A beautiful yard is like a fabulously decorated home: well thought out, purposefully designed and carefully put together. If the impression your yard gives is as important to you as the interior of your home, youll want to invest time and thought into this outdoor extension of your living space. Youll enjoy the rewards of your efforts for many years - and receive many compliments along the way!
Okay, to start: youre the landscape architect - pull up a chair and lets get to work! Lets start by deciding:
What you want to use the space for.
This can be single or multi-purpose. Talk to everyone in the house and brainstorm together. You may want to keep the entire space in thick, green grass just for putting practice (single-purpose). Or you may want to have a space for the kids and another for adults (multi-purpose). Do you cook outdoors? Want a flower bed? How about an area for your pets?
The other thing that goes hand-in-hand with this is considering what youre working with.
Is your land flat, hilly, rocky or full of trees?
How much sun/shade does each area get at different times of the day - and will it make a difference for that areas purpose?
Do you have a noisy neighbor? You probably wouldnt want to put a meditation corner near them.
Safety should be the first consideration for childrens play areas. Place them away from streets and alleys, dont position the slide to end in the pond (unless thats what you want) and keep Fidos pooh-pooh area far away from their little feet!
Now get out a pencil and paper - or landscaping software - and map out the spaces, keeping in mind the lay of the land and other pertinent factors. For now just make general circles or squares to mark the space for each purpose.
What style you want to use.
Is it formal, informal, country, eclectic? And dont forget to consider whats already there, like the architecture of the house or the style of existing fencing. Consider the style of existing structures that will stay and how those styles will fit in your plan.
What color palate youll use.
Of course you must consider other existing colors: siding and trim on existing buildings and fences, landscaping colors, maybe even the color of a neighbors garage if its butted up to your yard.
My house is blue with white trim, and thats what I chose to use for the outdoor decor: my chair cushions are a great blue floral, the stone deck is colored blue-gray and I just planted one of those gorgeous blue hyacinths next to the neighbors white fence. Now, I could have gone with a green palate because theres so much green in the yard already (grass, trees), but thats just me.
Now comes the fun - uh, I mean the hard part: shopping for everything you need. And color coordinating it. And making sure the styles coordinate. And having friends over to analyze the work (over food and drinks of course). And somehow, somehow managing to hold up under the enormous amount of praise and compliments youll receive for your labors.
Its a tough job. But someones got to do it. Might as well be you!
Okay, to start: youre the landscape architect - pull up a chair and lets get to work! Lets start by deciding:
What you want to use the space for.
This can be single or multi-purpose. Talk to everyone in the house and brainstorm together. You may want to keep the entire space in thick, green grass just for putting practice (single-purpose). Or you may want to have a space for the kids and another for adults (multi-purpose). Do you cook outdoors? Want a flower bed? How about an area for your pets?
The other thing that goes hand-in-hand with this is considering what youre working with.
Is your land flat, hilly, rocky or full of trees?
How much sun/shade does each area get at different times of the day - and will it make a difference for that areas purpose?
Do you have a noisy neighbor? You probably wouldnt want to put a meditation corner near them.
Safety should be the first consideration for childrens play areas. Place them away from streets and alleys, dont position the slide to end in the pond (unless thats what you want) and keep Fidos pooh-pooh area far away from their little feet!
Now get out a pencil and paper - or landscaping software - and map out the spaces, keeping in mind the lay of the land and other pertinent factors. For now just make general circles or squares to mark the space for each purpose.
What style you want to use.
Is it formal, informal, country, eclectic? And dont forget to consider whats already there, like the architecture of the house or the style of existing fencing. Consider the style of existing structures that will stay and how those styles will fit in your plan.
What color palate youll use.
Of course you must consider other existing colors: siding and trim on existing buildings and fences, landscaping colors, maybe even the color of a neighbors garage if its butted up to your yard.
My house is blue with white trim, and thats what I chose to use for the outdoor decor: my chair cushions are a great blue floral, the stone deck is colored blue-gray and I just planted one of those gorgeous blue hyacinths next to the neighbors white fence. Now, I could have gone with a green palate because theres so much green in the yard already (grass, trees), but thats just me.
Now comes the fun - uh, I mean the hard part: shopping for everything you need. And color coordinating it. And making sure the styles coordinate. And having friends over to analyze the work (over food and drinks of course). And somehow, somehow managing to hold up under the enormous amount of praise and compliments youll receive for your labors.
Its a tough job. But someones got to do it. Might as well be you!
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