5 Landscape Design Tips to Enhance Your Yard

Are you looking to enhance your yard with a beautiful, thoughtful landscape design?

Well, you wouldn’t be the only one. It turns out that homeowners from 26 states are more likely to prefer their neighbor’s yard over their own, according to a recent survey. 

We believe everyone should love their yard. That’s why, today, we’re breaking down five essential landscape design tips to create the yard of your dreams!

1. Have a General Idea of What You Would Like

When designing your yard, it can be helpful to have an idea of the landscaping features you would like to include. 

Do you want a pool for the summer? Or a play area for your children? Maybe a dining area and outdoor kitchen are essential for the company you’re always having over. Or, a fire pit may be necessary for your outdoor lifestyle. 

Also, consider natural elements, such as flower or vegetable gardens and ponds. 

Once you have an idea of which elements you want to include in your design, sketch out some ideas on a piece of paper with rough shapes and outlines. You don’t need to be precise. Just get your ideas down so that you can visualize different layouts and refine your ideas.

Also Read: How to Budget for Landscaping Projects

2. Determine the Placement of Focal Points

Once you determine the main features you would like to include, decide how you want them arranged in your yard. Fine-tune the plans you created in the previous step.

Landscape design tip: arrange these features according to how often they’ll see use and how you want your yard to look.

For example, maybe you would like a large patio extending from the back door. On the side of it, you want a barbecue along with a large table for dining. At the patio’s edge, a cobblestone pathway leads to a pool bordered on both sides by vegetable and flower gardens. 

Then, perhaps you want a fire pit at the center of the far side of the yard.

It would help if you also considered the weather. Will heat, shade, or wind affect the functionality of these focal points?

Also Read: 5 Reasons Why Landscape Designing Is Important For You

3. Pick a Theme and Play With Textures

Stick to a theme to make your yard cohesive and sophisticated. 

To do this, pick a theme一, for example, cottage, rustic, or modern landscape design一, and base your largest elements around it.

Then, incorporate a secondary theme by playing with different textures. Add a mix of other elements, such as large, leafy plants, colorful flowers, vines, stonework, wood, statues, birdbaths, and water features.

This combination will break up the monotony and create a visually rich atmosphere.

4. Create an Ambience with Lighting

Lights are great for enhancing other landscaping elements. Landscape lighting can create a specific ambiance, depending on what look you are trying to achieve.

String, tiki, and pathway lighting, as well as outdoor chandeliers, create a quaint, lively atmosphere. Overhead lighting is great for illuminating a space at night and compliments any theme. 

Lights are a powerful tool for both backyard landscape design and front yard landscape design.

5. Draw the Eye From One Part to the Next

Another landscape design idea is to draw the eye from one focal point to the next. You can use lighting, pathways, or bordering plants to do this.

The goal is to encourage the eye to move naturally from one spot to the next. Transitions should be subtle rather than forced to make this feel organic unless that is the desired look you are going for.

Use These Landscape Design Tips to Achieve the Yard of Your Dreams

Little things can do a lot for your yard. Sometimes, they can do as much as the big things. That’s why it’s important to incorporate thoughtful planning of both to achieve the beautiful, balanced yard of your dreams.

If these landscape design tips inspired you, check out our other landscaping articles for more ways to create an enchanting backyard space!