An oasis is, by a definition, a place of rest and respite. It’s a shelter and a sanctuary, a place where you can recharge your batteries and, for a brief moment, move away from the harsh reality of the outside world. For many people, it would take a visit to the spa in order to mimic this experience, but for some people, a brief excursion to their own backyard is more than enough. With that in mind and without further ado, here are a couple of tips on how you can make your backyard into a proper landscaping oasis and boost the value of your property in the process.
Start with privacy
The first thing you want to do in order to turn the place into an oasis is shut the place off from the rest of the world. This way, you’re keeping your oasis safe from the prying eye and protecting the area from outside noise. Erecting a fence is a natural solution to this problem, but there are other means for you to get what you want. Growing a hedge is more aesthetic and provides a great acoustical cover. A screen surrounding your seating area adds one more barrier between the residents/guests and the outside world. During a home renovation, you also want to think about the view from the inside. Barriers are both a protection and an obstacle.
Conversation-oriented area
The conversation area requires more than just seating. It also needs privacy (something we’ve already discussed), decent acoustics, as well as proper seating orientation. For starters, you want a patio surface or a wooden deck. Then, you want to invest in texture and seating elements. A coffee table is always a great focal point, but picking the right surface size may affect your ability to receive more guests at the same time (effectively). Keep in mind that this also increases the functionality of the area in question.
Invest in professional landscaping
Hiring someone to do professional landscaping is a great idea and, if you intend to handle the subsequent maintenance on your own, it might be an even better idea. That is particularly true in scenarios where there are potential complications and extreme circumstances in the backyard. For instance, landscaping around the pool can make a massive difference in your regular pool maintenance. While building a pool may be one of the most effective ways to boost the value of your property, without proper landscaping around it, you won’t be able to reach its full potential.
Provide shade/cover
During a rainy season or a summer heat, chances are that your guests won’t be able to enjoy the elegance of your backyard. For that reason, you need to start to think about protection from the sun and rain. There are a couple of options you have available, each with its own set of pros and cons. For starters, you want to consider some of the low-cost options like installing a parasol or hanging a shade sail. The latter is far more elegant, even though it’s a bit more expensive. Then, you want to take some of the more extravagant options into consideration, like retractable awnings, pergolas, or even building a gazebo.
Make a garden path
Making a garden path helps make your backyard more traversable, adds value to your property, and helps you segment the area as a whole. It’s a great one-time investment, seeing as how the majority of available materials require little to no maintenance, and they tend to be quite durable and resilient. The cost of the project depends on the material used. If you want to save money, you can go with pea pebbles, which are roughly $6 per square foot. Then again, you might want to go with natural stone, which is as much as $25 per square foot.
Think about the night-time scenario
Add some lighting to your backyard in order to make it usable even during the evening hours. Going for LED lights is always a good idea, and you can further enhance your backyard by adding some LED candles to the seating area. These provide a decent amount of lighting, from afar look like real candles, and there’s no risk of one of them tipping over and starting a fire. It’s a win-win-win scenario. Adding motion sensor lights is also a good idea, and it’s a sizable boost to your overall security.
In conclusion
The best way to approach this project is to try and envision all how you would use your backyard. Think of your backyard experience during every season and even during some extreme conditions. Consider the noise coming from the outside, as well as the inside. Think about the rain, extreme sun, as well as the night time conditions there. It comes down to the layout of your backyard, your plans with the place, as well as your priorities for the backyard in question. It takes a lot of time.