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As you’ve probably noticed by now, we’re pretty fond of interiors here at homify. We live, breathe and love interior design, and helping you make the absolute most of your interiors with the best ideas around is our ongoing mission. But in our rush to cover every aspect of the home interior, it’s important that we mix up our focus on the internal and spare a few thoughts for the exterior too. Keeping our home interiors spic, span and delightfully designed is all for nothing unless we’ve consider the whole home, and that means looking at the outside just as well as the ‘in’.
Home exteriors are a crucial element of domestic design. The exterior gives the very first impression of the vibe, mood and feel of our homes: the aesthetic introduction, if you like. Arriving to our homes each and every day, it’s the façade and all surrounding it that we see and feel first and foremost, so it’s important that we get these first impressions right. By all means, we need to consider the structure and materials that out homes are made of and the way they interact to form a solid foundation. But there’s another element that shouldn’t be forgotten too, and that is the all-important, and highly versatile front garden.
Today on homify, we’re taking a break from the interior, and having a good look at the exterior: in particular, how to make the most of your frontage with a beautiful front garden area. There’s truly nothing like a lush and well designed front garden: take a few tips from us, and get excited and inspired about how to implement a few of these ideas into your home setup.
Whether it’s you coming home from work in the evening, heading off in the morning, or your guests arriving for a dinner party or get together on the weekend, there’s nothing quite like the sense of pride and contentment in knowing that your home exterior looks welcoming and great. Cultivating an excellent front garden is a fine way to help induce this result.
For a decidedly elegant, and almost Victorian-era treatment, why not consider sprucing up your front garden with an admirable archway? If you’re growing long plants or creeper, such as wisteria, an archway can be a perfect addition (especially if you happen to have the added benefit of a side walkway).
Garden arches provide a romantic, decadent and functional front garden addition, and enhance the sense of welcome and joy in and around your front yard.
Bringing things back to basics, it’s all well and good to look at the grander scale, but in fact you don’t need to do too much to your frontage to ensure you’ve got things looking neat and attractive. Often, it’s the smaller touches and flourishes that will impress and make your home stand out. Consider a delicate array of pots and plants to make your front garden look fabulous.
Here, we see a neat selection of what’s possible: finely selected potted plants, fused with trimmed hedge topiary spiced up with lovely ornaments. When it comes to the garden, no matter what size or dimensions you’re working with, the micro is just as important as the macro. With plants, look after the small things, and work your way out from there.
Here, we have a fabulous example of an admirable home frontage: the home itself is large and impressive, but it’s largely thanks to the garden and landscaping that this home achieves what it does. With a neat lawn fusing against a well-landscaped front driveway and walkway leading to the front door, this home comes across as elegant, classic and well kempt. The inclusion of shrubs and plants adds to the depth and appeal, while this array of well-considered lighting keeps things illuminated and looking fantastic come nightfall.
Considering sprucing up your exterior? Keen to give a little love to the front garden? It can be a big job to undertake, so if you’re feeling a little overwhelmed, or simply not sure where to begin, why not chat to a professional landscaper or garden designer to help you get underway and on the right track?
Nothing says calm, relaxing and pleasant like a touch of the Orient: to give your front garden a delightful point of difference and a unique eastern flavor, consider installing a fabulous Zen monument or stone statue feature.
Whether you happen to be a practicing Buddhist or not, the addition of a prominent stone Buddha statue such as the one in this fabulous example can be a great way to enhance your garden, inducing a sense of positivity, wellbeing, harmony and good luck right throughout your property.
As a general rule, a good garden typically relies on a well thought out selection of trees and plants, and the more interesting, the better. As well as a foundation of filler shrubs and garden plants, choose a few feature trees and plants to add contrast and depth.
Here, we see how a front garden can work so well when a range of different unique and interesting plants are introduced: a neat selection of smaller varieties, trading off against the feature trees in the foreground.
If you happen to be working with a smaller garden frontage, or keen to keep things a little more ‘boutique’ rather than grandiose, then planter boxes make the ideal inclusion.
Here, we see a great example of what’s possible: a tiered array of planters with a range of different plants and shrubs, working together to bring a sense of delight and harmony to this neat front garden space.
Oftentimes, simplicity is key. Keeping your front walkway area trim, terrific and neatly adorned with a finely-selected few plants and trimmings is a great way to make your front area look appealing and inviting.
Here, we see simplicity working to great effect: a cute and cosy front entranceway, enhanced but a lone potplant to the right hand side, and a collection of neat planters to the left.
As a side note, but an important one nonetheless, it’s always a good idea to consider what sort of home you’re working with before you starting planting. Depending on the style of your home, especially its façade, you’ll likely find that some plants and trees are far more appropriate than others.
Even with a front garden it’s crucial to keep in-style. Here, we see a neat front garden where the designers have really enhanced the feel and tone of the home through their choice of plants and trees, overarching and lush, giving it a warm, welcoming feel in the day and the night.
Did you enjoy that Ideabook? Why not keep the great ideas flowing with a look at Minimalist garden design?
