Are you looking to landscape your front or backyard? Get some ideas to help you landscape your suburban home.
When you hear the term suburban house, many things may pop up into your mind. It is not uncommon for someone to envision a pretty standard house in a traditional neighborhood. Many people often also think of a home that has lush grass in the front of the home, a tree or two, and maybe even flowers. This just goes to show that a suburban home landscape is important and it is something that people think of when they think of a suburban home.
If you have moved into a new home or your home could use a curb appeal boost, you may be considering changing up or completely redoing the front yard landscaping or backyard landscaping. Because of this, you may be looking for suburban home landscaping ideas that you may wish to incorporate into your new suburban landscape design. Here are 15 amazing suburban house landscape ideas that may help you start to put together a design for your front or backyard landscaping project.
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1. Use Topiaries To Line Walkways or Stairs
One of the ideas that can help you landscape your front yard is to use topiaries at the front or end of a walkway or staircase, or use topiaries to line the entire walkway. Topiaries are grand and luxurious, and they really set the tone and the mood. They create a warm welcome to anyone who has just gotten out of their care and is going to walk the path or head up the stairs to your front door.
2. Swap Out Grass For Lava Rock in Desert Climates
Many parts of the country are experiencing a drought. This limits the amount of water you can use to keep your yard green and lush. If you are having a hard time maintaining your lawn due to watering restrictions, or if you live in a desert climate and simply want to do your part to limit your water usage, consider pulling out your grass and swapping it for lava rock. Lava rock has a beautiful color to it that matches most desert homes and it is extremely easy to care for.
3. Create Contrast With Colored Mulch
One of the biggest problems that you can experience as you go about landscaping your outdoor space is having a muted color palette. Yards typically have a lot of green to them. There is green grass, green shrubbery, and green leaves on bushes and trees. One of the ways that you can go about breaking up all of this green is to create contrast using colored mulch. Colored mulch comes in many different colors, including bright red, dark brown or even black. Select a color that compliments the color scheme of your home to help tie your yard and your home together. Mulch can be added around trees or in flower beds.
4. Add Height With Stacked Stone Raised Flower Beds
Another issue that many homeowners have when it comes to their landscaping is having very few things that catch the attention of the eye. Instead of having flat flower beds, consider adding height, which draws the eye upward, with stacked stone raised flower beds. You can stack large stones, such as flagstone, to help create a beautiful, yet structurally-sound, modern flower bed. The stone also brings a new texture into your space, which helps to break up all of the leafy textures that are often found in front yard landscaping.
5. Mix Up Your Textures With Stone, Paver or Brick Walkways
Speaking of mixing up the textures in your outdoor space, another great way to mix up textures is to use building materials such as stone, pavers or bricks to create walkways and patios. If money is tight and concrete is your only option, consider having a stamped pattern embedded into your concrete to give your concrete surface more texture. Walkways and patios are typically made out of concrete. While concrete is solid, it does little to increase the curb appeal of your space, since it does not have any texture to it. It looks plain and is not eye-catching. Bricks, stones and pavers all have texture, which helps to create visual interest in otherwise boring yet functional outdoor surfaces.
6. Utilize Different Types of Shrubs and Bushes
One of the biggest mistakes that homeowners make when it comes to landscaping the front or back of their suburban home is using the same exact shrubs or bushes. They may plant the same shrub or bush three or four times in a row, hoping that this creates a cohesive and pulled together look. However, what ends up happening is that this creates a bland look that is far too matchy-matchy for outdoor spaces. Instead, you should select shrubs and bushes that are different colors, different heights and have different styles of leaves. This helps to create interest, rather than making the space look dull and boring.
7. Don’t Use Straight Lines For All of Your Landscaping
Another common mistake that homeowners make as they are landscaping the front or back of their suburban home is using straight lines or edges. Most yards already have straight lines that define the edges of the yard. From there, homeowners use straight lines for their flower beds or planter boxes. However, if you want to make your suburban space seem a bit more modern and help it to stand out, consider using wavy or curved lines. You can add a curved flower bed or a flower bed that has a wavy line. This makes your space a bit more interesting and is very on-trend right now.
8. Select Flowering Plants That Bloom At Different Times of the Year
Most flowers bloom in the spring months. If you select flowering bushes, shrubs or plants that all bloom during the spring, the exterior of your home will be colorful and flower-filled during the spring months. But, the rest of the year, your plants will simply look green. To help prevent this, you should be mindful about when different plants, shrubs, and bushes bloom, and instead, select various plants that bloom at various times during the year. This helps to ensure that you have color in your outdoor space year round.
9. Think About Adding a Water Feature to Your Landscaping
One of the suburban house landscaping ideas that is very on-trend right now is adding a water feature to your landscaping. There are a number of different ways that you can add a water feature into your landscaping. You can add a bird bath, you can add a fountain, or you can have a small pond, brook or waterfall added to your outdoor space. Water features can be soothing and peaceful, making them a great addition to your outdoor space. However, before you add a water feature, ensure you can properly care for and maintain that water feature. Water features that are not maintained can start to smell, can breed insects and bacteria, and simply do not look good.
10. Bring in Lots of Color With Window Boxes, Hanging Plants or Potted Plants
Many people struggle with trying to add color to their outdoor space. An outdoor space has a lot of natural colors, such as brown and green. However, if you take a look at your outdoor space and all you see is brown and green, you may realize that more color is needed. One of the best ways to easily and quickly bring color into your outdoor space is to use colorful window boxes or pots for your plants. You can then fill those window boxes and pots with colorful flowers. Hanging flowering plants is also another way to quickly add bursts of color to your outdoor space.
11. Illuminate Your Landscape Design With Outdoor Lighting
Your outdoor space should not only be seen and appreciated in the daytime. Adding landscape lighting, including spotlights, can help to illuminate the best features of your front or backyard. Outdoor lighting also helps to keep guests safe as they navigate your outdoor space after the sun has set, and can increase the security of your property. If you have not already added outdoor lighting to your outdoor space, it is definitely something to consider.
12. Research the Types of Trees You Are Adding to Your Landscaping
No front yard or backyard landscape is complete without trees. However, one of the most common mistakes that suburban homeowners make is planting trees without doing any research on the trees. Before you plant any trees on your property, you want to learn how big the tree grows and how big the root system of the tree grows. You want to ensure that you plant the tree far away enough from your home so that the tree is not rubbing on your siding or so the tree roots are not growing into your incoming plumbing lines or outgoing sewer lines.
13. Build a Container Garden on Hard Surfaces
Just a few decades ago, suburban homes had decent-sized front and backyards. But, due to space constraints and the high cost of land, some builders are building homes pretty close to each other. This may mean that you do not have a lot of space in front of your home or in your backyard. Or, you may only have a concrete slab in your front or backyard. If you have minimal space or only have a hard surface, such as concrete, you can still create a beautiful landscape. You can create a container garden, leaving plants in their containers. Position the containers in your limited space to create a beautiful and colorful garden.
14. Always Consider Proportions And Select Plants Based on the Size of Your Home
Each and every suburban home is different. Some suburban homes, such as ranch style homes, are long, yet are not tall. Other types of homes, such as Cape Cod or federal-style homes, are tall. As you go about creating plans to landscape your outdoor space, you want to consider the proportion of your plants and trees compared to the proportion of your home. Large trees can make a short home look shorter, whereas wide plants can make a narrow home look smaller than it really is. Always carefully consider the size of your plants, shrubs and trees when they are matured and ensure they will fit in with the proportions and style of your home.
15. Ensure Your Hardscaping Compliments Your Landscaping
Lastly, hardscaping and landscaping go hand-in-hand these days. Always take the time to ensure that your hardscape compliments your landscaping. You want the colors to work well together and the styles to compliment each other. Ensuring your hardscaping and landscaping work well together helps to create a cohesive look for your outdoor space that further increases the curb appeal of your home.
Frequently Asked Questions About Suburban House Landscaping
Now that you have some ideas for landscaping your front and backyards, you may have a few questions about landscaping around your suburban home. Here are a few of the frequently asked questions you may have about suburban house landscaping.
Why Is it Important to Landscape Around Your Suburban Space?
Landscaping around your suburban home can help to make the exterior of your home look better, while increasing the curb appeal of your home. A home that is well landscaped often looks better maintained and cared for than a home that has poor landscaping. Landscaping also adds color, texture and style to the exterior of your home. Finally, landscaping around your home can increase the value of your home. Landscaping that is done well and that is maintained can increase your home’s value by as much as 20 percent. This is a lot of money, so investing in and caring for your home’s landscaping is important.
What Factors Affect Landscaping Prices?
One of the questions that people ask is how much they should expect to pay to landscape either the front of their home, the back of their home or around their entire home. Unfortunately, it is hard to determine just how much someone will pay to landscape around their home. This is because there are many different factors that can affect landscaping prices. The more work you are willing to complete on your own, such as planting trees and plants, the less you will have to pay a landscaper. The size of your property also plays a role in how much you will pay. The type of plants you decide to install and the materials used to landscape your space also play key factors in how much it will cost to landscape your space. The best way to determine how much your landscaping project will cost is to hire a few different landscaping companies to provide you with quotes to complete your landscaping jobs.
Why Should You Always Create a Suburban Landscape Design and Plan Before Landscaping?
Anytime you are planning on completing a landscaping project, it is always important to sit down and create a blueprint or a design plan for your project ahead of time. Simply buying plants and planting them wherever is one of the worst things you can do. Having a plan in mind helps you determine what will go where and create a plan to ensure the design of your landscaping flows and is aesthetically pleasing.
Your front yard landscaping is extremely important to the overall look of your home’s exterior. The front of your suburban home is what people see as they drive or walk by your home, and it helps to create the first impression upon people who are driving up to your home for the first time or visiting you for the first time. Your backyard landscaping is not quite as important as the front yard, but it is still very important. This is because your backyard space is likely where you will be entertaining individuals when you are hosting a family barbeque or get-together with friends. The landscaping in your backyard can also set the tone of the space, helping to transform it from just a backyard, into a peaceful oasis where you can enjoy coffee in the morning, watch your kids or dogs play in the afternoon or unwind after a long day at work. The ideas listed above can help you come up with landscaping ideas for your outdoor space, helping you to make the space beautiful and appealing.
