Proud Homeowner Shares Stunning Before And After Photos: 'Wow! ...quite Lovely'

About 80% of homeowners have a grass lawn, considering it an important feature to look for when finding a new home. However, a growing number of people are discovering that the grass isn't always greener, and lawns are taking a back seat to stunning gardens that offer more in terms of biodiversity, pollinator support, and year-round visual interest.  Gardeners love to share stunning before-and-after makeovers to inspire each other, with posts on social media that date back over a decade still sparking discussion. One Reddit post from 12 years ago is a timeless favorite where a gardener shares before and after photos of just such a transformation, leaving one person to comment, "This is my dream home," and another to say, "Wow what a project! It turned out amazing. The garden is quite lovely."

In the post, u/alligatorhill shares an online photo gallery showing a remarkable change from a drab white house exterior with a typical front yard to a vibrant home with a charming cottage garden. The initial goal was to increase the privacy in their front yard, since pedestrians could see right into their living room from the sidewalk. In the before photos, you can see that with the lawn in front and shrubs and trees along the foundation, the plants blocked light but didn't provide any real privacy. In the after photos, the house is painted a dark purple (which readers find stunning). It offers a dramatic backdrop to the new front yard.

They say a picture is worth a thousand words, and that may be especially true when it comes to cottage gardens, where every square foot is packed with texture and color. From sod removal and path construction to the final results, the poster shares various stages of the journey. Tumbled pavers are used to construct several paths, providing just the right softness for a cottage garden vibe.

In the beginning of the process, everything was taken out, and the only plants that were actually saved were a large rosemary plant and a plum tree. According to the poster, the heavy clay soil was "terrible for planting," so after they had the sod removed, two truckloads of compost were tilled into the soil. Compost is one of the best ways to amend soil for a healthy garden, but these truckloads cost a couple of hundred dollars each, so it ended up being a significant part of the overall cost of the project. As far as the plants, most of them were purchased on sale. Little by little, over the course of the last few years, they have added perennials and shrubs, mostly inexpensive ones purchased for less than $5 from big box retailers.

Many of the people in the comments section of u/alligatorhill's post said they would love to have a front yard like this but don't want to make as big of a change to what they have. However, the tide is changing, as you can see in more recent conversations that there is far less hesitation from homeowners when it comes to ripping out their lawn and planting a different type of landscape.

Whether you choose a cottage garden style or something a little more tame, these backyard transformations prove hard work pays off. They may take a few years, but if you can peck away at your landscape a little at a time, you can achieve remarkable results. The advice shared by u/alligatorhill is to plan in layers when renovating your front yard like this. Additionally, think about the height and depth of plants, Both in vertical and horizontal terms, as well as considering things like texture and evergreen color, which add another layer to your cottage garden design.

Another tip this gardener shared about how to take your front yard from lawn to next-level cottage garden is to find good deals on plants. To keep costs low, they scored end-of-the-season plants on sale and found inexpensive annual seed packets to fill in holes while plants got established. When shopping for beautiful plants for your front yard, they also recommended visiting a local nursery, since the employees there can offer advice about what grows in your area.