Backyards are intended to be a source of joy and refuge—a place to unwind, relax, and have fun—no matter how big or little they are.
Is your outside space more of a location where you want to hide than a welcoming retreat? A yard that is overrun with patio furniture, outdoor buildings, and children’s play equipment may seem disorganized. In fact, if you have too much stuff, it’s tough to move about, or there’s constantly a project calling your name, you could find yourself avoiding the backyard.
Organize Your Clutter
If your children are too old for slides and swings, rethink the yard by cleaning away the clutter, trimming overgrown trees and hedges, moving play equipment, or giving it. Remove or discard any damaged furniture, accessories, or items that don’t appear to belong in the yard. Anything that can be stored should be.
Assess your yard for components it needs to make it a location you want to get away to; a sanctuary for kicking back and relaxing or doing the activities you love, like swimming, working out, or eating with friends and family, starting with as clean or naked a slate as possible.
Well-designed outdoor living space may give the sun, shade, vistas, and fresh air. Make use of everything it has to offer and explore the following ideas for changing your area into an oasis.
Comfortable seating
A deep seating set, lounge chairs, loungers, or chaise lounges, whether beneath an umbrella, beside a swimming pool, on a deck, or even on the balcony of a high-rise apartment building, allow you to stretch out and rest.
You’re more inclined to relax and spend some time outside if the sitting is comfy, rather than sit at a patio dining table, eat a grilled burger, and then return inside. Why not add a hammock for some genuine relaxation?
The Appropriate Landscaping
Plants that have been thoughtfully designed and chosen to blend in with their surroundings might help to create a theme or atmosphere, or even transport you to a favorite vacation destination.
The trick is to select plants that respond well to your local environment. Mix plants from your area with climate-adapted trees, shrubs, vines, and perennials, which you can generally get at your local nursery or botanical garden shop. Enlist the aid of a landscape designer, or seek advice from a garden store employee or the master gardener program at your local university.
Make the Most of a View
If you reside in a home with a view, don’t be hesitant about establishing a spot where you can take in the landscape. Trees and bushes should not be used to obscure the view, and large or heavy patio furniture should be avoided.
Landscaping should complement, not compete with, the surrounding vista and surroundings.
Make Your Patio or Deck More Inviting
It won’t have to have a slab of concrete with a few plastic seats and a charcoal barbecue. Make an area that entices you to leave your warm home for a quiet, plant-filled sanctuary in your own garden. Make your patio a place where you want to spend time, whether it’s resting in the sun, doing yoga, reading, or socializing with friends. To make the room more inviting, add cushions, blankets, flowers, and lamps.
Shade
An umbrella, to be sure, provides much-needed shade. However, seeing one brings up ideas of a relaxing holiday at a resort, on a sandy beach, or beside a pool. Its circular shape, projected over the other pieces of outdoor furniture, appears fun and welcoming, encouraging you to sit under its colorful form and relax, perhaps sipping a drink or ice beverage.
However, umbrellas do not have to provide all of the shade. Umbrellas, wooden gazebos or pergolas, awnings, vines growing over arbors, and leafy trees can all be used to produce shade.
Featured Water
Water has a soothing and healing impact just by looking at it or hearing it. A private swimming pool is the ideal water feature for a yard since it cools you down while also allowing you to exercise in the quiet of your own yard. However, most people do not have the room or the financial means to add one. Fortunately, there are smaller, less expensive water features to consider that may be even more relaxing—listen to the sound of trickling water or a bird splashing in a birdbath—such as these:
- Garden pond
- Fountain
Make a Private Space
The importance of privacy in a pleasant outdoor area cannot be overstated. As you move across the landscape, using correctly placed screens, barriers, or customized fences of appropriate height to separate and seclude the region may give your setting a sense of mystery and surprise. Arbors and overhanging roofs add to the sense of isolation while also providing much-needed shade. If you want to create a more natural environment, use tall shrubs, dense bushes, hedges, or even bamboo.
Add Fire
Warmth is quickly added to your yard with a fire pit, chiminea, or fireplace, especially during the cooler months or in the evening. What could be more soothing than sitting next to a fire with friends or family, or snuggling with a lover while gazing at the flames?
It’s simple to establish a sitting area around a portable fire pit because many versions are available at cheap rates. Simply avoid placing it near structures, beneath a roof, or on top of a wooden deck.
Plants With Fragrant Aromas
You may use scented candles outside, but why not grow something real? Some blooming shrubs and vines have particularly powerful nighttime fragrances, so pick examples that may be grown near outdoor seating or dining spaces.
Lighting
Outdoor lighting—the proper sort and location to illuminate sections of the yard that see activity in the evening—will entice you and your guests to come outside and stay as long as you like.
