Whether your outdoor lighting is installed to light up the front of your house, or throughout your backyard, there is nothing that can create as much elegance, charm, and peacefulness. Trees and architectural elements with uplighting and spotlights provide a sense of calm and stillness.
When creating indoor spaces, whether its remodeling or simply redecorating, homeowners often think about their furry and not-so-furry family members. Like skipping the coffee table of your dreams because the corners are too sharp or adding gates to steps. When designing the outdoor spaces of your home, the same ideas apply, for both safety and function.
Just like indoors, safety features usually look best when they're incorporated during the design phase with some touch ups post development. So how do you know which safety features you will need? Think of it broken down into feet, hands, and eyes.
Start with the most obvious, consider the ground and everything on it. Tripping hazards first - and not all of them are so clear. Sprinklers are prone for busy feet (even for adults!). Consider either low level ones or place markers near them (e.g. light that is obvious during the day and night). Speaking of light, outdoor lighting that is discreetly placed within grass is great for beauty, but not for kids that use that space for playing. Make these lights obvious or place them alongside edging (of plants, walkways, house, etc.).
Other hazards for little feet include unleveled grounds, rocks, and hoses that aren't carefully placed. Basic cautions to take include pool covers and proper lighting. A common rationalization parents might make include thinking that you'll put something away each time to avoid hazards ... like the hose. The caution here to take is considering ease of proper placement after each use - for each person. And if this means adding in features, such as installing a second hose on the other side of the house or an automatic closing gate around the pool, do it.
Now on to everything your little ones touch. Small stones (gravel) are a major choking risk. Depending on the age of your kids, consider skipping loose rocks and use an alternative (bluestone is a beautiful choice for walkways). Mulch can be just as much as a nuisance, if its placed in areas in which you know your kids will enjoy playing in.
As for heights, consider all things within arms reach for your kids - always at least 6" higher or more than your youngest child's height. This would potentially include items placed on patio tables, railings, and even shed door knobs!
While thinking through all the areas that your little ones can touch, consider different seasons and temperatures of your material selections. Some items get dangerously hot during the high heat days of July. Avoid burns by placing these heat sensitive items in shady areas or use alternative materials.
As for your children's eyes, think of the directions that winds blow throughout the year. As an example, a popular feature around a fire pit often includes built-in seating. Allow room for non built-ins so that children enjoying the fire can move away from smoke (depending on the direction of wind).
Most importantly, consider your kids personalities. Design, or allow your professional to design, spaces that not only adults will enjoy, but spaces that you know your children will love. By creating areas specifically developed for your children, you'll help prevent them getting into places they shouldn't be in!
-Image Flickr David D
Complete residential landscapes involve quite a few different elements that when brought together in the end product, must function cohesively. These elements of a landscape design include things like plantings (referred to as the softscape), irrigation, low-voltage lighting, structures like pergolas and gazebos, and hardscaping. The “hard” surfaces of a landscape such as retaining walls, walkways, decks and patios, are referred to as hardscaping.
A home’s hardscaping provides structure within the often freeform nature of outdoor design. Almost always installed before the other elements, walls and patios shape the land for proper function in terms of ground stability and navigation, respectively.
Here in Orange County, working in communities like Warwick, Florida, Goshen, Chester, Monroe, and Pine Island, hardscape design often involves the combination of stone, concrete, and wood. The Landworx crew works with a great deal of natural fieldstone for retaining walls and driveway pillars, while relying on PA bluestone for flatwork like walkways and patios.
The real magic of a great hardscape design, however, comes into focus when materials combine. When a designer introduces concrete pavers from the likes of Unilock to compliment the natural tones and textures for the bluestone, the outdoor living project is instantly elevated to a new level. Add in a custom pergola built from rough-cut lumber, and you have a true masterpiece.
To set something straight, green is indeed a beautiful pop of color. But in the backyard, the green becomes the white walls in your home. It sits in the background - waiting to be dressed and painted.
There are endless ways to add that extra umph; the pops of color to brighten your outdoor spaces. Some of which may even work during the colder times of the years. So without further adieu, here are the top 10 ways to making your outdoor living spaces a little brighter, and happier - flowers not included.
1. Add a bright planter at the end of the walkway. Let it sit at the very dead end - so that it can serve as the straight-on focal point during the path.
2. Paint your bench! Go for yellow or a purple shade (to match a nearby flower).
3. Choose multi-colored gravel - and skip the solid collections.
4. Don't be afraid to pick colorful stone or pavers - but do make sure there are ways to match those colors in the surrounding areas (plantings are an easy way to do this).
5. Attract butterflies and birds! Adding water elements in open areas, like a columnar fountain will bring them right to you.
6. Paint the doors. Colorful front, side, back - even the shed doors all work. This is especially impactful if there area seating areas stationed nearby.
7. Outdoor rugs are perfect. Not only do the create framing around a space (and therefore add the cozy touch), but they're also perfect for bringing colors in from within that space, or nearby outdoor spaces.
8. Colorful mood lighting, either hung or standing work for your spaces both day and night. By day with their painted exterior (burnt red looks great) and by night with the subtle lighting.
9. Patio umbrellas for shade, dryness, coziness, and yes, color!
10. Hang outdoor art. Think wind vanes and chimes.
-Image Flickr Rudolf Vlček
Unilock Paver Pattern tool, Uvision, allows consumers to visualize their new paver or walkway pavers.
With so many decisions to be made when planning a new outdoor living space, the small details can get lost in the details. Luckily the team at Landworx is all about details. We believe that small touches can pack a big punch when it comes to landscape design.
Paver patterns are just such a detail. Depending on the hardscape product being installed, there are usually a few different options for laying out the pattern. A few things that we consider when choosing the right paver and the right pattern are below.
For smaller spaces like fire pit circles, little seating area patios, or 4’ wide walkways, choosing a pattern comprised of small pavers allows the pattern to really develop. If the pavers are too large with multiple sizes in the set, the eye wont be able to really take in the pattern and the design value will be lost.
In contrast, large spaces and larger patios really work well with large format pavers with multiple sizes. A very popular choice is Unilock’s Beacon Hill Flagstone which has 3 different sizes, all in large format.
Once you select the paver pattern for the main, center area—referred to as the “field"—it’s time to move on to the exciting details and accents, or “borders.” Much like tile in a kitchen or bathroom, there are endless possibilities for borders and inlays. Consider introducing complimentary colors in the border pavers that pull in the accent color of a house or structure.
Some hardscape manufacturers offer visualization tools for just such product selection tasks. For instance, Unilock has created an awesome way for homeowners to visualize different paver patterns working together with borders. The drag and drop style “Uvision” tool comes loaded with high-resolution images and textures of their entire product line. Take it for a spin using the link below!
-Image source: http://assets.unilock.com/drag-n-drop/
