Yard Plotted to scale, promise

Under The Tree · Sloped or Terraced

Under The Tree layout for a Sloped or Terraced

Presents, everywhere, at the wrong scale. Stacked boxes, oversized bows and baubles the size of beach balls, so the whole yard looks like the floor under the tree on Christmas morning.

your sloped or terraced, 55′ × 28′ 6 of 11 spots filled
To-scale site plan for a Sloped or TerracedA to-scale overhead site plan of a sloped or terraced, 55 feet of street frontage by 60 feet deep, with the house set back 30 feet from the front sidewalk. The street runs along the top of the drawing. 6 of 11 marked positions are filled. Filled: the star; sidekick, left; sidekick, right; the step lights; roofline and porch; the bottom tier. Left empty: under the porch roof; deeper, off to one side; along the eaves; porch posts and rail; the front door. STREETRETAINING WALLHOUSE8 STEPS55'ABmax 6'Cmax 6'DEFmax 5'Pmax 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

Under The Tree fills 4 of this shape's 11 marked spots for free, and 6 of them once every budget is unlocked.

With everything unlocked, four spots stay empty because this theme has no piece written for that kind of spot: under the porch roof, along the eaves, porch posts and rail, the front door.

Another stays empty because its one piece for that spot is already standing elsewhere in this yard: deeper, off to one side.

Not your yard?

Same yard, different look

first, the deal with your yard

Read this before you buy anything

A slope is free staging. Every tier is a shelf, and the yard shows off its own layers the way a flat lot never can, so a modest display looks like a lot more than it is. What it costs you is stability and safety. Nothing sits level, stakes pull out downhill under wind, and water runs to the bottom of the yard and pools exactly where you wanted to put an extension cord. Everything needs shimming, and everything needs staking harder than the instructions say.

Who's looking, and from where

  • Looking up from the sidewalk, the tiers stacked one above the other
  • From across the street, where the whole slope reads at once
  • Climbing the steps, one tier at a time

The classic mistake

Putting the tallest thing on the bottom tier because it is the easiest to carry to. It hides everything above it. Height goes up the hill, not down.

Check this one thing

Do not run cords across the steps, ever. Route them along the back of a wall or under the bed edge, and give anything at the top of a retaining wall a real stake plan. A piece that blows off a wall lands on the sidewalk.

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
$160.35 $89.65 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 Stacked Plywood Gift Boxes Build it
The star. Top terrace, beside the walk. Being uphill already adds apparent height, so you can go a size smaller than you would on flat ground and still have it tower over the sidewalk. 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' 9" H 1 $32
B 20 in. Lighted Bows, pair (opens in a new tab) Amazon 2 pieces
Sidekick, left. Top terrace, left of the steps. Level the base with a shim or a paver. Anything standing on a slope leans downhill and looks drunk from the street.
 1' 8" H 1 $26.99
D Solar Path Light Stakes, 10 pack (opens in a new tab) Amazon 10 pieces
The step lights. Both sides of the steps all the way up, then along the top of each retaining wall. Lighting the wall edges is what makes the tiers visible after dark, and it also stops guests from walking off one.
 1' 3" H 2 $49.38
E Warm White Incandescent Mini Lights, 300 count (opens in a new tab) Amazon 300 pieces
Roofline and porch. Gutter line and porch. Remember the house already sits above eye level, so the roofline is further up than the ladder you used last year.
 2" H 2 $51.98
the plug situation

3 things need an outlet, about 2.1 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 $160.35 of decorations. Buy it once and it comes back out every year.

still figuring these out

A couple of spots do not have a pick at this budget yet, so the plan leaves them empty for now:

  • Nothing in Under The Tree fits spot C (Sidekick, right) at this budget yet.
Print this version (opens in a new tab) build plan included
Image prompt for this exact list
Photorealistic evening photograph of a two-story house set above a terraced front yard with stone retaining walls house on a sloped or terraced, 55 ft of street frontage with a 30 ft front setback, photographed from the public sidewalk at the bottom of the slope looking up the terraced front yard and its steps toward the house above, camera height 5.5 ft. The yard is decorated in a under the tree theme. Presents, everywhere, at the wrong scale. Stacked boxes, oversized bows and baubles the size of beach balls, so the whole yard looks like the floor under the tree on Christmas morning. Decorations, in position: 1. The star: three hollow cube presents of decreasing size stacked into a slight lean, each wrapped corner to corner in glowing light strands with a wide ribbon cross and a bow on top, 2.8 ft tall. Top terrace, beside the walk. Being uphill already adds apparent height, so you can go a size smaller than you would on flat ground and still have it tower over the sidewalk. 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: two oversized red ribbon bows with long tails, edged in warm light, 1.7 ft tall. Top terrace, left of the steps. Level the base with a shim or a paver. Anything standing on a slope leans downhill and looks drunk from the street. 3. The step 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 steps all the way up, then along the top of each retaining wall. Lighting the wall edges is what makes the tiers visible after dark, and it also stops guests from walking off one. 4. Roofline and porch: 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. Gutter line and porch. Remember the house already sits above eye level, so the roofline is further up than the ladder you used last year. 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: #C8102E, #D6A419, #2F6E52, #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.