Pacific NW Forest front yard ideas — curb appeal on your own house
A forest front yard says the house belongs to its place: ferns, moss, a vine maple, a mossy boulder by the walk. It thrives in shade and rain, which is exactly what most Northwest front yards have.
A real front yard, redesigned by Landscape AI in the pacific NW forest style. Yours is generated from your own photo.
The walk to the door
A flagstone or gravel path under a vine maple, ferns brushing the edges, a basalt column or two as markers. Add a cedar bench near the door and it becomes a porch without one.
Against the house
Sword ferns, salal and evergreen huckleberry against the house; hostas and heuchera under the eaves; moss allowed on the stone.
Four pacific NW forest moves that change the street view
- Replace the shaded lawn with sword ferns and a woodchip or gravel path.
- Plant a vine maple where it frames the front door.
- Set a mossy boulder or basalt column beside the walk.
- Let the north side go to moss on purpose.
Front yard rules that hold in every style
The walk to the door is the design
Most front yards fail because the path is an afterthought — a narrow strip of concrete from the driveway. Make it at least four feet wide, give it a destination (a lit door, a planter, a bench), and the rest of the yard organises itself around it.
Fewer plants, more of each
A front yard is seen at speed and from a distance. Five kinds of shrub in a row read as noise; one kind repeated reads as a decision. Mass plantings are cheaper, easier to maintain, and look better in every style.
Light the house, then the path
Curb appeal is a 24-hour job. A couple of wall-wash lights on the house and low path lights to the door do more for how the yard feels at night than any plant.
Match the house, not the magazine
A zen yard on a colonial and a cottage border on a modern box both look off. Pick the style that shares your house's lines — or, faster, try three on a photo of your actual front yard and see which one belongs.
See pacific NW forest on your front yard
Upload one photo from the street. The house, driveway and angle stay exactly as they are; only the landscaping changes.
First redesign free, no sign-up · keeps your house and layout
