Archive for the ‘Landscaping’ Category

Ah Halloween: it’s the season of sugar rushes, repurposed white sheets, and humiliated pumpkins.  Aside from all the fun things there are to do to get ready for the spookiest night of the year, it’s a good idea to take quick stock of your home’s porch and walkway areas. 

If you’re expecting little goblins and Bob-the-Builders to arrive at your door come the evening of the 31st, you’d better be ready to receive them in safety, and style.  If you’ve ever been a kid, you remember how excited you got at Halloween, and having to scramble around in a floor length sheet? Add to the mix that you were probably already a little bit clumsy, and then add large amounts of sugar… forget about it…it was a small miracle I managed to get anywhere on Halloween as a kid. 

Photo Credit: Superstock.com

When Your Porch Takes Center Stage

Parents and kids alike are sure to be appreciative if you’ve spent just a little time clearing your walk of fall leaves, and any other debris that could potentially prove slippery.  Also double check for cracks in the pavement or cement and patch them if you can.  If you’ve got steps up to your door, clear and inspect these as well so the sugared-up little Cinderellas and Spidermen don’t wipe out on your doorstep. 

Remember also that lighting is crucial to make your home’s exterior inviting and safe.  (It’s also a good way to improve curb appeal so you can enjoy the benefits long after the toilet paper has been removed from your trees.)  Line your walk and porch in solar powered garden lights, and you’ll be ready to warmly welcome family and friends for all the coming holidays.

Just stumbled across this amazing backyard on Design*Sponge. It’s the home of Meredith Kleinman, an interior designer and painter, and she has truly made me covet her home.

The interior is beautiful, but it’s the exterior that really got my attention.

The wood deck is complete with shaded sitting area. The three sided bench is a great use of custom carpentry, and takes the outdoor patio to a whole new level, perfect for family use or social gathering. Of course there needs to be a convered dining area too. And don’t miss the concrete work making the floor. 

Then there is the small sunroom with amazing tiny tile work just behind the sitting area. I love the return of tiny tile installation like this.

Then there’s the Japanese style bathhouse complete with outdoor shower. The sunny California weather is perfect for outdoor showers. And this one, complete with wooden Japanese inspired hot tub creates the perfect space.

If this doesn’t inspire you to start creating your own backyard oasis, I don’t know what will!

(Photo Credits: Design*Sponge, Meredith Kleinman)

I maintain that brisk temperatures are no reason to keep you indoors.  After all, there’s good growing season left, and your garden can be taking advantage. It’s also the prime time to get your lawn ready for the conditions ahead. 

Before the coldest of the weather hits, you might want to aerate your grass and lay down any of the fertilizer you may want to add.       Photo Credit: flickr

You can even start planting in the late summer to harvest some early fall crops.  Species especially suited to cooler environments include spinach, pansies, and garlic.  It’s also a good chance to get your bulbs in the ground for next spring and plant some grasses, which bloom in the late summer and early fall. 

Another great strategy for your fall time gardening projects might mean investing in a cold frame.  These great little gadgets are lightweight, easily portable, and insulate plants or shrubs from the harshest of temperatures.  If you’ve put in bushes or shrubs and the weather is set to get colder sooner than expected, cold frames are a great way to protect your investment and enjoy the foliage in the spring without worry.

I’ve been basking in the beautiful sun non-stop for the past few days. In Portland, with almost 300 days of the year being grey, rainy, and cold, it’s essential to enjoy the sunny days while I can.

So while living it up on my front porch, I often wish I had a more ideal set up for enjoying the outdoors.

What would that ideal set up be? Why, an outdoor kitchen of course!

(Photo Credit: Cosmopolitan Horticulture Services)

It’s entirely possible to create a home away from home in your backyard. No need to keep walking in and out of your home to entertain outdoors, you can install and create everything you need right there in your backyard.

Outdoor kitchens can include everything from a gas grill, a refrigerator, wet bar, ice maker, sink, built-in stereo or TV, and pretty much anything else you can think of. You’ll need to call in a professional to make sure you have the right plumbing, and wiring, but the end result will be worth it when you can spend endless hours enjoying the sun and warm weather.

As a kid, I spent summers on the family ranch.  Idyllic? You bet.  Dirty? Absolutely.  Maybe that’s why I like the idea of outdoor showers so much.  My German grandmother kept an immaculate house, and none of us dared enter covered in field grime and dog hair. 

We used a hose snaked through the patio trellis to clean up before we were allowed back inside for supper.  More often than not, this was an event in itself, as we enjoyed water fights and got ourselves ready to cannonball into the pool.  Years later, my grandparents would improve on our methods by adding more permanent plumbing for an outdoor shower off the back patio. 

Combine Fun Styles and Great Function

You don’t have to be farm residents to understand the usefulness of the outdoor shower, as it lends itself to a wide variety of tasks.  Maybe you’re:

• An avid outdoor exerciser?
• An enthusiastic gardener?
• A weekend warrior bent on improving your back deck, your landscape? 
• Into beachy activities at a vacation home?

This might be the perfect solution for you to keep the interior of your home a little more pristine. 

Also handy for families with kids, an outdoor pool, or abodes close to the beach, showering al fresco is a fun way to encourage the littler, or even bigger, members of your family to make life a little easier by leaving the dirt, sand, and whatever else outside.

Options for personalizing your outdoor shower and getting creative with the design might get you started thinking up how an outdoor shower could fit into your home’s landscape:  

Photo Credit: Sunset

There is this yard I absolutely adore.  It belongs to a smaller restored Cape Cod on a corner lot, and the charm is tangible.  I run past it in the mornings and can’t help but admire the artful vegetative appointments.  It’s well maintained and just the slightest bit wild, all with those careful touches that tell you how deeply the artist cares for the landscape. 

Photo Credit: Bainbridge Design Build 

And while this is all well and good, you might be wondering why this house is worth mentioning, and the answer to that came a few nights ago.  A few nights ago when, for the first time, I saw my favorite little lot under the graying dusk.  And while I’m generally conditioned to notice great landscaping, this little set up quite literally stopped me in my tracks. 

I suppose I had noticed the solar lanterns along the walk, even the lampposts, but in the dark, under the full glory of night, were lights strategically placed in ways I could never have dreamed up.  Hydrangeas lit from behind glistened with glittery blue brilliance, the accent lighting on the steps bathed the place in a soft ochre glow begging me to wander up to the front door, which I was very nearly almost compelled to do simply to meet the mastermind behind this nighttime garden wonderland. 

Photo Credit: Image Electric

It quite literally was the difference between night and day, all accomplished through some impressive, and probably very easy, landscape lighting.  It’s all in the lighting, and what a way to take this little yard from amazing to downright stunning with the flip of switch.

I don’t know about you, but summer makes me itch to get outside and take in all that the season has to offer.  Nothing seems more essentially summer than the beach to me, and my favorite outdoor ideas take full advantage of this theme. 

Photo Credit: MarthaStewart.com

With summer in full force, its nice to enjoy the season outside, and even if you can’t be at your favorite beach locale all the time, you can bring the feel of it to your home. 

The great thing about beach themed landscaping is that it gives you the opportunity to make your yard and outdoor spaces as individual as the beaches themselves.  Everyone has their favorite beach, and a pretty good idea of their favorite things about that beach.  Use this as your palatte, and get started!  What kinds of plants thrive in your favorite coastal town?  Are there textures, features, colors that stand out for you when thinking about that spot? Use them!

Don’t have the ocean view to go along with this fire pit set up?  You can still enjoy the effect in your own backyard, minus the travel time.

   Photo Credit: MarthaStewart.com

Here are some more great examples to get you brainstorming:

Photo Credit: Cottage Living

Photo Credit: MarthaStewart.com

In my neighborhood I’ve been seeing more and more driveways that look like this:

Photo Credit: New York Times

At first I just assumed that it was simply the new stylistic choice for modern home remodels, but I’ve recently learned that it’s actually a smart and easy way for homeowners to make their home more eco-friendly!

Traditional driveways, which are usually just a mass of concrete, asphalt or stone, are not the most environmental choice. However, options for designing driveways that is both earth friendly, and uniquely designed are becoming more widely available.

By putting a Permeable Driveway into your home you are making a big difference to the environment around you. You’ll eliminate storm water runoff that can carry toxic pollutants into the sewers, rainwater will be absorbed back in to the soil to feed trees and plants, and you’ll be reducing the urban “heat island” effect by eliminating the reflection off masses of concrete and asphalt that are often responsible for making the climate around you warmer.

Your options for how to incorporate Permeable Driveway design are abundant. Here’s a rundown of the two ideas I like most:

Concrete Pavers: Perhaps my favorite option is using concrete pavers and vegetation. For this type of design, concrete pavers are used to create a grid like pattern, and the spaces in between the pavers are planted with grass or other vegetation. It definitely creates an interesting focal point for any front yard.

Reinforced Grass Surface: New technologies have developed options in which your driveway can simply look like a continuation of your front lawn. By adding a product such as Grasspave2 under the area you would like for your driveway space you are able to make a space with great load bearing capabilities for your car, while not destroying the vegetation and root system underneath.

If you’re looking for ways to make your home more green, ripping up your concrete and replacing it with some soft, lush vegetation may seem like an easy and incredibly appealing idea.