Your front yard is often the first thing that your neighbours and guests see when visiting or simply passing by your home. This can influence the first impression that others have of your home. In this post, we take a closer look at some of the techniques that you can employ to upgrade your front yard and enhance its curb appeal.
Assessing Your Front Yard
To successfully upgrade your front yard, it is crucial for you to start by assessing the strengths and weaknesses of your front yard. This will enable you to play to its strengths and create a landscape that fits in well with the rest of your home’s design. When assessing your yard, consider factors such as its size, shape, lighting and existing greenery, as well as the type of soil underlying it.
Designing Your Dream Landscape
Once you have a good idea of what you are dealing with, you can proceed to design your dream landscape. Some features that you can consider incorporating into your front yard include:
Plants and Shrubbery
Plants are one of the most common ways to populate a yard, and for good reason. They can have numerous benefits, ranging from enhancing the quality of the air to providing a calming visual landscape to look at. When choosing the types of plants that you want to add to your yard, consider their maintenance requirements. If you are generally busy or don’t enjoy gardening, opt for plants that are low-maintenance and drought-resistant.
Hardscapes
At the same time, hardscaping elements such as walkways and pathways can also help to break up your yard into various different segments. This can help to prevent your landscape from blending together visually into a sea of green. When it comes to hardscaping, you will be spoilt for choice. Natural stone pavers may provide a more rustic look, whereas gravel might add a touch of modernity to your yard.
Outdoor Lighting
An oft-forgotten element when it comes to landscaping is outdoor lighting. Outdoor lighting can take the form of path lights that illuminate the various pathways in your yard or landscape lighting that can highlight elements that you want to showcase, such as water features or specific plants. When choosing an outdoor lighting system for your yard, take into consideration the energy efficiency of the system as well as its maintenance requirements. Certain lighting options, such as solar-powered lighting, can also have the added benefit of not requiring an external power source to operate.
Designing Your Custom Home
If you want to have full control over every aspect of your home’s design, including how your front yard looks, then designing a custom home may be the right option for you. Unlike buying a resale property, you get to bring your dream home to life when you design and build it from scratch. Australian Heritage Homes is the number one provider of custom home-building services in Melbourne and the surrounding areas. Contact us today for more information!