A Kooky Front-Yard Look

In my last couple of posts, I've shown you houses that present a cohesive look, from paint colors to plantings to pots. They've done an excellent job of taking a theme (Early California, Blue-and-Green) and running with it.

Today, I present to you the most out-there example I can find of taking a look and spinning it out to the nth degree. It starts innocuously enough, with this handsome, Spanish-style house on a slight hill:

Nice, right? And here's the low wall near the front of the property:

Also nice. But, take a closer look at that wall:

This wall is nuts. It's FILLED with fantastic stuff! There's mermaids:

and fishes:

and bits of colored glass:

and an angel:

and more fishes:

and "gemstones" as big as a fist:

Seashells rub shoulders with glass-inlay candle holders:

This appears to be a real animal skull with some of its dental work still intact:

This raccoon looks like he's having trouble kicking his nicotine habit:

In places, it looks like somebody turned over their junk drawer or crafts cabinet and pushed the contents into wet concrete. Here, a seashell hangs out with tumbled bits of glass and one lone die:

In another spot, there's some sort of phantasmagoric creature wearing an eagle where her hair should be:

A legitimate eagle here:

And a gargoyle!

Oops, no, that's just Won Ton. Heh.

Here's the gargoyle:

Up on the lawn, we have more crazy stuff. Another gargoyle:

And this is the family's lamppost. Imagine getting directions to their house for a dinner party: "We're near the end of the block. When you get to the skull on top of the stained-glass lamp with the bat-wing 'M,' you're there!"

A place like this must have a fountain, of course. Here's theirs:

Aaaaand, a big ol' pipe. Because, yeah. Every front yard needs a pipe big enough to shove a small child into.

Even when there's something pedestrian, like red geraniums, this family zazzes it up. In this case, the flowers pop out of a planter paved, crazy-quilt style, with different colored tiles:

I like to imagine that this family had fun collecting all these bits and bobs, planning out where they'd go on the wall and pressing them into the wet plaster and concrete.

This kooky style is not for most folks, but if you're going to do something this unique, this out there, you've gotta go for it. Go big or go home. I give them an "A" for being 100 percent committed to this one-of-a-kind look.

And another "A" for making me smile every time I pass by their front yard.