This Home Looks Completely Different After One Year of Outdoor Upgrades
The house stayed the same, but almost everything around it changed. In a one-year update shared by Reddit user u/AlteredGravity, the project transformed both the front and backyard with landscaping, hardscaping, outdoor furniture, and lighting instead of adding new square footage.
What began as bare planting beds, open lawn, and an unused backyard evolved into a property with defined outdoor rooms, a landscaped front entrance, and an entertainment patio built around the existing detached garage. Rather than treating each space as a separate project, the homeowners connected every outdoor area into one cohesive design.
The Backyard Started as an Empty Open Space
The detached garage, mature shade trees, and fenced perimeter gave the property good bones, but the yard lacked purpose. A small rear deck connected to the house, while most of the space remained bare grass mixed with exposed soil.
From another angle, the scale of the backyard becomes more apparent. Despite having enough room for entertaining, dining, or outdoor cooking, there were no defined destinations beyond the deck. The garage functioned only as storage, leaving the center of the yard completely unused.
The homeowners kept the existing structures instead of replacing them. The project focused on organizing the open space with hardscaping, furniture, lighting, and landscaping, allowing the garage, patio, and house to work together as one outdoor living area.
The Patio Turned the Backyard Into an Outdoor Living Room
The largest addition was the concrete patio stretching from the detached garage toward the house. Instead of filling the yard with separate structures, the homeowners created one continuous surface that supports dining, conversation, grilling, and outdoor entertaining. A woven sectional anchors the lounge area, while a dining table under a large umbrella forms a second gathering space.
The detached garage became part of the design instead of remaining a storage building. String lights outline the roof, a television mounted above the garage door creates an outdoor viewing area, and the grill sits within easy reach of both seating zones. Large stepping stones connect the patio to the house while preserving the surrounding lawn.
Front Landscaping Framed the House Instead of Leaving It Exposed
The front porch already had attractive proportions, brick steps, and a covered seating area, but the surrounding landscape did little to support it. Large sections of exposed soil bordered the porch, while scattered grass left the entrance without definition. The architecture stood out, but the foundation planting lacked the layers needed to soften it.
The homeowners replaced the bare beds with fresh mulch, flowering perennials, ornamental grasses, evergreen shrubs, and low foundation plants that wrap around the porch. The planting palette introduces different heights, leaf shapes, and seasonal color while preserving open views of the house. Black edging creates a clean border between the lawn and the landscape beds, giving the front yard a more structured appearance.
The porch furniture remained simple, allowing the landscaping to become the focal point. Together with the refreshed beds, brick walkway, and mature trees, the entrance now feels connected to the rest of the property instead of standing apart from it.
Image credits go to Reddit user u/AlteredGravity.
