks which will almost definitely be laid directly on sand. Infill with a decorative gravel (not pea shingle) which compliments the existing hard materials and either create a central knot garden using low Box hedging or provide a statement pot in the centre of the garden (inline with the bay window) planted with a large specimen shrub or similar. The key is to keep it simple and use a limited palette of materials and quality planting for an eye catching and attractive frontage.

Yes, I would leave, or reuse the bricks around the central green block. In my sketch I assumed the space between the bay window and the wall is 300 cm. You may have to adjust my ideas so it will work in the space. Maybe even leave the central block of green out and only do the borders next to the bay and along the wall. Breaking up and softening the space with plants will make a huge difference and the yellow and grey bricks will look much better.

Thanks everyone for all your suggestions. We are just starting our kitchen renovation so the front garden will probably be used to temporarily store the rubble taken out. I will post pics when we address the garden though!

Finally got to the front garden! Still more to do, but as you see we took up most of the paving stones - the footpath is still to be tiled. Total cost so far £460 - £200 on plants, £100 on top soil/compost, £80 to get someone to take away the rubble and £80 on the gravel. There are lots bulbs that you can't yet see and hoping to plant a few ever greens still.

Looks fab!

Thanks Carolina! I gave my husband your drawing but he went off piste with it - so I moved the laurel to the middle, but the roses still at the front. The lavender is along the sides and mostly Roxanne by the house. It was super helpful to have something to work with, really appreciate it.

Wow looks lovely.

You're welcome. I like what you've done with it. My drawing was only meant to give you some inspiration :-) Would definitely add more plants, so that after a while you won't see the soil anymore. Where plants are, weeds won't be.

When the bulbs come into flower next spring, it'll be lovely. Hope you'll have lots of enjoyment from your lovely front garden.

garden in bloom!

Spring has sprung! Lovely :-)

Wow, fabulous!

Lovely!

That's lovely! I bet it smells lovely too :-)

What a wonderful thread !!!! Looks amazeballs . Great work everyone ! This is why Houzz is brilliant !!!

What a lovely transformation :-)

Such an improvement, it looks lovely.

Love it! What a great transformation ❤️

inspirational!

I think it looks absolutely beautiful. You must be so pleased with the result

we need to do ours: which are the plants you are most pleased with? I already know lavender should do well in ours, and the odd rose, but I am deciding in soft perennials and would love to know what you liked...

Thanks all. Resh, it’s a south facing garden. They all worked well bar a few alliums I planted which have never bloomed and the snowdrops come up rather poorly. The different geraniums and roses and lavender have all taken really well. I fear the lavender will get very Woody quickly but I chopped them back quite significantly and they look fine so far. I also planed pansies but the geraniums grew over them this year. Good luck!

Hi there

i know this is an old post but i’ve just come across it. And amazed by the responses and the incredible transformation. @Carolina i wondered if you might be able to help me with a similar front garden project?

Thanks!

It still looks amazing (if I do say so myself!)

It looks so wonderful in those pics! And hoe incredible that you did it for that price too

@twamleyk, prove it! 😊

Here you go!

It just gets better....stunning

Oh wow! That's lovely!!!! That has brought a huge smile to my face. You obviously have green fingers. Glad it's turned out so amazing!