Yard Plotted to scale, promise

Winter Wonderland · Split-Level or Raised Ranch

Winter Wonderland layout for a Split-Level or Raised Ranch

Cold blue and white, snowflakes and birch, with not one red bow anywhere. It reads as weather rather than as Christmas, which means it still looks right in January when everyone else has taken theirs down.

your split-level or raised ranch, 58′ × 26′ 5 of 10 spots filled
To-scale site plan for a Split-Level or Raised RanchA to-scale overhead site plan of a split-level or raised ranch, 58 feet of street frontage by 55 feet deep, with the house set back 24 feet from the front sidewalk. The street runs along the top of the drawing. 5 of 10 marked positions are filled. Filled: the star; sidekick, left; sidekick, right; walk and stair rail lights; roofline. Left empty: the bed under the entry, under the porch roof, along the eaves, porch posts and rail, the front door. STREETDRIVEHOUSE7 STEPS58'ABmax 6'Cmax 6'DEFmax 4'Pmax 8'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

Winter Wonderland fills 5 of this shape's 10 marked spots for free, and 6 of them once every budget is unlocked.

With everything unlocked, one spot stays empty because everything that would go there is too tall for the cap on that spot: the bed under the entry.

three more stay empty because this theme has no piece written for that kind of spot: under the porch roof, porch posts and rail, the front door.

The one nice thing version comes in at $252.32 against a $500 ceiling on this shape, which leaves real room for a second run of lights or a better centrepiece.

first, the deal with your yard

Read this before you buy anything

The front door is half a story up, so the middle of your facade is a blank wall with a staircase glued to it. Anything you put on the landing is too high to relate to the yard and too small to matter from the street, which is why these houses so often end up with a wreath and nothing else. Work the ground plane and the stairs instead. The lower wall under the entry gives you a long horizontal band at exactly eye level from the sidewalk, and almost nobody uses it.

Who's looking, and from where

  • From the street, where the stairs cut the facade in half
  • From the driveway, looking along the lower wall
  • Standing at the bottom of the steps looking up

The classic mistake

Crowding the top landing. It is about four feet deep, it is the only way in and out, and everything up there is invisible from the road anyway.

Check this one thing

Keep the stair treads and the handrail completely clear. Wet leaves plus a garland underfoot on an outdoor staircase is how people end up in urgent care in December.

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
$183.34 $66.66 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 Wooden Snowflake Stakes Build it
The star. On the lawn at the bottom of the steps, off to the side of the walk. Ground level, not up on the landing. The landing is small and a big piece up there blocks your own front door. 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.
3' 6" H 1 $24
B 16 in. Lighted Snowflake Panels, cool white, 2 pack (opens in a new tab) Amazon 2 pieces
Sidekick, left. These hang rather than stake, so give them a fence rail, a porch post or a garden hook. Flat against something solid beats swinging from a branch.
1' 4" H 1 $25.99
C 11 in. Solar Flickering Lantern (opens in a new tab) Amazon 2 pieces
Sidekick, right. Right of the steps, matching the left. Keep clear of the driveway edge.
11" H 1 $39.99
D Cool White Solar Path Light Stakes, 10 pack (opens in a new tab) Amazon 10 pieces
Walk and stair rail lights. Up both sides of the walk, then wrap the stair railing. Lighting the rail is the one move that makes a raised entry look intentional instead of steep.
1' 3" H 2 $41.38
E Cool White LED Mini Lights, 100 count (opens in a new tab) Amazon 100 pieces
Roofline. Full gutter run. On this shape the roofline is genuinely high off the ground because the whole house starts half a story up, so borrow a taller ladder than you think you need.
2" H 2 $51.98
the plug situation

2 things need an outlet, about 0.2 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 $60.93 of hardware, on top of the $183.34 of decorations. Buy it once and it comes back out every year.

Image prompt for this exact list
Photorealistic evening photograph of a raised ranch with a half-story entry landing house on a split-level or raised ranch, 58 ft of street frontage with a 24 ft front setback, photographed from the street looking at the front of the house, showing the raised half-story entry, the run of steps up to the door and the lower wall beneath, camera height 5.5 ft. The yard is decorated in a winter wonderland theme. Cold blue and white, snowflakes and birch, with not one red bow anywhere. It reads as weather rather than as Christmas, which means it still looks right in January when everyone else has taken theirs down. Decorations, in position: 1. The star: a loose cluster of white six-pointed wooden snowflakes at different heights, each one slightly different, catching light from nearby, 3.5 ft tall. On the lawn at the bottom of the steps, off to the side of the walk. Ground level, not up on the landing. The landing is small and a big piece up there blocks your own front door. 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 flat metal snowflakes outlined in 60 icy white points of light, hung flat against a rail or a post, 1.3 ft tall. These hang rather than stake, so give them a fence rail, a porch post or a garden hook. Flat against something solid beats swinging from a branch. 3. Sidekick, right: 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. Right of the steps, matching the left. Keep clear of the driveway edge. 4. Walk and stair rail lights: 2 of them, a line of short stake lights along a walkway throwing a crisp blue-white pool of light on the ground, no cords running between them, 1.3 ft tall. Up both sides of the walk, then wrap the stair railing. Lighting the rail is the one move that makes a raised entry look intentional instead of steep. 5. Roofline: 2 of them, a run of tiny blue-white bulbs following a roofline, cold and bright against the dark like frost catching a streetlight, 0.2 ft tall. Full gutter run. On this shape the roofline is genuinely high off the ground because the whole house starts half a story up, so borrow a taller ladder than you think you need. 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: #8FB8D8, #FFFFFF, #C6D9E8, #5B8CA8. 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.