Landscaping your garden’s one of the most rewarding home improvement tasks around. It boosts your curb appeal and some outdoor improvements bring a 72% return on investment if you do decide to sell your home.
What’s more, improving your yard opens up a world of outdoor fun for your family and a wealth of entertainment options too.
Are you ready to get started with the ultimate landscape makeover? Keep reading.
1. Make Space for Entertaining
Outdoor entertainment areas are a wonderful way to make the most of your time outdoors. A patio is an awesome place to read and relax in the summer sunshine or host late afternoon sundowners for friends.
Outdoor kitchens add huge appeal for prospective homeowners and add a whole new dimension to barbecues with family and friends. A basic outdoor kitchen needs only a grill and a countertop. It’s up to you if you want to add permanent seating, music systems, or extra cooking facilities.
A firepit adds charm and warmth to an evening of stargazing and gives you the perfect excuse to eat more s’ mores too!
2. Create a Grand Entrance
Resurfacing your driveway’s one way to give the front of your house an instant boost, but it can be a costly exercise. Instead, try power washing and weeding the area first.
This simple maintenance task can have a dramatic effect that’s almost as good as re-doing the whole thing.
You can also line the edges with flagstone or brick to create a new look for your tired driveway or plant garden beds alongside for a pretty effect.
Don’t underestimate the power of a garden path to create a welcoming ambiance either. Whether you opt for simple stepping stones or a paved masterpiece, a path helps draw the eye to your front door. It also serves to break up a boring expanse of grass.
Other interesting materials for creating your pathway include logs and sleeper wood for a natural look.
3. Landscaping Tips For a Low-Maintenance Yard
If your fingers are far from green or you don’t have time to spend caring for a lush garden, you can still create a lovely environment outside your front or back door.
Groundcovers are easy to care for and grow abundantly. Many of them will reward you with attractive spring blooms too. Perennial plants deliver with pretty floral displays year after year.
Container plants and water-wise indigenous specimens are other low maintenance options.
Some of the most striking water-wise plants include prairie switchgrass, honeysuckle vine, and aromatic asters. They also use 75% less water than other plants during dry spells.
Another impactful, low maintenance way to boost your yard is with hardscaping. Flagstone, concrete, and stone are an attractive alternative to lawn, especially in small yards.
4. Create Private Spaces
Adding a fence to your property has many functional aspects to it. For example, fences increase privacy, keep children and pets in, and can improve security.
The best part about fences is they play a useful as well as a decorative role in your yard. A white picket fence adds old-world charm while a living fence adorned with plants increases your green space.
It’s easy to create separate areas for work and play uses fences too. A word of warning though, if you’re installing a perimeter or street-facing fence check if your neighbors are okay with the idea first.
You may also need a permit to erect a fence in some localities, so do your research first.
Putting up a fence is a time-consuming, labor-intensive process, so you’ll want to hire a contractor to help you out with this project.
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5. Watery Accents
Water features are a wonderful addition to any garden. They add a sense of tranquillity and create attractive focal points.
Consider building a pond or water fountain. If you don’t want to spend time on construction, you can get easy-to-install stand-alone fountains from any garden center.
For a really easy way to attract birdlife and add appeal, a birdbath’s the way to go. Wall-mounted fountains are a great decorative feature depending on the style of your home.
If you have a pool, water jets, pipe fountains, and spillways always look good especially when they’re accented by lights in the evening.
6. Fun for Kids
If you want to get your kids away from the television and computer, make it easy for them to embrace outdoor fun.
Smaller children love a swing set or jungle gym. You could also consider a trampoline or sandpit to keep them entertained.
Older kids revel in a baseball hoop, lots of open lawn for ball games, or a clubhouse created just for them.
You can put up a garden shed or cordon off a section of your garden with a trellis and vine to create teen HQ. No kid can resist the imaginary adventures that a treehouse brings to outdoor play.
7. Light Up the Night
Extra lights in your yard add an element of security and also create a fairy-tale glow in the evenings. You can buy stand-alone solar-powered lights for your garden, or get an electrician to install spotlights in strategic places.
These look best when they line your garden path, highlight striking shrubs or trees, or as part of a water feature.
Don’t underestimate the power of fairy lights draped on your patio or among the trees to add an enchanting glow to your yard at night.
8. Quick Backyard Landscaping Ideas
A backyard makeover needn’t be a lengthy and expensive undertaking. There are plenty of ways to boost your backyard without breaking the bank.
Consider these quick fixes:
- Adding a fountain or birdbath
- Laying stone mulch over garden beds and bare areas
- Putting up a pergola with seating
- Adding a stone statue or eye-catching boulder to break up a boring lawn
- Planting a vine against an ugly fence
- Creating a reading area with a concrete or wooden bench
The list goes on. It’s a good idea to look up some more cheap backyard upgrade tips on the internet or ask for advice at your garden center.
9. Simple Front Yard Landscaping Ideas
You can employ many of the same quick fixes in your front yard, although the following tips suit this public space better.
Pay attention to your porch. Your porch occupies that no-man’s-land between home and garden and it’s often ignored when you’re upgrading either of these spaces.
Keeping your porch neatly painted and in good repair does a lot for your curb appeal. Every porch should have a few chairs and container plants to give it character and a welcoming atmosphere.
Likewise, your entryway’s a major focal point in your front yard. As such, it should be front-and-center in your yard landscaping plans. Before you add features to your front yard, consider how they’ll frame your doorway first.
One of the best ways to keep your front yard spic and span is by keeping your lawn in immaculate condition. Weed and fertilize it regularly to ensure lush growth.
If that’s a little too labor-intensive for you, hire a lawn care service to do the hard slog.
10. Landscape Makeover Tips for Bland Spaces
Of course, all of the above ideas will serve to spruce up your yard, but what can you do about existing features that are less than appealing?
Adding color’s the quickest way to bring interest to your yard. Flowers are great but you can also use plants with variegated leaves or unusual colored foliage to enliven dull spaces.
If you don’t like the look of your neighbor’s wall or want to hide an unattractive household feature, put up a trellis and vine to keep it from sight.
Adding a stone edge and mulch to your flower beds gives your yard an instant manicured look.
Getting Started With Your Landscaping Ideas
There’s no limit to the ideas you can come up with when it comes to a landscape makeover. Before you get started, consider your aims for the available space. Then walk around your garden to gain an idea of how to incorporate your wishes using what you have.
Draw a plan on paper to help you get a holistic picture and remember to consider how your designs will appear from inside the house too.
When you’ve got all your landscaping ideas together, you can start working on them in a logical order that complies with your budget. If you try to do everything at once, you may become overwhelmed and stressed.
Rather take your time and enjoy the process. For more health and lifestyle tips and inspiration, keep browsing our blog.