Floral Park, CA Inspiration

This week, we're busily awaiting our final big shipment of wood and insulation to finish the interior of our house. We've been finishing the concrete floors and some small details inside. We've also started to think about landscaping and how we'll hardscape the front of the house. Thankfully, the back of the house is done. That brings me to this post. I saw this email on a real estate listing from Sandy DeAngelis at Seven Gables Real Estate. She lists a lot of historic homes and many that have a French vibe that I've come to love. So, I always click on her emails to see what she's selling. This one is a beautiful Tudor revival with some European features that really caught my eye. 

Since we have a lot of flagstone in our backyard, we'll be using the same for the front yard. And this house has such a wonderful flagstone driveway and walk up design. I'd love to have a similar driveway look with our "Wolf's Creek" flagstone.

The flagstone continues right up to the front steps. This is so inviting! I also love the gradual, extra-deep steps. Doing a lot of traveling with a baby stroller these days has made me sensitive to this particular design element. And one more note: such pretty landscaping.

Similar shot as the one previously, but now you're starting to notice that wonderful old world garage door in the back. As well as what looks like gravel at the end of the long flagstone driveway. Flagstone is much more expensive, of course, than gravel. So maybe the home owners were saving money by not running the flagstone all the way back. But then, again, the gravel looks pretty and French. Hmmm. 

This is a cool feature. A nice trellised archway over the driveway. I  wouldn't try to do this with our property, especially because we're trying to get more sun, not less. But it seems to work for this house. You're completely drawn into the backyard through this archway.

And some nice seating areas.

And here's that gravel. It adds an undeniably French vacation home getaway vibe (if you ignore the satellite dish and power lines). Can't you just imagine an old cruiser bike with a wicker basket on the front holding a baguette and a bottle of wine? 

This property also boasts an adorable guesthouse with its own outdoor kitchen and seating area. And it should be noted how nice and private the trees make this space. You do not see your neighbors although from the original photo, they are fairly close by.

Another view of the outdoor kitchen and guest house. 

And here's a shot that shows how great a little bit of outdoor lighting can make your house look at night. So warm and inviting.

I can see why they included this shot in the round up of real estate listing photos. You can really imagine yourself coming home at night and walking in "your front door." If you want to see more of this fabulous 4 bedroom, 4.5 bath home, including plenty of pics of the inside, check out 2032greenleaf.com. At the time of this posting, it's still for sale and is listed for 1,195,000.