Exploring Ideas: Designing Outdoor Living Spaces
Humankind loves to live among beautiful things, and this love by no means excludes the exteriors of our homes. Most homeowners try to make their lawns attractive with plants and trees, but unless they have a grasp of perspective and harmony, they will have a difficult time achieving true curb appeal. This may sound daunting, but it is by no means hard to make your house and lawn look well from the street if you take a few key details into consideration.
The pivot of the entire effect is your house itself. A lawn should blend with and enhance the house so that rather than presenting itself as a separate object, it joins with the house to form a cohesive unit. One way of doing this is by color.
Color
Look at the color of the house and choose plants and flowers to complement it. Purple flowers set off a neutral gray house, for example, while orange flowers vibrantly contrast with a blue one; and by using the same colors in both your house and lawn, such as white flowers with white siding or paint, you can create a soothing effect to draw the two together.
Style
The style of your house can also guide you in arranging your lawn. A cottage, for example, would look bizarre with a formal garden. However, a relaxed landscape would harmonize with the cottage style, while the formal garden would complement a Victorian home.
Size
The size of your house is crucial to choosing the appropriate landscaping for your lawn. In general, the rule is to keep sizes complementary; for example, large bushes and trees might dwarf and obscure a small house, while small plants would look absurd and insignificant in front of a large one. This rule does not mean that the size of the plants themselves has to be parallel to that of the house; a large house does not have to have large bushes, but it would look well with clusters or rows of bushes of intermediate size.
Front Walk
In a sense, the door should serve as a focal point, and all the landscaping should contribute to drawing the eye to it. This means that when designing your lawn to look well from the street, you cannot forget the path to the front door. Playing with the shape of the front walk is an excellent way to lend appeal, and if you also flank the path with lights, it will look warm and inviting in the dark. Add to this a pavement made of bricks or flagstones, and you will have created a walk both interesting and irresistible.
It is an attention to the subtle which makes your lawn pleasing to look at from the street. The key to the art of creating curb appeal is harmonizing. Considering the details and how they affect the whole enables you to create an effect of grace and charm, and it is the graceful and the charming which please the heart and eye.
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