As the weather starts warming up, it’s the perfect time to vamp up the beauty of your outdoor space to enjoy more time outside! With these current uncertainty around COVID-19 and times of social distancing, it’s likely that most of us will be using our outdoor space for recreation and enjoying the outdoors more than ever. Investing in your outdoor space typically boosts curb appeal and resale value, but these days can also improve your quality of life more than ever! Here are five ideas, some are simple DIY and others a bit more complex, to get you thinking about the exterior spaces around your home.
1) Upgrade Your Space With Architectural Details
Adding architectural upgrades to your outdoors can not only help define spaces, but also add new beauty and function. Fencing can define the perimeter of your property, but also keep children and pets safe in the back yard. Gates and arbors can highlight walkways and paths in and out of different spaces. Other architectural features like pergolas, gazebos and cabanas can provide coverage from the sun, or make a space feel more intimate. They also provide structure to for climbing plants that can provide beautiful greenery and even floral color. I also love the look of adding soft white drapery that can function as coverage from the sun, but also looks very romantic in the breeze. Just make sure you get an indoor/outdoor fabric, and take it down to be cleaned for the winters!
This gated arbor helps highlight the walkway through this stone wall.
This delicate fence with roses helps enclose the pool but also softens the look with greenery, florals and organic movement.
Before
After
This poolside cabana is definitely where I’d want to be. The modern lines and drapery makes it oh so chic!
2) Do Some Quick Clean Up and Maintenance
A few quick and easy basics can make a huge impact in rejuvenating your existing space. A simple powerwash can make a dramatic difference, brightening the colors of your home, and revitalizing your deck and woodwork. Washing the windows can let in more daylight and lift away the past year’s worth of grime.
Has your mailbox been a little beat up after a winter’s worth of plows driving by? Consider fixing up your street numbers and wayfinding for your address to make deliveries easier and roll out the “welcome mat” to your property. Adding a small flower bed or other decorative feature around your mailbox can help add some cheer and make it look more substantial.
Regular spring maintenance like weeding, refreshing the mulch and reseeding the lawn will help prepare your lawn and plantings for new growth. Pulling the weeds out of plant beds or in between paving blocks on your patios and walkways, planting new perennials, cutting back branches of overgrown hedges or trees is great standard maintenance and can make your outdoor space look like new again.
A fresh clean pathway without weeds growing between stones, a manicured flower bed with attractive path lights are like the red carpet to your front door.
3) Make It Recreational
From late spring through the fall we can enjoy our outdoor spaces. Given the current state of social distancing that has become the new normal, it appears that many of us will be spending more outdoor time on our own property, rather than local parks, bars and restaurants. It’s a great time to think about adding more recreational elements to your outdoor space that you can enjoy with your family or on your own for some private time. These investments will serve you now but also provide a great backdrop for future family barbeques and gatherings.
Adding a firepit is a sure way to get people to gather around and chat. Whether it be a quiet weeknight at home, or with a group of friends it’s a great way to keep warm and provide light at night for conversation, smores and spending quality time.
4) Outdoor Furniture Adds More Lounging Options
Porch swings, hammocks, and swinging benches are a great way to enjoy the sunshine and cozy up with a book. These can be more traditional and mounted under a porch, but there are also lots of freestanding furniture options that don’t require structural mounting. Even something as simple as a few rocking chairs can let you pass the time with a glass of lemonade enjoying the breeze and admiring your beautiful landscaping!
This bench swing was installed right in the garden for great backyard views.
This hanging daybed is so lush, it can be installed into the rafters of a pergola or other wood structure.
A hanging day bed you can lounge in by the pool to catch a tan and softly rock. Sounds like a perfect Saturday.
5) Add Outdoor Lighting For Curb Appeal And Safety
Let your daytime enjoyment transition into nighttime by adding outdoor lighting, in lanterns, pathway lights and even string lights. Inexpensive solar lights that just get stuck in the ground often don’t have a long lifetime, can easily get knocked and look crooked and sloppy from the elements and animals knocking them over. Getting sturdy outdoor lighting that is wired and can be put on timers is not only more reliable, but a worthwhile investment. Spots and uplighting can add ambient light by reflecting off of stone walls, and help make walking on soft ground safer at night. This also adds to your curb appeal by adding lighting to front door pathways and can graze the architectural silhouette of your home.
Rope lighting under the deck railing not only gives a sleek effect, but provides way finding and safety.
This stunning outdoor garden has uplighting on trees, but also lights grazing the walls, steps and grass to provide safe wayfinding for guests.
We’ll dig even deeper on this topic on next month’s post, but getting a jumpstart on your exterior can leave more time in the season to enjoy it! Soaking up the sun, admiring the florals and greenery and spending time with family outside is just what everyone is itching for as we end a long and gray winter indoors. Contact your Homesquare account manager to make a checklist of projects big or small to easily knock out around your home to get ready for summer.
Katie Canfield is the founder and principal designer at Studio KC. Studio KC got its humble start in 2015 when Katie was just 23 years old. While she was freelancing with other interior designers in the NY and CT area she also became a go-to designer for local contractors and trades that needed a designer’s help for their clients whether it be for custom cabinetry drawings or plans for a gut renovation on an entire home.
Katie Canfield’s design aesthetic is eclectic and flexible. She delights in the marriage between old and new- keeping spaces approachable but still matching each client’s unique aesthetic and family narrative. Her passion for design keeps her motivated and constantly on the hunt for new trends and materials. Her broad experience includes an art history background, study at the Accademia Italiana in Florence, a stint with the renowned Manhattan firm Amanda Nisbet Design, as well as collaborations with builders and designers across the tri-state area. She’s seen it all: from gutting prewar Manhattan apartments to new construction in the ‘burbs.
