Courtyard Gardens – Planning Tips

Written by Malcolm Kay


With an increasing tendency for empty nesters, young couples and singles towards higher density inner city living, andrepparttar desire to spend minimal time on maintaining gardens or other outdoor spaces, most new apartments, townhouses and condominiums tend to have only pocket sized backyards, courtyards or balconies. So it becomes particularly important to makerepparttar 145316 most of such limited areas by landscaping and utilizingrepparttar 145317 space inrepparttar 145318 best possible way.

But you don’t have to be a professional landscape architect to create an inviting courtyard space - you just have to follow a few basic design principles. Whilst you can’t physically increaserepparttar 145319 size of a small garden, you can certainly employ a few visual tricks to createrepparttar 145320 illusion of space.

One important way of doing this is to create a thematic link betweenrepparttar 145321 indoor and outdoor areas. Linkingrepparttar 145322 backyard or courtyard torepparttar 145323 family room or kitchen, breaks downrepparttar 145324 division between inside and outside, makingrepparttar 145325 total area appear larger. To establish this link, try to use paving materials that are similar to those used inrepparttar 145326 house. If you have a tiled area inside, consider extendingrepparttar 145327 same or similar tiles outside. If you have a solid wood or wood laminate floor, one simple solution is to lay interlocking wood deck tiles onrepparttar 145328 external patio or courtyard (see for example www.ezydeck.net). Although such tiles are best laid over a concrete pad, they can also be laid over a level and well compacted gravel surface. And they can be moved and re-laid at will should you decide to changerepparttar 145329 design of your outdoor space at any time.

Wooden Garden Furniture

Written by Matthew Anthony


Wooden Garden Furniture can berepparttar ideal solution to various seating problems in your garden. You can add new seating areas to your garden by perhaps turning a path into a destination for a sit down or consider adding a few pieces of wooden garden furniture to less frequented corners ofrepparttar 145315 garden.

Your garden may be a coastal beach or you have a garden naturalistic wooded landscape, you can easily find some pieces that addrepparttar 145316 perfect touch to your garden, since wooden garden furniture can suit just about any style.

For example, rustic wooden furniture can add justrepparttar 145317 right touch to your woodland garden. It is possible to get benches, tables, and seats that are often made entirely from who tree trunks that still have bark on them. Other pieces are a combination of pinewood and tree branches. This style of wooden garden furniture has a natural handcrafted look that makes them an excellent addition to any garden.

A classic combination for coastal gardens is an Adirondack chairs with a matching side table and footstool. These chairs are ideal for a decking area or patio, particularly when they are painted in bright primary colours. They are very comfortable to sit in andrepparttar 145318 wide arms ofrepparttar 145319 chairs are ideal for holding a glass of something.

A traditional cottage garden makesrepparttar 145320 ideal setting forrepparttar 145321 equally traditional wooden bench. Also, a wooden sun lounger will also suit a cottage garden withrepparttar 145322 classical look. You could than add a wooden table and a few chairs to your patio so that you and your guests can enjoy dinner outdoors. However, make sure you have a parasol forrepparttar 145323 unpredictable British summers whether to protect fromrepparttar 145324 sun orrepparttar 145325 rain.



Cont'd on page 2 ==>
 
ImproveHomeLife.com © 2005
Terms of Use