Have you ever tried landscaping?
A stunning home starts with a gorgeous garden, and as much as you might like the way your house looks, you shouldn’t neglect your outdoor space. I remember that when I first moved into my house, I had all sorts of ideas in my head, and you better believe that I also had hundreds of inspo photos on my Pinterest board.
I wanted a garden full of red roses, a huge patio with a grill where the boys in my family could make the most delicious meals ever, a small vegetable garden where I could grow tomatoes and cucumbers, and maybe even sprinkle some fruit seeds here and there, especially since strawberries are my favs.
But that was not all: I also imagined myself lying on a sofa with a glass of sparkling water in my hand, listening to the birds chirping, and looking at my beautiful planters.
I can’t say that I have a green thumb when it comes to landscaping, but I had tons and tons and tons of ideas for what I wanted to achieve. With a bit of patience and the right tools, my dreams became a reality, and so can yours.
You’re probably here for the same reason: to start your landscaping project and turn your outdoor space into the most gorgeous blooming paradise.
You might not know where to start since your ideas might be running all over your head, but I’m here to guide you every single step of the way. Are you ready to start your best landscaping project? Then let’s begin with the tips in this article!
1. Decide what you want
In order to do things the right way, let’s start from the beginning. So what do you want your garden to look like? I know that you probably have a lot of ideas, so if it’s easier for you, write everything down.
Do you have any small children in your household who might need some extra space to play? Do you want to plant some pretty shrubs that will make your home look like a fairy’s home? Would you like to have a big patio with a grill where you and your family and friends can gather and enjoy a delicious meal and maybe a cocktail?
After you know exactly what you want, try to make a sketch of the yard with the exact location where you want to put your items. It might not be simple, but this tip helped me a lot when I was working on my landscaping project.
2. What’s the location?
Just imagine this: you’re outside, lying on the couch with a hot cup of coffee in your hand, and you hear the birds chirping, you see the warm sun rays, and the whole day begins in front of you.
This scenario means that you’ll have plenty of sun in the morning and some well-deserved chilly air in the evening. If that’s what you want, you should place your patio furniture facing the east of the house.
If you want to be cozier when you wake up and warmer during the evening, you might want to build your stunning patio on the west side, but that also comes with downsides too: if you want to invite your friends over for a delicious dinner in the hot month of July, get ready to sweat bullets because the weather won’t be on your side.
There are tons of details you should think of when designing your landscape. For instance, if you can’t wait to have a barbecue in your garden, you should pay attention to the direction the wind is coming from because you don’t want it to extinguish your fire.
Long story short, in order to make sure that your landscaping project looks exactly as you imagined it, study the sun and the wind for a little bit (on different days, hours, and also seasons, so you can have a wider perspective), so you won’t make any mistakes.
3. Don’t overcomplicate things
If you love watching all types of home makeover shows on television, you already know that their magic happens in less than a week, or at least this is how they show it on TV. However, the truth is that they have a massive crew that is trained to handle everything well, from the heavy lifting to the smallest details ever.
However, you might not have the same resources when you start tackling your own landscaping project, which is exactly why you want to start small and work from there.
For instance, if you wrote down that you would love to have a stunning flower garden, you can start with a tiny flower bed. You can easily work for a couple of hours on this task, and it will give you a great sense of accomplishment and motivation to do something else next time.
I know that at first, you might be feeling very pumped and ready to do all those hard things at once, but take it from me and don’t make the same mistakes I did. If you don’t have patience and don’t take things in the right order, you risk getting bored and tired, which means that your landscaping project has more chances of looking sloppy, and you surely don’t want that.
4. Find your focal point
Do you know the French saying “la pièce de résistance”? It means the most amazing thing in someone’s career or lifetime, and in other cases, it can even mean the chef’s tastiest dish.
But in our case, it means the focal point of your landscaping project. This piece should make everyone stop for a second and say, WOW. To put it simply, the thing that will make your landscaping project pop is the one that gives you chills when you think about designing your dream garden oasis.
For instance, when I was creating my perfect landscape project, I used to dream of a small fountain with a little statue in the middle of my garden. I wanted to have something that looks luxurious, romantic, and vintage but is also new at the same time.
I wanted something to make me feel like the main character in a fairytale, a piece that makes my home look like the perfect getaway spot. And that’s how I knew that a tiny fountain was my focal point.
So think of the item that brings you joy when you imagine it being in your garden, and I guarantee you that everyone will love it!
5. Scale and pacing
Have you ever heard about the scale and pacing principle in landscaping? It might seem a little complicated at first, but it’s very important, so keep it in mind.
Long story short, this principle is the one that makes sure your garden looks exactly as you imagined it and gives it that polished and sophisticated look that I know you want.
You probably want to include a lot of elements in your stunning garden, but as experts say, you should have a good combination of repetitive elements as well as new ones to break up the monotony.
This is up to you and the things you want to include, from colors, textures, and shapes to sizes and heights. Make sure that everything looks balanced and coordinated, and you’ll have the most stunning landscaping project ever!
6. Be flexible
Trust me, I understand that there are some things you want and that you can’t wait for your dream ideas to become a reality.
But here’s the cold truth: sometimes, what you have in mind can be completely different in reality, which means that you might need to give up on some of your designs.
They either don’t look good in the space you have, they’re too expensive to actually create, or you might need to call a professional to take care of them for you. A simple way to make sure that you avoid any of these problems is to be aware of and okay with the fact that you might have to adapt here and there and come up with solutions to solve the issues.
Don’t worry, I’m sure that with a little bit of patience and imagination, everything will turn out great, even if you have some ups and downs along the way. It’s all part of the process, right?
Are you a fan of landscaping? If you have any other tips for our readers, feel free to leave them in the comments section down below, so we can all help each other create the garden that we deserve!
…If you’re looking for another amazing article to give you all the tips and tricks you need, here’s one that you should check out ASAP: 10 Tricks Designers Use to Make Windows Look Bigger!
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