Before & After: What Change Would You Make?

Layers of good changes with this renovation, below.
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Noticed a change I've made numerous times, different than, below, in the 'after'.
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In the 'after' pic, below, what is the glaring change you/I would make?
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Especially nice, below, is creating a walkway from the street to the front door, changing the front door, adjunct to the service court, aka driveway.  Instead, front door is adjunct to the front yard.  Lovely to enter a home thru a garden.
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Great contrast, creating the arcs at garage & front porch.
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Have I diverted you enough?  Is there a change you would make in the 'after' pic, below?  Yes, there are smaller changes I would make, but they are quibbles.  Mere quibbles.  For me, there is a big change I would make.


Pic, above, here.
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In the 'after' pic, above, I would move the mailbox.  It is crowding the front yard, scaled too large, and has zero need to out rank the front door.
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Yep, I've moved a lot of mailboxes.  Heads-up, zoning/code/deed restrictions must be met.
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A great renovation, hope they've entered it into a local trade competition, it's a winner.
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Garden & Be Well,    XOT

The Proper Direction of Stewardship in a Garden

"We discover G*d's presence inside whenever we override our ego's pride and courageously put aside all that we hide."  Rabbi David Aaron

From the mailbox & gravel drive, above, my best work begins.  

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Getting here was decades.  Learning simplicity & the humility to let the site speak without reference to my 

skills.  Honestly, I wonder how Providence has time for anyone else, attention lavished upon my character defects never wains.
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Nor must I 'own' this site.  My pride/ego is rooted in the work.  A walled orchard is built, a gravel drive spread, potager planted and more, and with each, they are taken by the owner's hands before my feet leave the site.
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I'm in love with this site, and so is the owner.  It is very much the 3 of us.  That is how strongly we relate to these acres.  She is a good steward of her acres and in return I get to watch her acres in stewardship of her.
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Gifts of loving these acres arrive in many forms & layers.  Telling us we are doing the right thing/s.
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Tasha Tudor's favorite line of poetry, 'take joy', in action.  Joy is always there, but it must be taken.
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What does any of this have to do with you?  Stewardship.  Not your stewardship of the garden.  But the stewardship your garden has for you.  Do you have that in your life?  Are you in relationship with your garden?  Does it fill you with joy, enrich your spirit, give you energy just seeing it from the windows of your home?  Good news, it's not about acres & money.  It's putting the garden into relationship with your home & life with historic templates.
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This reads a bit like an altar call.  Ironic, she says her deep feeling with her garden is 'abiding', I feel 'atonement' in mine.
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Garden & Be Well,   XO Tara
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Pic at jobsite this month.  Silent Partner, I can see your face reading this and know you understand the metaphorical use of filthy lucre.
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My garden is one of my best friends, unconditionally loving, rich in narrative.  A language I can understand.  People?  No, easier to understand my garden.  
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1.  If you want a beautiful garden & home filling you with joy, and causes you to tap the brake pedal, as you look in the rear view mirror heading out, become my client, local or on-line.
   

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   Award winning speaker, hire me to speak to your group, local or out-of-state.

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   Garden books by Tara Dillard, Amazon.

 

LANDSCAPE DESIGN: DETAILS, DETAILS, DETAILS

Almost a century and its architecture survives. Can you tell this home was enlarged? Of course not, URBAN PLANNER loves the history of her home. Ochre-with-hints-of-chartreuse paint matches a brick selection. Light fixture? Original.

Door, above, & all the hardware? Original.

Vanishing Threshold with the curtains. Broad sweep at one and traditional at another. Why Vanishing Threshold? Because those curtains make me want to go inside.

Pots, above, are diversions.

I don't even want to know the thought processes, above, placing the meter.

Path & driveway were redone. Path to the front door was chosen to match stones on the home. A loose-gravel-look for the drive. Lending character & age vs. a disgusting bright white plain concrete drive.

Along the drive, above, pressure washed stone/brick. Don't you think this looks like a home in Europe?

Simple gas lantern. Not large or fancy. Perfection. In character & integrity with the home.

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Want a surprise? This is the front of the house, posted yesterday, with the urban chicken coop & honey bees.

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URBAN PLANNER called me to consult about their new mailbox. Original stones & bricks are available. She found art glass to create a mosaic for the numbers. We discussed placement of the mailbox (driveway-utility pole-fire hydrant-sidewalk are petty tyrants, ugh) and style.

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Constraints made mailbox placement easy. Architecture & era of the house made a style choice easy. Choose a cross of Mission, Art & Crafts, Art Nouveau.

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Can't wait to see the results.

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Garden & Be Well, XO Tara

DINKY STINKY

Beautiful homes with dreadful mailboxes are a particular pet peeve. They have such a Pin-The-Tail-On-The-Donkey picaresque quality.
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Susanne Hudson says, Dinky-Is-Stinky.
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This gorgeous house will soon have a new mailbox & planting. Graceous lawn will envelope the new mailbox & a vine will grace its exterior.
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No more dancing the Dinky Stinky.
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Garden & Be Well, XO Tara