Your landscaping can say a lot about you. The colors, styles, plants, and features you choose can reflect your personality, priorities and outdoor style. As you take a look out your window, or view your home as you pull into the driveway, do you know what your landscape says about you?
More importantly, does it say what you want it to say? Does it reflect your needs and style?
If you said “no,” or if you’re not sure, see if any of these personality types speak to you. If you find yourself identifying with one of these, or maybe a little bit of a few different ones, then it’s time to get your yard in line with your personal style!
The Artist
Do you have a creative streak? Does the sight of an easel or a lump of clay inspire you to start dreaming of what you can tease out of it?
No need to confine yourself to a studio or a spot at the kitchen table – get outdoors and live your best creative life!
For artists, a sense of beauty is a must. When it comes to landscaping, that can mean a lot of things, from a lovely wildflower garden full of butterflies and bumblebees, to a babbling brook with a few swaying reeds and tall grasses.
A pond is an excellent addition to a creative space. Everything from koi to water lilies, waterfalls, natural stone and pond critters can serve as inspiration and add a soothing touch that will free your mind of everyday stresses so you have the space you need to create.
Consider the colors that inspire you most, whether bright and bold or soothing and subtle. Better yet, use space wisely by separating it into multiple use areas, each with its own style and personality.
Remember to include seating that serves multiple purposes – as a place to sit and reflect and draw inspiration, or as a place to set your supplies down and begin work.
The Fitness Buff
Jungle gyms aren’t just for kids! It’s just as easy to get a workout by swinging, climbing and jumping whether you’re five or fifty five.
Get out of that stagnant, sterile gym and into a natural environment where you can refresh both body and soul. If you love to be active, then your own back yard can be your new favorite workout space.
If you love to swim, consider a custom pool – there are myriad styles to choose from, whether you want to dive or swim laps.
Or consider turning an outdoor space into a gym instead of relegating the treadmill to a corner of the basement. With the right combination of patio, overhang, lighting, and accessories, you can have your own home gym that includes everything but the walls – perfect for getting outdoors and getting in shape, too.
The Zen Master
If the outdoors is your sanctuary, but your yard doesn’t quite live up to your need for serenity, there’s plenty you can do to fix that. Water is one of the most effective additions you can make, whether in the form of a pond, waterfall, stream, bubbler – or all of the above.
The motion and sound of water has natural healing effects, both physically and emotionally. It also has the practical benefit of blocking out other, unwanted sounds that can infringe on your peaceful space.
The right seating can help create a space for your daily meditation. Think deep sofas and soft cushions, hidden garden benches, or a natural stone outcropping beside your koi pond. Or think outside the box and add a fire pit for evening zen.
Lighting is also important for setting tone, and can bring a sense of magic and majesty to your evenings. Play with light and shadow, add lanterns along patios and lighting within flowerbeds, string lights high above in trees or wind tiny bulbs throughout a gazebo to serve as a harbor of tranquility.
The Social Butterfly
Whether you’re the Saturday cocktail or Sunday brunch type, there’s an outdoor landscape design that will suit your lifestyle. Entertaining outdoors opens up so much potential for enjoyment, so be sure to consider your personal use case.
Will you be entertaining the whole family, or a few select friends? Are you the sit-down-for-dinner type, or do you prefer to casually circulate hors d’oeuvres?
Whatever your style, there are a few must-haves, like great seating, lighting for post-sunset entertaining, and of course a place where you can cook and prep.
For the true entertainer, there is also outdoor music, fireplaces and fire pits for cooking or gathering, even outdoor televisions for screening the latest movie or rooting for your favorite sports team.
Be sure to include some kind of shelter or shade, like a pergola, awning or umbrella. Come drizzle or beating sun, you and your guests can enjoy the outdoors even during challenging weather.
The Family Guy (And Girl)
Kids and “nice things” may not always go well together, but when it comes to landscaping, you can create something as gorgeous as it is functional. If you think of your back yard as an outdoor playground – not just an empty, uninspired lawn – then you’ll begin to see the myriad possibilities for fun and beauty that nature offers.
Natural stone looks lovely in a garden, and can make excellent stepping or sitting stones for children. Old stumps add character, and can double as tables, chairs or natural climbing elements for kids.
A flower garden that offers color, texture and wildlife can be even more entertaining than the blank slate of a lawn, and a pond full of fish, frogs and other critters can provide hours of education and enjoyment.
Don’t stop there – a pond can also double as a swimming spot. Koi can learn to eat right out of your child’s hand, and a few strategic resting spots can offer ample opportunity for cloud watching or playing games.
Even if your kids are glued to the TV or their phone, you can still offer them a natural space to indulge their pleasures. Comfortable outdoor seating beneath a pergola, a television mounted under an overhang, or a fire pit for toasting marshmallows can encourage kids to spend more time in the fresh air.
The Foodie
Great landscaping can be edible, too! Turn an entire section of your yard into a garden, or grow a few favorite items in raised beds or containers. If you love to cook, you’ll appreciate a few fresh tomatoes during summer, some basil or mint outside your patio door, even a swath of cherry trees that bloom beautifully in spring and supply fresh fruit all summer.
Edible landscaping is excellent for your winter landscape, too. Long after the leaves have fallen and flowers have lost their blooms, cold-weather greens like cabbage, kale and Swiss chard not only bring color and texture to your space, but they get even tastier the colder it gets.
Potted herbs are a great way to add color, texture, and even scent, with the added benefit that you can move them indoors during colder months to continue enjoying the fruits of your labor.
The Nature Lover
You may love to be outdoors, but do you love to be outdoors _in your own yard_? If you’d rather take off to a park, it might be time to build your own oasis, one you can enjoy the moment you step foot outside your door, any time of the day or night, all year long.
To get the most out of your space, it’s important to create a multi-sensory experience. Of course you want a visually beautiful space – whether that means colorful windflowers or delicate roses, tall grasses or rock gardens. But don’t stop there!
Auditory elements are just as important – the swish of those grasses or the sound of a waterfall cascading over natural stone will only enhance your enjoyment. Remember scent, too – lilac in spring, or honeysuckle all summer.
Texture and motion, from rustling leaves to the unique appeal of a Paperbark Maple, can be as exciting as they are soothing.
And don’t forget to invite wildlife! Every nature lover can appreciate the sight and movement of butterflies, so be sure to plant to attract them. Add a few koi and goldfish to your pond, create a shelter for birds, and you can turn your back yard into a space that rivals any park.
We’ve only just begun to tap into the potential for creating an outdoor space that suits your lifestyle and imagination. Whether you’re a sun worshipper in need of a great patio, a DIYer looking for a home-grown water garden, a bookworm who would enjoy a porch swing or hammock, or just about anything you can imagine, there is a landscapes design that’s right for you.
If you want to spend more time in your own yard, and wish your space reflected your personality and needs, contact us for a consultation. Everything we design is with you at the center. We’ll listen to your dreams, explore the possibilities, and ultimately create a space that’s perfect for you and your family.
