Backyard Renovations of 2018

As a homeowner, spending time in your backyard with friends and family is something you look forward to, especially in the spring, summer, and fall months. Whether you want to plan a family cookout or kick back in your favorite lounge chair, creating a backyard landscape design with adequate privacy and a comfortable atmosphere can have a big impact on the enjoyment of your outdoor activities.

Outdoor living spaces are popular features for most homeowners, but rising real estate prices have made houses with large yards less affordable for some. As the demand for outdoor spaces grows and large houses occupy small lots, backyard privacy is at a premium. Take a look at landscape design ideas that will create maximum privacy and enjoyment in your backyard.

Solid Privacy Fences

Building a fence is a common solution for privacy in a backyard landscape design. A six-foot fence quickly provides a visual buffer between properties. It provides maximum privacy and noise reduction with a smaller footprint than shrubs and plants. A fence is a good solution in a side yard where privacy is essential, but space is limited.

Semi-Private Fences

Semi-transparent fences may not provide as much noise reduction as solid privacy fences, but they add a lot of visual interest to your landscape and allow natural light and breezes into the yard. They create a comforting sense of containment and a buffer between your backyard and your neighbor’s yard.

Stone Walls

A stone wall will add maximum privacy and unique visual appeal to any style home. With a variety of materials to choose from including granite, marble, limestone, slate, stacked stone and flagstone, it’s easy to build a stone wall that complements the materials on your house, as well as your backyard landscape design. Your stone wall cost will be higher compared to building a fence, but it will last a lifetime with minimal landscape maintenance.

Garden Structures

If you have a small backyard, a tall, solid fence or stone wall may feel too confining for your outdoor space. Defined areas like small patios and terraces, decks and outdoor kitchen areas can be easily screened with open panels, trellises and arbors. By building an enclosure around your outdoor spaces, you can create privacy for outdoor activities and entertain without creating perimeter boundaries around your property.

Outdoor Fountains

Although you may not be able to see your neighbors, you may be close enough to hear them when you’re in your backyard. If you’re in a neighborhood where houses are built on smaller lots and close together, you may even hear intrusive noises like barking dogs, buzzing air conditioner compressors, televisions, stereos and conversations.

Green Screens

Whether you have a structural fence or not, a green screen or living wall of plants is a great way to create a natural barrier between your backyard and your neighbor’s backyard. It can create a visual break, establish property boundaries, provide a buffer for noise and wind, hide unappealing views, soften the edges of hardscape walls and fences and create a sense of intimacy and privacy.

Trees

Planting deciduous shade trees is a good way to obscure a neighbor’s view from a second-story window or terrace. Typically, they grow from 25-feet to 60-feet high, depending on the species. When planted near a property line or in the backyard, their large canopies provide privacy, as well as good shade in hot summer months. Deciduous plants usually lose their foliage in late fall and winter, so during these months, the trees’ bare branches allow the sun to shine brightly into the house for added light and warmth. Evergreen plants will act as a buffer and barrier and provide maximum privacy for your backyard landscape design year-round.

Shrubs and Hedges

Shrubs and hedges provide excellent privacy for backyard settings, whether the yard is large or small. Where space is tight, for side yard areas, for example, fast-growing columnar evergreens like Italian cypress and arborvitae can provide a simple solution for separating adjoining yards or blocking sight lines out of windows where privacy is essential.

Outdoor Draperies

If you plan to entertain year-round, it’s important to create a backyard landscape design that offers privacy and protection from the elements. You can create both by installing outdoor curtains or draperies that can be opened and closed as needed. With a strong interest by today’s homeowners in outdoor living spaces, it’s easy to find outdoor draperies in a variety of beautiful colors, textures and patterns for every lifestyle. Fabrics are specially treated to resist stains, fading and water, so they’re the perfect solution for outdoor areas where you want to create privacy.

Whatever the size of your backyard, you can maximize privacy to enjoy the outdoors. By blocking the eyes of peering neighbors and the sounds of intrusive noises, you can spend time in a backyard that’s comfortable and peaceful year-round.

Spots for the 2018 year are going fast. If you’re looking to remodel your backyard, contact GemStone Homes today!