Better Homes and Gardens Real Estate Life

Category: Outdoor Design

  • Ask a Pro Q&A: Harness the Power of Outdoor Seating

    Create an extension of your home in fresh air areas with advice from Dream Team member and outdoor pro, Carson Arthur. While landscaping and hardscaping may offer a balance between man’s world and nature, a great outdoor space will increase the value of your home. Get inspired now!

    Question: What’s the best backyard design to sell your home?

    – Manuel M.

    Buyers today want useable space in their backyards. Patios, decks, and even gazebos all have great returns for one specific reason: they give buyers more square footage that has purpose! (And who doesn’t want more living space?) I always ask homeowners, “What don’t you have in your house? Is your kitchen big enough? Do you have a dining room? What about a fireplace?” If you can offset the shortcomings from the inside of your home with something that you KNOW you are going to use outdoors, then you have an instant selling feature and also a way to meet the needs of any buyer who has specific things they are hunting for. Skip the plants and gardens in the backyard and focus on seating areas with great furniture!

    – Carson Arthur

  • Home Exterior Design Ideas for Transforming an Outdoor Space

    Curb appeal is important for many homeowners who want to feel good about where they live or attract a new buyer. Whether you want to freshen up a home you’ve owned for years or plan on selling, here are some exterior makeovers you can give without spending a fortune. Focus on designs that make a big impact.

    A fresh coat of paint

    Outdated brick and worn concrete rejuvenate with lighter paint selections. For shutters, window casings, eaves and the front door, consider khaki in a shade just a bit darker than the house.

     

     

     

     

     

    A makeover for focal points

    Thoughtful improvements like an updated roof, glass front door or new windows can make a vast difference. Consider also revamping your pathways and planters. Create a focal point with landscaping for one of the easiest and most effective ways to transform a house from blah to beautiful.

     

     

     

    Accentuate the positives

    If you have a charmer hidden under overgrown shrubs, bushes and trees, clear away the clutter to allow the home’s frame to speak volumes. Reveal a stunner simply by getting rid of anything in the way of the authentic style of your home. Doing a bit of research into your home’s beginnings may offer some ideas for enhancing its character.

     

     

     

  • Boost Your Home’s Curb Appeal with Breathtaking Front Yard Landscaping Ideas

    Ready to give your front yard a makeover, yet don’t know where to start? It’s easy to get a little intimidated when it comes to yard design. Many of us are convinced that landscaping is something only professionals can do because it will be too time consuming to maintain. However, anyone can have a swoon worthy front yard without a ton of effort.

    Whether you’re looking to sell your house or simply want to try something different, there are countless ways to enhance your curb appeal. Read on for some front yard landscaping ideas and planning suggestions.

    Charming pots and beautiful boxes

    Flower pots provide an instant front yard upgrade that can be updated easily and often. Southern Living recommends choosing pots that complement the colors of your home and keeping it simple with regard to the planters.

    Similarly, carefully tended window boxes can elevate your front yard design from basic to beautiful, especially when they include varied sizes and colors.

     

    Stylish stones

    Does the thought of plant-heavy landscaping make you nervous? There are other ways to make your front yard stand out that don’t involve plants or flowers. Pros call the use of pebbles and stones hardscaping, which can vary your yard with texture and color.

    Whether you’re using them as an accent or making them more of a focus, stones add a sophisticated textural element to your yard, with minimal maintenance.

  • Boost Curb Appeal with an Entryway Garden

    Eye-catching entryway plantings packed with color help your home extend a friendly welcome.

    First impressions count, and when you preface a front door with floral and foliage fireworks, you create an atmosphere of gracious warmth. A colorful entry also adds curb appeal, which enhances home value. The trick is to arrange plantings that blend fuss-free style with traffic-stopping beauty. Add a trickling fountain to mute traffic noise, or, if you don’t have the space, embrace a container garden that features a variety of different blooms and buds to appeal to guests and potential home buyers alike.

     

    Boost curb appeal with color

    Using seasonal color in a front yard works well for several reasons. It provides a loom on which you can weave different planting patterns year to year, so for a gardener who enjoys designing plantings, an entry garden furnishes endless opportunities to satisfy the craving for staging something new. In areas with rugged winters and ample snowfall, quick color that disappears with the frost means no worries about plant damage from road salt or piles of snow. And whenever you trade turf for plantings, you reduce lawn-mowing duties—a cause to cheer.

     

     

    Profusion Series Zinnia

    This mounding grower is blanketed with daisy-like blooms.

     

     

     

  • Container Gardening: What Works Best

    The very best methods for growing container gardening vegetables

    There’s no better time to start planting than in spring. Gardening vegetables in a container is a great way to grow healthy food and an easy way to add some color to porches or around windows. To help you get started, we’ve put together a list of some of some of the best methods for gardening vegetables in containers.

     

    Window boxes

    Are you short on yard space? Do you lack a front porch? Then a window box might be the perfect solution! Vegetables often need between six and eight hours a day of sunlight, so just make sure your window boxes get enough light.

     

     

     

     

    Clay pots versus plastic

    Clay pots are arguably more attractive than plastic pots. They are often more expensive and dry out faster in the sun. With that said, if you decide to invest in clay pots, consider having it glazed to hold water. If you prefer the unglazed look, a trick of the trade is to insert a plastic pot into a one made of clay.

  • Holiday Outdoor Décor Ideas for a Beautiful and Cozy Winter

    Spruce up your outdoor space to bring the merriment of the holidays to your home.

    There are plenty of décor ideas you can adapt to turn the exterior of your house into a festive destination. Even if you live where it snows and don’t spend much time on a porch or patio, decking the outside of your halls is fun and satisfying.

    Create a warm welcome for friends’ arrival and a beautiful scene to admire from the cozy indoors with these ideas for holiday outdoor décor.

    Hang a simple wreath

    Hanging just one wreath on your front door creates a beautifully minimalistic look. Depending on your wreath’s adornments, you can pull off a chic aesthetic or something gorgeously traditional.

     

     

     

     

     

     

     

    Go all out with double wreaths

    Have double doors? Hang two wreaths for twice the joy. Magnolia wreaths look stunning in a pair.

     

     

  • Top Landscaping Designs of 2017

    As we come into the summer of 2017, it’s time to start thinking about top landscaping designs. Whether you intend on putting your home on the market or simply want to increase the curb appeal for your enjoyment and possible opportunities, this is the season to do it. Grab your gardening gloves; your landscape is about to take on a life of its own.

    Gardening with a purpose
    The biggest landscaping design trend of 2017 is all about gardening with a purpose. As such, many homeowners are trading in their ornamental flower beds for edible landscapes. While blooming flowers aren’t being forgotten altogether, fresh vegetable and herb gardens are taking precedence over other plants in 2017. Gardening with a purpose comes with many benefits. You can grow your fruits, vegetables and herbs organically without having to pay an increased price.

    Eco-friendly and native landscapes
    The world has taken a turn towards sustainable living. People no longer want to eat processed foods, drink out of plastic bottles or have any damaging substances within their garden. As such, many homeowners are implementing sustainable, eco-friendly materials for their landscape designs to extend their natural lifestyle to the exterior of their home.  Additionally, homeowners want native species that control the environmental conditions. ‘Naturescaping’ is the process of growing native plants to attract local birds, garden-friendly insects and bees to enhance the overall appeal of landscaping.

    Completely custom outdoor living spaces
    Backyards are taking on a life of their own as homeowners extend their living space into the great outdoors in 2017. Outdoor living spaces have been a growing landscape design trend over the last couple of years.  Instead of putting out some patio furniture, many are opting for fully customized areas that are equipped with all the amenities they need to relax, entertain and dine. From outdoor kitchens to Zen gardens, backyards are now an extension of the home.

    Illuminated landscape designs
    With the rise of outdoor living spaces, there has been a significant increase in illuminated landscapes. Now that homeowners can do everything they need to do, many are opting to install luxurious exterior lights to illuminate the functionality of their landscapes. Solar powered path lights and LED lighting fixtures are at the top of landscaping trends as they coincide with the eco-friendly efforts of 2017.

    Landscapes that conserve water
    Many regions in the United States have struggled with droughts in 2017. As such, the continuous changes in the environment have caused many states to impose water regulations, which directly impacts avid gardeners across the nation. Fortunately, many homeowners have found a solution. Instead of trading in their green thumb, they’re now incorporating water conservation within their landscape design. Simple changes such as using a drip irrigation system or a container of rainwater instead of a sprinkler can make a dramatic impact on your landscape when there is a drought.

    There’s no denying that 2017 landscape designs are more eco-friendly than we have ever seen before. From natural materials to locally-sourced plants, native species and water conservation, outdoor living areas provide many benefits that go beyond what meets the eye.

  • Sweeps Promo

    Do you believe that dreams can come true? Make your backyard vision a reality by entering our #FunInTheSunSweepstakes. All you need to do is visit bhgrelife.com to enter for a chance to win big.

    What could you win? For starters, you will receive a consultation with outdoor lifestyle and TV expert Carson Arthur. He will share his décor ideas for your very own Shangri-La, as well as a chance to win $1,500 prize. Create your paradise! Click here to enter.

  • Shrubs for Privacy

    Want to get away from it all right in your own backyard? No need to build a fence or plant trees at the end of your property line when shrubs offer the perfect solution! Nature offers ways to add beauty and privacy to your backyard space.

    Outdoor Pro Carson Arthur shows you how to create a secluded retreat in a shorter amount of time, and that’s not all!  Enter our #FunInTheSunSweepstakes for your chance to win $1,500 and a personal consultation with Carson himself. Get closer today! Click here to enter.

  • Outdoor Fire Pit

    Oh, those summer nights! Outdoor fire pits are the hottest trend this season and are quickly becoming the most popular backyard additions for any time of year. A backyard hearth provides a stunning entertaining space that is separate from the patio table. Let Outdoor Pro Carson Arthur show you how to ignite summer nights with this must-have.

    Ready for s’mores and ghost stories? Enter our #FunInTheSunSweepstakes for your chance to win $1,500 and a personal consultation with Carson Arthur. Fire up the season today! Click here to enter.