Landscapers in Melbourne polled their customers every year to find out how their customers rate certain landscaping design features, elements, and projects. Landscape architects are asked to predict how popular different outdoor design features for homes will be in the coming year.
Check the list below to see if your next project or a wanted piece is on it.
Outdoor Furniture
For a cohesive design, it’s a good idea to talk to a landscape artist about patio furniture. They can help you decide on placement, size, scale, materials, colour, style, and even which pieces to use. If you want an unusual look, a designer can put it all together in a way that doesn’t look like a sad mishmash.
Keep in mind that outdoor furniture is usually big because it is meant to be used for lounging. Set up all the pieces in the place you’ve chosen, making sure there’s enough room to move around and nothing will hit other things, like buildings or plants.
The style of the furniture should also match the style of the landscaping materials and, of course, the style of the house itself.
Fire Pits and Fireplaces
A fire pit not only gives you light, but it also keeps you warm on cool summer nights and gives you a reason to go outside and stay there when it’s cold. Some are movable and can be moved around a yard, while others are built to last and are made of brick, stone, or concrete. Landscape planners and designers can make pits that fit in with hardscaping that is already there or that is being put in.
Outdoor fireplaces are bigger and last longer than other fire sources. A fireplace serves more than one reason, such as:
It gives your yard a place to meet, especially in the evening.
It can be the centre of attention or a visual feature in a yard, giving an outdoor living room or kitchen a place to start.
It’s a bigger way to get warm than a fire pit. Some can be enormous in size.
Outdoor lights at night
Simple lighting can be tried out by anyone, but great design is an art that is best left to a professional outdoor lighting artist. Landscape planners and lighting experts figure out what a home project needs by looking at:
Functionality: What is needed to keep people safe and get things done.
Accent lights are used to draw attention to important parts of an outdoor place.
Most lighting makers use 12-volt low-voltage systems to save money and energy. Lighting is often set up in layers, starting with the perimeter to draw attention to the boundaries of the land and then moving on to the paths. The next step is the stairs and accent lighting, with a focus on safety and showing off the yard.
Outdoor Seating and Dining Areas
Even though having an outdoor dinner set or deep-seating set in your backyard may seem like a simple request, it’s not always as easy as just plopping it down on the first patch of grass or concrete.
A landscape designer in Melbourne West can help define each part of a yard and make spaces for different activities in subtle ways that tie everything together and make it easier to walk around. Most of the time, this is done with hardscaping features like low stone walls that separate an eating area while still making it easy to get to a grill or outdoor kitchen.
Designers know all kinds of ways to make small spaces look bigger, use every square foot of a small plot, and set up places to sit, rooms, and borders. If you’re not good at design and planning, talk to a pro about how to make the most of your outdoor area.
Outdoor Kitchens
A landscape architect can help you plan an outdoor kitchen by figuring out how much room you have, how easy it is to get to your outdoor dining area and indoor kitchen, and how big your yard is. Other important things to think about:
Budget Materials
How do you cook? Do you only cook on the weekends or do you grill almost every night?
Building a beautiful deck
Wood or composite decking is warmer and more beautiful than concrete when it comes to outdoor flooring. It looks good with most building types and fits in with the surroundings. A landscape architect can create a deck that fits your yard in terms of size, shape, and placement.
Decks have gas grills
One of the most famous things in a yard is a grill or charcoal barbeque. It could be lower on this list because many people already have one. If you only cook outside a few times a month or less, you should be fine with a smaller stand-alone model. If you want to grill more often, choose a model with built-in cabinets and extensions that give you more room to cook and prepare food.
If the grill will be part of an outdoor kitchen with counters (see above), buy a built-in grill that can be put on a custom-built foundation or counter.
Gas or charcoal is another thing to think about. Many people like how easy it is to use gas or propane, but others can’t live without the smoky taste of a charcoal grill.
Outdoor Heaters
If you eat outside, you might not always be able to use a fire pit or stove to keep warm. This is where outdoor heaters come in handy. If you often eat outside and have more than one table set up, you can’t do without them. It can make the difference between a fun time and one that is cut short when the temperature drops.
Tall, movable heaters take up less room than a fire pit and can be safer in homes with young children. The most common ones are:
Propane or natural gas: The heat goes down and can warm up to 25 square feet. Natural gas is a good way to get heat.
Infrared: Permanent models are wired to a patio roof right over a place to sit or do something. Portable models are plugged into an electrical outlet and put near patio eating tables or outdoor living rooms.
Outdoor Movie/TV/Video Theatres, Movie night in the backyard
When you live outside with all the comforts of indoors, you can do things like work on your laptop, watch a hit Netflix show while you rest on the deck, or listen to your favourite music.
Think of the yard as a series of rooms or zones and decide where you might want to add sound. You could have a pool area, an outdoor kitchen and eating area, or an outdoor living room. Work with a designer or expert who knows a lot about outdoor safety, how to set up speakers, and how to stay within your budget.
Some experts say that you should run an Ethernet wire that can be buried in your yard or used to set up a hot spot in your garden. If you don’t know how to do this, talk to a landscape planner, a landscape designer, or an electrician. If they can’t deal with it, they might know someone who can. Before you sign on the dotted line, ask for references.
Outdoor Sound Systems
The big, heavy equipment of the past has been replaced by Bluetooth systems that are small, movable, and cheap. Invest in good speakers to get great sound. There are models that hang from the roof and are good for pergolas and covered patios. There are also speakers that go in the ground and look like rocks.
