Having a lush outdoor living space can make your home a relaxing and beautiful place to be in, but achieving it can be tricky. How do you know what features to include? Will your idea look right around your home?
While there are many things you’ll need to consider, it’s not as difficult as it might seem if you carefully think things through. Below are a few ways you can create a lush outdoor living area.
4 Tips for Designing a Beautiful Outdoor Living Space
Incorporate a Deck
Building a deck is one way to make a lush outdoor living space. This expands your outdoor space and can help you achieve the aesthetic desired in your outdoor living space. You can also use the deck to create a lush outdoor living space by filling it with plants, decor, and similar items.
You’ll find that decks come in countless styles. These range from a traditional one-story wooden platform to a two-story one that leads down to a stone patio.
There’s no end to what you can do. You can also choose from multiple materials, like composite or vinyl, rather than just wood.
Often, deck builders can also include features like a built-in fireplace, attached patio, or kitchen. Depending on your preferences, consider an embedded drainage system. This will deter water from puddling on your deck and direct it elsewhere – like to a nearby garden.
Contacting a deck builder for a consultation can be useful if you’re unsure where to start. They can guide you through the overall process and even give tips on the best features for your particular space.
Then, after listening to your ideas and needs, you can get an estimate to see if the proposed plan works well with your budget.
Create Gardens
Gardens will add plenty of lushness to your backyard. But, regardless of its style, plants can make your backyard look full and secluded – a look many hope for in their outdoor living space.
One way to do this is by creating a thick edging. This is often good to do with leafy foliage plants like boxwoods, caladiums, coral bells, ferns, and hostas. These will grow into each other to create a thick covering and give your outdoor living space a lush look you’re hoping for.
Apart from this, think vertically. Growing plants vertically can cover areas that would otherwise remain bare. This will make the space look lusher because everything is filled up. Some to consider using for this purpose are climbing ivy, jasmine, roses, and morning glories.
Consider incorporating pathways throughout the space. You can then border them with plants and hedges.
Regardless of what you choose to do, make sure there are plenty of plants that show off color, texture, and various sizes. This will achieve the lush look you’re hoping for.
Use Curves
Using curves in your outdoor living space will add dimension and set a clear outline of outdoor areas, like a patio or deck.
There are a handful of ways you can incorporate curvatures in your yard. One is to make meandering garden borders. These add a unique look compared to straight, square edges and let you add plants and decor in areas that might otherwise be overlooked.
You could also make curving privacy walls. These won’t only block views into your yard but make a stunning landscape focal point.
Curves are useful for lush landscapes, but make sure everything fits together. Too much could take away from the look and make things seem jumbled.
Add Landscape Lighting
Another option for creating lushness is by installing landscape lighting. You can use it to highlight certain areas at night, making the outdoor living space look filled and cozy even at night.
There are many types of outdoor lighting to use for this purpose. Some include:
- Floodlights
- Spotlights
- Bollard lights
- Up or downlights
- String lights
While each option will showcase the area you place them in, keep in mind, they sometimes work better in certain sections than others. For instance, string lights are better to place around a deck or patio, while spotlights work better to emphasize larger areas (like a garden).
Besides this, make sure to consider the bulb type you use. Warmer lighting (about 2500k) works best on architectural details because it emits more of a yellow hue.
However, cooler lighting (3000k) is good for plants and trees. This is because they enhance their natural hues showing off their height, colors, and textures to create a cozier and fuller atmosphere.
Designing a lush outdoor living space is simpler than one might think. By considering the ideas above, you can create an incredible outdoor oasis.