The tempting first fix for a bare front yard is to replace the concrete with artificial turf and call the outdoor project done. That would miss what this house needs: a more welcoming entry, shade, privacy, and a clear path from the street to the door. This is Amy’s project for the house on Conejo Drive in Mills Estate, Millbrae, a single-story 1963 home with gray stucco, an asphalt-shingle gable roof, a small recessed porch, and a concrete driveway with a decorative stone inlay. For the family who owns a house like this, the work is not about adding more lawn. It is about making the approach useful and comfortable without hiding the clean geometry of the façade.
The entry steps and the concrete drive
I would keep the driveway’s stone inlay as a detail that connects the front path to the existing contemporary trim, but reduce the broad field of hard concrete where the layout allows. A permeable paving system in a warm, quiet gray would give the approach texture without competing with the stucco; a narrow planting strip could soften the edge. Because the home has an attached two-car garage and on-street parking, the paving plan needs to preserve comfortable access to the garage rather than treating the drive as leftover space for planting. The entry steps and double doors should remain the visual destination. A deeper porch would give the owners a place to pause, with a simple bench and a restrained color accent at the door, not shutters that would fight the large geometric windows.
Before setting that porch footprint, the setback rules matter. Millbrae’s R-1 zoning information says attached ground-floor decks more than one foot above adjacent grade must meet the applicable yard setbacks, while the maximum lot coverage depends on the zoning rules that apply to the parcel (Millbrae R-1 zoning information). That is a reason to develop the entry and paving plan together, not enlarge the porch first and discover that its footprint leaves too little room for the path or planting. The owners should confirm the parcel’s zoning and required setbacks with the City of Millbrae before fixing the porch footprint.
Shade without artificial turf
The front yard is flat and has no visible large trees for shade, so I would add a carefully placed shade tree and drought-tolerant planting rather than fill the open ground with a uniform synthetic surface. Millbrae prohibits synthetic grass and artificial turf landscaping (City of Millbrae Code Enforcement). The design decision is straightforward: use living groundcover or planting beds, with permeable paving where a walk or landing needs a durable surface. That keeps the yard softer in appearance and avoids specifying a material the city prohibits.
Tree placement needs to be considered with the path and porch, not added as an afterthought. Millbrae Municipal Code Chapter 8.60 includes Heritage Trees and Significant Trees among its protected trees (Millbrae Municipal Code, Chapter 8.60). There are no large shade trees visible in the front yard, but the planting plan should still identify any protected trees that could be affected by excavation before it fixes the new tree location. I would preserve what qualifies and set new planting where it can provide shade without crowding the entry or the driveway.
Water, drainage, and the first evening light
The house has public water and public sewer, but those facts do not tell us where the service lines or drains run. For that reason, the new planting and any irrigation connection should be laid out only after the available utility information is checked; the paving should direct water across the surface toward an appropriate planted area, not toward the recessed entry. Since the front yard is open to the street, layered planting can add privacy without building a tall visual wall: lower planting near the path, then a larger shrub or tree placed to screen the view while leaving the angular windows visible.
Millbrae’s Water Efficient Landscape Ordinance applies to new residential landscape areas of 500 square feet or more and to rehabilitated landscapes of 2,500 square feet or more when associated with a building or landscape permit, plan check, or design review. The city says its ordinance aligns with the state model and requires a landscape documentation package above those thresholds (Millbrae Water Efficient Landscape Ordinance). That threshold changes how we plan the planting and irrigation: the landscape area needs to be measured early, and the package requirements should inform the plant and irrigation choices rather than be assembled after the design is settled.
For evening use, low path lights should mark the steps and the turn toward the door, with a warm, shielded fixture at the porch rather than bright lighting across the whole façade. The front path can then feel safe without flattening the shadows that give the gable and triangular windows their character. On a Tuesday night, the family could come home to a clear, softly lit route, a little privacy, and a place to sit near the door instead of crossing a bare expanse of concrete. If this is the kind of outdoor change you want for your own house, get in touch and we can talk through the site and the right first decisions.
