Yard Plotted to scale, promise

Christmas Tree Forest · L-Shaped with Projecting Garage

Christmas Tree Forest layout for a L-Shaped with Projecting Garage

One idea, repeated. Trees at four or five different heights scattered at different depths, so the yard reads as a small wood rather than as a row of decorations. The easiest theme to get right and the easiest one to line up like fence posts by mistake.

your l-shaped with projecting garage, 62′ × 28′ 7 of 11 spots filled
To-scale site plan for a L-Shaped with Projecting GarageA to-scale overhead site plan of a l-shaped with projecting garage, 62 feet of street frontage by 62 feet deep, with the house set back 26 feet from the front sidewalk. The street runs along the top of the drawing. 7 of 11 marked positions are filled. Filled: the star; sidekick, left; sidekick, right; walk and alcove lights; roofline, both planes; the garage wall; under the porch roof. Left empty: deeper, off to one side; along the eaves; porch posts and rail; the front door. STREETDRIVEHOUSEGARAGE62'ABmax 6'Cmax 6'DEFPmax 8'Hmax 6'TRWmax 6.7'

Drawn to scale. Everything is measured in feet from the front sidewalk, and your front door is 80″ tall if you need something to check against.

this theme on this shape

Christmas Tree Forest fills 5 of this shape's 11 marked spots for free, and 10 of them once every budget is unlocked.

With everything unlocked, one spot stays empty because the piece that filled it has been pulled by its retailer: porch posts and rail.

first, the deal with your yard

Read this before you buy anything

The garage is the front of your house whether you like it or not. It is closer to the street than anything else, it is wider than the door, and headlights hit it first. Fighting that is a losing game, so decorate it on purpose. The reward for this shape is the alcove: a recessed corner with walls on two sides that shelters things from wind and frames whatever you put in it. The risk is that the alcove is also in shadow, and anything unlit in there is invisible from the street.

Who's looking, and from where

  • Straight on from the street, where the garage dominates
  • From the driveway looking into the alcove
  • The angle down the block, where only the garage face shows

The classic mistake

Treating the entry as the center of the house and spacing everything around it. The entry is off to one side. Symmetry built around it looks lopsided from the street.

Check this one thing

Keep everything out of the garage door swing and off the apron where it meets the drive. An up-and-over door needs more clearance in front of it than people expect.

same yard, four budgets

Pick your number

Every version below was worked out against the map up there, and nothing gets a spot unless it physically fits. Footprint and height both. The Do it yourself version is free and complete, so you can go do that today. The other three are the paid guide.

Every price below was checked on or after 27 September 2026, and each item carries its own date. Holiday pricing moves weekly.

Do it yourself Free

stays under $250
$211.29 $38.71 to spare

One weekend, a sheet of plywood and some string lights. Costs almost nothing and still stops traffic.

The Do it yourself plan: every piece, its spot on the drawing, how big it is, how many and what it costs.
Spot What to get How big How many Cost
A Tomato Cage Trees Build it
The star. Build at least three and put them at different distances from the sidewalk, tallest furthest back, with one set slightly apart from the other two. The spacing is what makes this read as a wood rather than as three cones somebody bought. This one works just as well mirrored to the other side of the walk, so if a tree, a slope or the way you come and go says the far side is better, swap it and swap its partner with it. What matters is that it is beside the path and not standing in it.
4' H 1 $54
B 11 in. Solar Flickering Lantern (opens in a new tab) Amazon 2 pieces
Sidekick, left. Left of the walk against the front bed.
11" H 1 $39.99
C White Picket Fence Panel, 18 in. x 36 in. (opens in a new tab) Home Depot
Sidekick, right. Right of the walk, tucked against the garage corner. Keep it out of the swing of a car door.
1' 6" H 2 $15.94
D Solar Path Light Stakes, 10 pack (opens in a new tab) Amazon 10 pieces
Walk and alcove lights. Both sides of the walk, then turn the corner and run along the base of the garage wall. That turn is what stops the alcove from going black.
1' 3" H 2 $49.38
E Warm White Incandescent Mini Lights, 300 count (opens in a new tab) Amazon 300 pieces
Roofline, both planes. Main roofline and the garage roofline, which sit at different depths. Lighting only the back one makes the garage look like a shadow stuck to the front of your house.
2" H 2 $51.98
the plug situation

2 things need an outlet, about 2 amps all together. That all fits on one 15 amp circuit, you are fine. Outdoor GFCI outlets only, and leave a drip loop in the cord at every plug so rain runs off instead of in.

You will also need

The cord is the part everybody forgets, and stores run out of them at the peak of every season. Outdoor rated only, and plugged into a GFCI outlet.

About $31.96 of hardware, on top of the $211.29 of decorations. Buy it once and it comes back out every year.

Image prompt for this exact list
Photorealistic evening photograph of a two-story suburban with an attached front-facing garage house on a l-shaped with projecting garage, 62 ft of street frontage with a 26 ft front setback, photographed from the street at a slight angle toward the entry side, so the forward-projecting garage and the recessed front door alcove are both visible, camera height 5.5 ft. The yard is decorated in a christmas tree forest theme. One idea, repeated. Trees at four or five different heights scattered at different depths, so the yard reads as a small wood rather than as a row of decorations. The easiest theme to get right and the easiest one to line up like fence posts by mistake. Decorations, in position: 1. The star: three lit cone-shaped trees of different heights standing in a loose group on a dark lawn, each wound with a spiral of small warm lights, 4 ft tall. Build at least three and put them at different distances from the sidewalk, tallest furthest back, with one set slightly apart from the other two. The spacing is what makes this read as a wood rather than as three cones somebody bought. This one works just as well mirrored to the other side of the walk, so if a tree, a slope or the way you come and go says the far side is better, swap it and swap its partner with it. What matters is that it is beside the path and not standing in it. 2. Sidekick, left: a squat black lantern with thick glass sides and a flickering candle flame inside, sitting on the ground beside a step, 0.9 ft tall. Left of the walk against the front bed. 3. Sidekick, right: 2 of them, a low run of white wooden pickets pushed into the lawn, knee height, suggesting an edge rather than closing anything in, 1.5 ft tall. Right of the walk, tucked against the garage corner. Keep it out of the swing of a car door. 4. Walk and alcove lights: 2 of them, a line of short stake lights glowing softly along the edge of a walkway, no cords running between them, 1.3 ft tall. Both sides of the walk, then turn the corner and run along the base of the garage wall. That turn is what stops the alcove from going black. 5. Roofline, both planes: 2 of them, a dense run of tiny warm white bulbs following a roofline, close enough together to look like a continuous line of light, 0.2 ft tall. Main roofline and the garage roofline, which sit at different depths. Lighting only the back one makes the garage look like a shadow stuck to the front of your house. Shot at dusk with the sky still faintly blue, every lit decoration switched on and brighter than anything else in the frame, warm light spilling onto the lawn. Palette: #2F6E52, #1E4535, #E8B14A, #F2EDD8. Nothing floats; every piece sits on the ground at the stated distance. Scale reference: the front door is 80 inches tall.

see it first

The other two prompts

Each budget above has its own prompt for the finished yard, because each one is a different list of things. These two do not change between budgets: one for the empty yard so you have a before picture, and the negative prompt that stops every image model on earth from burying your lawn in snow you did not ask for.

the free ones keep coming

New plans go up through the season

The Do it yourself version above is free and complete, and every theme that goes up gets one, drawn for all ten yard shapes. That is 10 free plans per theme, and the list grows through the season.

One email when there is something new. Nothing else, ever.