Exteriors Archives - Page 6 of 6 - Inspired Home Ideas

Cottage Garden Ideas

The above image shows this charming English style cottage set in a beautiful classic cottage garden with a white picket fence, an abundance of flowers and mature trees and a classic thatched roof giving the overall illusion of a fairy tale cottage. Just stunning.

According to “Wikipedia”, a Cottage Garden “is a distinct style of garden that uses an informal design, traditional materials, dense plantings, and a mixture of ornamental and edible plants. English in origin, the cottage garden depends on grace and charm rather than grandeur and formal structure. Homely and functional gardens connected to working-class cottages go back several centuries, but their reinvention in stylised versions grew in 1870s England, in reaction to the more structured and rigorously maintained English estate gardens that used formal designs and mass plantings of brilliant greenhouse annuals.”

Cottage gardens are often thought of as an English thing, however they needn’t be, as the overall look can be achieved in many places around the world where the climate isn’t overly harsh. Cottage garden ideas often go hand in hand with English garden landscaping, but to create your very own cottage garden look, you really only need to adhere to the concept of informality.

By using informal climbing plants, self-sowing annuals and also ensuring there is a liberal spreading of perennials, all mixed with a number of trees will help to create a dense growth of plant life, that given time will resemble that highly desirable Cottage garden look that most people adore.

Traditional English honey golden brown stoned cottage with a colorful flowering front garden.

Stunning postcard view of an old English thatched cottage with an abundant and dense cottage garden

Quaint English cottage with a front cottage garden

Mature English cottage garden area with Chapel in the background

Idyllic English summer house with an extensive dense cottage garden

English country rose garden with sundial near pergola

This cottage has an extensive English garden of flowers, surrounding trees, bushes and is finished off with a pond

A beautiful cottage and pebble garden with a small hand turned well and a small seating area nearby

Cottage garden with wooden park style bench and daisies and flowers in containers

This cottage garden shows a seat situated on the lawn in a small clearing with a glasshouse in the background

This image show an English cottage garden in full flower

Colorful cottage garden amongst rockery landscaping in early spring

A beautiful lavender rich English cottage style garden with a dividing path walkway

Beautiful cottage garden scene with a little garden house, path and lots of flowers and trees

Older style traditional cottage with typical cottage style garden

A postcard view of an English cottage garden

A beautiful row of Cotswold country cottages with their cottage gardens in summer

Solar Roof Panels and Residential Solar Energy Systems

Photovoltaic solar roof panels on a newly built modern house

Above is a substantial newly built modern home fitted with photovoltaic solar roof panels.

Solar power is often thought of as being free, and in the truest sense, it is. However whilst the power itself may be free, the means of capturing it with a residential solar energy systems can be relatively costly, although probably not as much as you imagine. So as the old saying goes, “There really is no such thing as a free lunch”, (not to begin with anyway)

Despite the fact that you need to outlay reasonable sums of money to have solar panels installed (usually) on the roof of your home, there is definitely a relatively quick payback time meaning after that point, your residential solar energy panel system should continue to provide you with reliable consistent solar power for many years to come. So don’t get too hooked up in the upfront cost to have a system installed. These have comes down in price significantly as it has become a lot more common and the production costs have also reduced considerably as well.

Many solar power panel systems are typically designed and built to last for 25 years or more and often require little to no maintenance over that time, just a quick clean up to ensure nothing covers or blocks the panels from receiving maximum sunlight.

This solar sunship is in the solar village Vauban in Freiburg in Germany

When it comes to deciding what size of solar panel system you need for your home, there are a few things that you should take into account, and these considerations should also be considered in the following logical order;

What is your budget?
How much roof space do you have available for the solar panels? and
How much power does your family household usually consume per year that you want to offset?

Heating glass tiles for solar roofing. Image source Freshome.com

There is no need to be concerned about the weight of the solar roof panels because when all is said and done, the weight of the completed panel installed is less per square foot than most roof tiles.

Contemporary hot water panels on a newer house.

When it comes the actual roof, it is true that the orientation and also the slope or pitch of your roof will matter. Ideally, you want the slope of the roof to face your all day sun (and that will depend on which hemisphere of the globe you live in) but morning or afternoon sun facing slopes will still work adequately.

The ideal roof pitch is 30°, although installation is usually fine on anything between about 10° and 50°.

A complete solar energy powered home with very large solar panel on their roof

Photo-voltaic solar panel module on private residential building

A modern equestrian farmhouse with solar panels on the roof

Interesting Pythagoras solar pvgu walkway with solar windows. Image source zdnet.com

House with a few solar panels on the roof

Extensive roof covering of solar panels on this English home

New family home housing development being built with solar panels

Solar panel water heating system on a low pitch house roo

House with solar panels on roof for electricity generation

Home hot water solar panel heating system in a residential setting

31 Visually Stunning Swimming Pool Lights at Night

Swimming Pool Lights at Night from this Modern style apartment building with beautiful long swimming pool

The beauty of swimming pool lights at night are highlighted by this stunning modern style apartment building that overlooks a crystal clear beautiful long lap swimming pool.

There is something magical about an illuminated swimming pool at night. With all of its lights turned on, or the spotlights from outdoor patio, or deck blazing down on a pool in all its glory, often provides an ambiance or feeling that you just can’t replicate during the day. When you get the lighting right, and in balance, it creates a sense of romance or absolute heaven.

Investing in a swimming pool can be a fantastic investment, not just in your home, but also in the feeling and the enjoyment your home can bring to you and your family. Pools obviously come in many different shapes, sizes and budgets, but whatever your level of investment, don’t make the mistake of failing to invest in the night time effect of good quality lighting for your swimming pool, however humble it may be.

There are another 30 images in this gallery of outdoor settings with swimming pool lights and illuminated pools at night. These are fantastic views that make you want to take that evening dip or alternatively create that romantic mood or ambiance for a special night. Take a look through them, and see if they create some ideas or inspire some creativity for your very own backyard. Swimming pool (with lights) – Who else wants one?

This image of a beautiful villa with lights and illuminated swimming pool at night provides an amazing striking contrast of color with the light blue of the water and the yellow orange of the villa.

Beautifully lit swimming pool at luxury Caribbean resort at night.

Luxurious mansion exterior at dusk overlooking swimming pool and canal

Brightly lit luxury salt water pool and patio area at night

Swimming pool and illuminated modern house exterior against the darkening night sky

Heavily illuminated massive swimming pool in the evening in a tropical location.

Well lit swimming pool at private residence at night

Small luxurious swimming pool with internal lighting as well as mood setting candles around the pool edge at night

Architecturally beautiful modern house with extensive pool lights at night

Contemporary minimalist swimming pool with internal lighting from the poolside at night

Well lit swimming pool set into deck next to modern minimalist house at night.

Modern house with ample swimming pool and garden lights during the summer time

Well lit swimming pool at a private residence at dusk

Luxurious house with illuminated swimming pool at night

Large modern house patio area with umbrellas and well lit swimming pool.

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23 Outdoor Kitchen Ideas, BBQ, Grill & Entertainment Area Designs

The above image is of an amazing green night lighting over a covered outdoor barbecue cooking kitchen area provides an almost copper color look and is a great example of these fantastic outdoor kitchen ideas.

An outdoor entertaining area can be a lot of different things, and it all depend on the home owner as to what they prefer or what they’re happy with. To some, an outdoor dining table and several chairs with a nearby BBQ will suffice, whereas others like to go that next step further and have a decent sized BBQ with multiple burners and its own food preparation area.

Others prefer an even grander outdoors area and choose to make an extension of their home by having a living room or some other relaxing room opening out onto expansive decking areas with a covered area that is like a second kitchen away from the main kitchen. These are often full equipped down to fridges, decent bench preparation space and even wash up sinks.

Check out this gallery of outdoor Kitchen, BBQ, grill & entertainment area designs for ideas for your outdoor area. There are really no limits to what you can create, but hopefully this image gallery will give you some great ideas.

Stylish home exterior entertainment area with extra large outdoor table and chairs and barbecue cooking along with outside TV and settee sofa

View from living room out onto patio with outdoor kitchen with bench space and fridge and barbecue along with outdoor table and chairs in a modern stylish environment.

Outdoor covered stainless steel barbeque kitchen area at the rear of a modern home

Humble home back yard picnic table on the grass with a gas fired BBQ grill

Old style home-made brick BBQ oven set in the courtyard of the home

Outdoor balcony entertaining area with sunshade umbrella over table and chairs and quality barbecue

Old Algarve Alentejo traditional cement brick firewood baking and pizza oven

Contemporary home backyard with swimming pool and covered entertainers outdoor kitchen and barbecue

Beautifully crafted mini outdoor pizza oven and chimney built over pebble base and deck with seating

This covered step concrete paved deck with patio area has a central barbecue overlooking a lovely garden setting and also has under cover seating

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Home Front Doors and Humble Entrances

Elegant entrance doors with stone walkway and bordering seats

The entrance way to a home is key to creating that warm welcoming experience. Not only for your visitors but also if you’re ever intending on selling your home. But above all, you want your front door to be welcoming to you too. When you arrive home, or invite guests and friends around, you want to feel a sense of pride when they arrive at your front door.

Having a grand entrance is one thing, but for the people who live a more humble existence, a front door or entrance that is personalized and quite clearly says “this is my home, I love it, and I’m proud of it” is what you should be aiming for.

A palatial entrance to a home is a statement in itself, but for the more humble home, then there may be some dressing up required to create the look and feel you want. Think pot plants, think outside, outdoor art, think seats and chairs. There’s a lot you can do to dress up an entranceway and hopefully some of the images on this page might just give you some ideas of your own.

The elegant white double french door entranceway above is very simplistic. A statement in itself, the stone walkway leading up to the doors, the twin bordering concrete seats and the two coach lights give you a feeling of abundance inside.

This entranceway is one of a very humble home with a brown front house entrance door and slate stone path and plenty of potted plants to enhance that welcoming feeling.

A palatial and grand entranceway to a formal older home. Almost representative of something from the 1800’s era. Because of its own statement, it requires very little dressing up to impress.

This is an awesome Georgian styled house with steps up to the bright red front door, wrought iron handrails and an old English styled garden

A luxurious home with a double black colored front door entranceway. A concrete welcoming pad bounded with a low height wrought iron railing and topiary trees and bushes enhances the look and opulence of this front entrance.

A yellow cape cod style home with a simple central black front entrance door. A simple but small veranda provides shade and shelter and a place to put some welcoming chairs

Despite this being a simple entranceway into what could be ‘any home’, the owners of this house have really dressed this to impress. A soft beige colored tiled entrance, and brown door is enhanced with gold wallpaper, a mirror and a simple side table with a few decorations on top

What a sensational and welcoming front door and porch with cape cod rocking chair, a supporting column made of stones, welcome mat, and some potted color. Simple but effective.

This is a typical modern contemporary front home entrance. Recessed back from the walkway and offering a semi covered access to the white front door. Glass side panels enable a quick view at visitors and a seat for the weary sits to the side

A cute lovely little home front entrance with red door, terracotta tiles, small but ‘big enough’ porch, a couple of chairs and hanging flowers. How good would it be to sit here in the sun soaking up the ambiance?

A character filled home with black solid and tall double entrance doors, and a winding concrete entrance pathway lined with manicured shrubs and garden area

A modern contemporary and beautiful entranceway to stunning home. The glass fencing, stone wall and timber decking leading to the front door along with careful planting creates a rich sense of home

This is a gorgeous warm welcoming and inviting home front entrance enhanced by the rich honey colored timber floors floral welcoming mat and antique style side table

An elegant, modern and luxurious grand front home entrance to double glazed door with bricked pathway lined with small manicured shrubs

This is very quaint. A couple of humble home front doors in New Orleans. No pretences and no expensive decorations, just two simple burgundy colored doors with twin green shutters on each and bricked steps leading to the door.

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