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Outdoor Decorating
About Landscaping, Part 1
No outdoor living space is completely successful until it is integrated with the surrounding landscape. Just as there are principles for designing interior spaces, there are also guidelines for exterior ones. If you are choosing a site for a gazebo or a patio, it is one of the most important landscape design decisions you'll make. If the structure already exists, you can enhance it by assessing and changing the landscape. For instance, you may want to plan a garden around a gazebo, planting shrubs and flowers to highlight the beauty of the site. Or you may want to treat the gazebo as a secluded retreat. Achieving either goal takes careful planning of the site and surrounding plantings.
Evaluate the site. The landscape design should provide a framework for your outdoor living space. The views, lines, property configuration, and traffic patterns need to work together. Spend some time getting acquainted with your site and noting any special features. What are the site's assets? Are there beautiful views? Are there natural features, such as trees or streams? Consider the size and shape of your lot, the style of the house itself, as well as your own lifestyle needs and preferences.
Balance the elements. This is the process of arranging various site elements so that they are resolved and balanced. A visually heavy or large object can be balanced by a visually lighter or smaller object on the site if the smaller object is darker in color value, is unusually or irregularly shaped, has a contrasting texture, or is more elaborately detailed. All of these strategies will help to draw attention to the smaller object and thereby visually balance it with the larger object. For example, let's say you have a large clump of pine trees on one side of your yard. To visually balance the trees you might plant smaller, more colorful ornamental trees on the other side of the yard, or you might use a man-made object such as a gazebo.
Create a cohesive design. Harmony can be achieved by selecting and using elements that share a common trait or characteristic. By using elements that are similar in size, shape, color, material, texture, or detail, you can create a cohesive feeling and relation among the various elements on the site. An example this might be using a shape, such as a square. Imagine having a square concrete patio scored in a square (or diamond) pattern with a square table covered in a checkered tablecloth. The results can be extremely pleasing and harmonious.
Copyright 2009 Rhonda Morin, MyInteriorDecorator.com. May not be reprinted.
Related Articles
Outdoor Decorating Ideas With Garden Planters For Your Yard
Yard deprivation does not mean you cannot surround yourself with beautiful plants. These outdoor decorating ideas with planters will give a beautiful garden anywhere.
Outdoor Decorating with Patios, Decks and Gazebo's
Free-standing outdoor spaces, such as gazebos or other garden structures, differ from sheltered spaces in several ways. Generally, they are not seen from the front of the house and are usually integrated with the landscape.
Choosing Decorative and Functional Furniture for Your Front Porch
urniture for outdoor use spans the designs made popular through the centuries. You can select benches similar to those used in Versailles, Adirondack chairs, antebellum wrought iron inspired by Victorian New Orleans, and myriad other choices.
How to Decorate Sunrooms & Porches
Attached outdoor spaces that provide total or partial shelter should be considered an extension of the home's interior design. In most cases these areas embrace an entrance or serve to join two interior areas--a breezeway, for example.
Outdoor Decorating
Savvy homeowners don't end their decorating at the door, they keep going to include the decks, porches, sunrooms, and patios that surround their homes.
Decorating the Deck and Patio
A deck may not count towards the square footage of your home, but it will help your home feel larger and expand your opportunities for entertaining.
Decorating Tips for Your Front Porch or Sunroom
Pillows, upholstery, slipcovers, shades and blinds, lighting, flooring, and rugs all make a sunroom or a porch lush and comfortable.
About Patios, Decks, and Gazebos, Part 2
The second in a series about decorating our outdoor living areas like patios, decks and gazebo's.
The Outdoor Family Room
A deck or patio is used most often as a fair-weather family room, decorate it like you do your indoor spaces.
The Outdoor Kitchen and Dining Area
Practical planning makes outdoor cooking efficient and more enjoyable, whether it is for the family or a host of guests.
About Landscaping, Part 1
No outdoor living space is completely successful until it is integrated with the surrounding landscape. Just as there are principles for designing interior spaces, there are also guidelines for exterior ones.
About Landscaping, Part 2
The second part in the series about how to increase your outdoor living space's beauty with landscaping.
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