Summer is almost here, and it’s time to decide what your next landscape design will be to make your backyard a destination spot.

Is it time to add a patio or a deck? Do you want to bring the indoors outside with an outdoor kitchen, dining area, and living space?

Now’s the time to plan your backyard so you can relax in it by Memorial Day weekend.

12 Landscaping Ideas to Transform Your Backyard into a Fun Place

You’ll want to sketch up a plan before you call your Richmond, VA landscape design company. What do you need to have as a relaxing outdoor space for the summer?

Here are five ideas to consider when planning your backyard this summer:

1. A cohesive design that includes the flooring, cover, and walls of an outdoor room

 

2. A place to entertain outside for most of the year

 

3. An outdoor spot that brings the indoors outside for easy summertime entertainment

 

4. A quiet place just for you and your family to get away from the stresses of life

 

5. A backyard that’s a mix of lawn, garden, and hardscapes

Now, you can take these abstract ideas and decide how you’ll use them to create a landscape design plan that will meet your needs for years to come.

Read more: What’s Trendy in Landscape Design for 2021

Here are 12 landscaping tips for planning your outdoor space:

1. Take an inventory of your current landscape. What outbuildings exist? How much lawn grass do you want in your final layout? Do you enjoy formal flowerbeds and landscapes or meadow plants on a designated area of your property? Is it time to add an outdoor room?

 

2. Consider the architecture of your home. You want to add outdoor rooms that complement your home’s layout. For example, if you have a sandstone farmhouse, you don’t want to add a red brick patio.

 

3. Do you plan to have a lot of get-togethers once Covid restrictions are lifted? Do you need an outdoor kitchen with a bar area so you can chat while cooking dinner?

 

4. Does your outdoor kitchen need refrigeration, a pizza oven, and a sink?

 

5. Do you plan to watch golf or college football in your outdoor living room? Do you need weather-resistant recliners, an outdoor TV, and a weather-proof audio system?

 

6. What background sounds do you want to incorporate in your backyard design? Will a pondless waterfall, a pond, or a new pool add a vacation tone to your events?

 

7. What about a dining area where you sit at a fire table?

 

Read more: How Plant Genetics Improve Each Year and How This Benefits You

 

8. How will you shelter your outdoor rooms? Do you need a pergola to keep the sun off the patio? A pavilion roof over your outdoor space that will allow you to entertain outside, even on rainy days?

 

9. What about cool summer evenings? Do you need an outdoor fireplace or a fire pit for the kids to gather around toasting marshmallows?

 

10. Consider adding stone or paver walkways that lead your guests from the driveway to the back of your home. If you have a sunken patio, you can add steps leading down to the entertainment area.

 

11. If you plan on entertaining at night, you’ll need outdoor lighting along footpaths, stairways, and along your driveway for safety. You can add a light show at your pool that synchronizes with music or moonlighting your trees for a cocktail garden atmosphere.

 

12. Don’t forget about privacy. If you live in the city or the suburbs, you want to have privacy. Privets, arborvitae, and vines create lovely, natural privacy fences so you can enjoy your backyard.

Sketching Your Backyard Layout

If you want to add hardscapes, plants, water features, and the like, you can sketch your ideas down on grid paper. There are online backyard design templates to get your ideas saved on your mobile device.

Next, it’s time to get estimates from your Central VA landscape design company. Keep in mind that your backyard sketch will help the designer understand your ideas and desires. But the designer will create their professional landscape design to make your landscape dreams come into focus.

Ideally, it’s best to hire a landscape design/build company that will take your ideas, put them into a design, and then do all of the contracting work for you. At BCLS Landscape Services, we’re your one-source landscape design/build company.

Make your appointment today by calling us today at (804) 752-0052 or filling out our contact form. We look forward to working with you to create your next outdoor room as a destination spot.

BCLS serves residential and commercial properties throughout Richmond and Central Virginia.