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More Landscape and Garden Design Ideas (Part 2)

Landscape and Garden Design Ideas showing a stunning and colorful landscaped garden design

This is a stunning and colorful landscaped garden design with floral abundance and a feature water fountain and pond in the background.

Welcome back to even more Landscape and Garden Design Ideas (Part 2) where we add to the previous gallery post of ideas with 30 more beautiful and stunning examples of fantastic landscaping and gardening designs. We adore beautiful landscape ideas and love sharing these with you. We do hope that what you find here provides some real inspiration when it comes to developing your own home landscape concepts and ideas.

We’re also adding some tips about landscaping your home to help you maximize your home value because investing in your own home garden area with good quality landscape design and quality plantings will definitely provide additional value to your home. There’s no definitive answer as to exactly what percentage increase you should expect when investing in your landscaping, however some people have invested sums of $20,000 in landscaping their yard and garden areas, and seen returns of up to $200,000 additional value within a year. So there is definite value in allocating a good portion of your makeover, or renovation budget to the landscaping of your home (if you are wanting to increase its desirability and its value)

Here are some interesting pointers from the Blog Article by Jacqui Thompson in 7 Landscaping Tips to Increase your Property’s Value

Fast facts:

Trees increase value: Australian research found that a broad-leafed tree located on a street verge in front of a home increases the median property price
Choose a leafy street: A case study, put together by an Australian City Council, found “leafy streets, with 50 per cent or more tree cover, contributed approximately 5 per cent more to the median house sale price.
Landscaping achieves high-value returns: A Michigan University study found that homeowners achieved more than a 100 per cent return on every landscaping dollar spent – higher than any other home improvement.
Good landscape design increases value: The same Michigan University research found good landscape design – as judged by plant type, size and design sophistication – increased perceived home value by around 5–11 per cent.

This is a mature garden landscape setting with small concrete tiled patio pad and a relaxed timber swing seat.

Matthew Carroll from Nursery & Garden Industry Australia and creator of online gardening resources Hortiman and Hortipedia provided his top 7 gardening tips for improving your home’s value.

1. Defining lawn edges

At the very least mow and edge your lawn. Edging your lawn makes a garden (or yard) look restrained and tamed, which gives it the appearance of lower maintenance – a popular selling point.

Add interest to your garden landscape with features like this amazing garden water feature design which is an extension to an adjacent pond.

2. Solve problems with plants

Addressing your property’s shortfalls such as busy roads or being overlooked by neighbours can be solved by planting-out your gardens. Plants may not initially create a full visual barrier, or any real sound improvement, but the perceived improvement from a buyer’s point of view will be worth it.

Including beautiful decorative feature pieces like this home garden granite marble waterfall pond set in a landscaped garden will definitely make your visual landscape interesting to the eye.

3. Mulch and weed

Weeding and mulching your plant beds will help your garden appear low-maintenance and well kept. Choose a utility mulch such as pine bark or forest fines, as they look neater, and when you’re selling, it’s less about function and more about appearance.

Stunning well designed landscaped garden path with tall shaped side walls covered in beautiful pink flowers.

4. Limit the number of plant species

Minimising the number of plant species in your garden will make your garden appear easier to maintain and give it a more uniform look. Don’t be afraid to create some plant diversity as it does encourage biodiversity, is good for the local ecology, helps reduce pest impact, extends flowering times and generally looks more interesting, but just don’t go overboard.

A great looking landscaped garden pathway adorned on the side with decorative pots, pedestals and statues.

5. Lay new lawn

A lush lawn will make any home sparkle. If you need to plant new grass seed, or start over from scratch, choose a grass option that you can afford but that will still look good and be relatively easy to maintain. If your lawn is looking a bit patchy or has browned-off over the hotter months, you could over-sow with a lawn seed blend typically made up primarily of fescue and rye grasses. This will thicken up and green the lawn. Alternatively, you could look to lay ‘ready lawn’ (Pre grown lawn that can be delivered and laid in strips without having to wait for the seed to grow)

A new suburban Australian townhouse with newly landscaped garden plantings.

6. Add colour and form

Add welcoming planters to entranceways featuring clipped topiary, and ensure you fill any other pots in garden areas with bright flowering annuals or perennials to give your garden an immediate lift.

Nicely decorated landscaped colorful flowerbed with flowers, stones and bushes set within a beautifully edged and trimmed lawn.

7. Prune conservatively

The aim is to make your home look well-maintained and cared for, and pruning or tidying up plants and trees will achieve great results, but don’t get too carried away, you don’t want your garden to look hacked bare.

Backyard inground swimming pool with landscaped garden, gazebo, deck and stone patio

Walk way in beautiful landscaped garden with small waterfall and relaxing seat

Lovely front of house landscaped garden with paving stones and plantings

Lush green landscaped garden with perennial plants and statue near stone wall

A beautiful landscaped pebbled pathway and boardwalk in the garden

Stunning mature landscape design with an abundant display of white and pink flowers

A moss laden rock landscape design

A landscape designed pathway with lighting and plants

Nice landscape design of a rear yard with tiered timber edging and coniferous plantings

A beautiful home with extensive landscaping design in the garden

Interesting landscaping in the garden with a concrete tile path, pebbles and spherical boulders

Contemporary home with deck bridging a pond, a pair of yellow loungers, and a landscaped yard

Landscaped garden with two dining table sets, pergola, and trellis walls

A waterfall into a swimming pool in a tropical landscaped backyard

A curved walkway in the garden leading to a beautiful summerhouse set in a mature landscaped yard

Natural stone landscaped pathway and retaining wall in front of a house

Amazing landscaped rock pathway meandering between flower beds in the garden and a carefully trimmed and edged lawn. Stunning display.

Beautifully crafted brick stepped pathway immersed in a garden landscape

Natural stone multi-tiered garden bed landscaping in a newly planted home garden with piped irrigation system

Lush compact landscaped backyard flower garden with flowerbed and gazebo covering table and chairs

Natural garden landscaping with oriental themed pond with goldfish and spouting water

Scenic view of of a mature landscaped peaceful and lush green garden setting with a comfy relaxed and peaceful seat

To see Part One of this two-part post on Landscape and Garden Design Ideas, click here

Beautiful Home & Garden Landscapes

This stunning backyard gazebo with a tiled pathway is all part of this beautiful home & garden landscape giving this home a unique garden design look. All set in an amazing mature landscaped garden with lots of tall trees as a backdrop. Image Source Home Stratosphere.com.

If you’re looking to create a new look for your backyard at home, then you’ll probably be on the lookout for great landscape design ideas and also garden design ideas that you can incorporate into your plan. Or perhaps something that provides some inspiration towards your new project.

Well, we’re happy to say, you’ve come to the right place.

We all strive to design a landscaping plan that creates an appealing landscape design that incorporates craftsmanship, floral and plant beauty, creativity in style as well as also being a creation that is going to develop and mature into something to be proud of over time. Also, something that can be simple and easy to maintain as it grows and matures.

The goal of any landscaping project should be the harmonious blending of both natural aspects of your property’s features with key plantings and any other features or functions that you wish your landscape and garden design to possess.

A great looking landscape design should not only look good, and mature well, but it should also add immense value and pleasure to your environment.

In this gallery, we’ve aimed to provide you with a selection of stunning backyard landscape design ideas that will get your creativity buzzing with excitement. Be on the lookout for Part two of this gallery which will quickly follow on the heels of this one. We hope you enjoy it.

Here we have an attractive backyard garden shed in a landscaped established mature garden also set amidst a heavily wooded tree backdrop. Image Source Home stratosphere.com.

This scene is an absolute treat to the eyes. A beautiful colorful backyard full of careful co-ordinated floral landscaping design. Image Source Home stratosphere.com

A stunning summer floral landscaped garden with an interlocking stone tile paving walkway along with decorative stone sculptures and pots

Green lawn and a rockery garden in a colorful landscaped formal garden area with a water pond feature and rock wall in the background.

A gorgeous landscaped fenced yard area with tiered rock wall designs carefully knitted into the lawn

Large concrete paving stones set into a well-mowed lawn in a carefully landscaped and cared for backyard. Image Source Home stratosphere.com

Close up of a backyard gazebo with timber chairs and intricate garden lighting and an abundance of surrounding flower plants. Image Source Home stratosphere.com

Interesting garden table and chairs created from live plants, set up within a paved and pebbled landscaped area and colorful floral backdrop for decoration

Beautifully landscaped design of a backyard rock pool with plantings and mature greenery in the background

Entrance to an absolutely beautiful classic traditional styled home through a beautifully landscaped garden enriched with colorful plantings and carefully trimmed lawn edges.

A wide shot photo of a Gazebo in a backyard landscaped garden bounded by a tall hedging plant and plenty of garden flowers. Image Source Home stratosphere.com

The above image here shows a landscaped and fenced rear yard garden of a home with a design that incorporates different styles of tiled paving in creative ways, with curved pathways.

There is also an abundance of low maintenance plantings and the garden areas are kept low maintenance with the use of bark

Another stunning piece of landscaping art. This is a carefully planned and laid out series of landscaped flowers in a garden.

The combination of reds and purples contrasts magnificently against the two-toned green shrubs providing an absolute visual feast of this truly magnificent color display.

Timber fenced backyard with colored cut concrete paving and decorated flower bed and small pergola, garden sculptures, and a bird bath

Backyard of a contemporary home with a walkout timber deck, a meandering water feature, a manicured landscaped lawn, and a custom exterior fireplace entertainment area

Backyard landscaped garden with block garden wall and plantings

Beautiful natural garden rock wall and walkway with rock steps and large pond water feature.

Beautiful decorative and carefully sculpted vertical garden with distinct angles and intricate plantings complimented by a marble seat to enjoy the scenery

Large gazebo with table and chairs in a landscaped garden with interlocking stone pavers and surrounding low sculptured bushes

Decorated lawn and adjoining gardens in a park like setting

Rich green lawn and mature green bushy garden with two pergolas

To view a lot more Landscape and Garden Design Ideas, click here

Dutch Tiny House Opens Up With a Wall of Shutters by Zecc and Roel van Norel

Dutch tiny house -Zecc and Roel van Norel Recreation Tiny House Exterior14-via-smallhousebliss

Just outside Utrecht in the Netherlands sits an amazing tiny house that also doubles as a vacation cottage.

Created from a partnership between Utrecht-based studio Zecc and Roel van Norel, the first thought upon viewing it, is that it is a gable roofed house but there are some interesting features built into this house that make it really unique, and highly desirable.

The new building happens to be the foundation of a pre-existing cottage which was reused, as its contours. The use and choice of materials were made that fit seamlessly into the surrounding quiet, wooded countryside. Gray-green slate was used and the wood siding is Western Red Cedar.

Whilst you may expect the house to be symmetrical, it isn’t. The front of it has quite a generous roof overhang , whereas to the rear there in’t any. Instead it has a rear wall that has been fitted with slate roofing tiles that run the full height of the wall to the ground.

On the other side, what initially looks like a wall with no windows is actually a wall covered with a many louvered shutters that extends the full length of the house. The beauty of this is that when the shutters are opened, a full length wall of glass is revealed.

Fantastic for both daytime and night time aspects, when both privacy, daylight or sunlight become desirable. Even with the shutters all closed, the spacing of the cedar slats still permits adequate filtered light through.

The house has French doors at the gable end that provide entrance into the combined living dining and kitchen area which occupies approximately two thirds of the tiny house’s floor plan.

The remaining third is allotted to a sleeping area, where there is adequate space for a double bed and also an additional sleeping area from the ladder accessed loft immediately above. For privacy purposes, if you require it, the sleeping area is able to sectioned off through use of a sliding panel retracting wall

The whole back wall of the house is finished with several oak cabinets designed and built by van Norel. This is where you will find the service and storage functions all built in that all seamlessly integrate everything along the one wall; the kitchen, the bathroom, the toilet, the clothing storage and even a wood burning fireplace.

To enable everything to be fitted in the small narrow width of the area, the bathroom has been split into three areas; the shower is in compartments, the toilet and a simple handbasin in in another, and a larger sink in the other.

The shower is accessible directly off the bedroom which provides a real ‘ensuite like’ convenience for drying off without that cramped in feeling.

The garden house has been realized through a special collaboration between architects Zecc from Utrecht and the interior designer Roel van Norel. The basic concept was designed by Zecc, and then Roel van Norel has worked out the plan in detail and also created a of the internals.

A beautiful country side setting showing the french door end and entrance to the lounge kitchen dining area.

View of the kitchen and dining area area showing the oak cabinetry and the view to the outside through the french doors

The full height slate rear wall backing on to the service and ablutions

The slatted louver shutter wall closed up

The filtered light still entering the house with the slatted wall closed

The house with the shutters opened revealing a full length glass wall and a fantastic peaceful countryside view

The shutters when opened

The house situated amongst the wooded area showing off the rear slate wall

Photographs by/courtesy of Roel van Norel, and by StijnStijl
courtesy of Zecc.nl via Inhabitat and Small House Bliss

Information
Architect: Concept Design architects Zecc Utrecht;
Elaboration and interior: Roel van Norel
Contractor hull: Eastern Bridges Directory Utrecht
Finishing and interior: Roel van Norel
Glass constructions and components: Van Houten Hengstum

Old Victorian Style Homes (Photos of Victorian Houses)

Victorian Style Homes. The Painted Ladies Old Victorian Style Homes from San Francisco

These Painted Old Ladies of Victorian Style Homes from San Francisco definitely don’t seem to have lost any of their charm or appeal over the years. They look just as fantastic and desirable as they probably always have.

There is something magical about an old house from the Victorian era. Whether its the quality and the pride of the workmanship that happened all those years ago, or the quality of the simple materials that were available back then. These homes don’t seem to lose their appeal. In fact in real estate circles, you often here people say when looking for a house, that one of their essential wants is ‘character features’.

When compared to most of the modern ‘everyday’ houses of today, which often lack any personality, a character house from the Victorian era, would now be getting on to around 120-180 years old. And the fact that many of these houses were built from good old traditional materials, like brick, stone, timber and not much else, and they were built with common sense construction techniques, you usually end up with a house that will stand the test of time and assuming it has been well maintained over the years, will still look good today. Many modern homes are built with not much more than a 50 year lifespan, and from materials that were unheard of in the 1800’s.

We love Victorian houses, and have brought you a selection of these classic beauties from around the world, although most of them are from either England or the USA. If you love these house as well, then take a look through this gallery and don’t forget to share this page with your friends.

Victorian Brick houses of Muswell Hill built side to side and with a distant panorama of London

Typical traditional multi storeyed timber Victorian styled houses in a San Francisco Neighborhood.

Two Victorian era houses in San Francisco

View of a luxurious late Victorian era English town house with wrought iron entry gate and classic English style garden with lavender

This is an ornate well maintained two storey Victorian house in San Francisco

A beautiful old Victorian era house style in San Francisco with careful and intricate painting detail and colors

This is a large scale Victorian era cottage with fancy gable decorations and a balcony in Canada

The Classic Victorian era styled two storey house in England constructed from good old red brick and a concrete tiled pathway to the front door

Suburban Victorian style home with gable front of white and green and an appealing veranda that spans most of the house’s walls

An old Victorian single level Villa house set on a large block of land and surrounded by trees in Auckland, New Zealand

An old English village Victorian stone house with English garden and pathway

View and grounds of a large beautiful luxury styled elevated stone Victorian era detached house with wrought iron gate, stone wall fence and English garden

Historic multi storey well maintained Victorian house in San Francisco

Quaint old suburban Victorian attached houses in England painted vibrant colors

Beautiful old multi storeyed Victorian style house in California with many distinct ornate decorated fetures

Large English village Victorian styled country house with expansive grounds and well manicured bush lined pathway

Beautiful old English two storey stone Victorian era house

A classic old Victorian style home with ornate features and built with some architectural interest in San Francisco, California

Stunning stylish and classic well maintained multi level Victorian house in San Francisco

A rustic old multi level Victorian home in a country setting with interesting architectural features under an overcast sky

Idyllic rural English scene with an old Victorian cottage

Garden Topiary Forms and Topiary Art

Garden Topiary Forms in the form of topiary art elephant trees

A beautiful garden arrangement of garden topiary forms. These topiary art trees are in the shape of a number of elephants.

Topiary is the practice of developing and maintaining clearly defined shapes, whether they be geometric or creative. Creating garden topiary forms is all about training trees and shrubs over time to grow into various shapes and objects. This is usually achieved by way of a topiary frame which thereby makes practically any shape or object possible within the confines of one’s imagination and creativity.

The frames are not traditionally something that is readily available off the shelf but can be crafted by someone who knows what they’re doing (usually from stainless steel rods) into the shape you want, but it can sometimes take a very long time once set in place for the plant/tree to grow into the shape. However the end result, will, in time be something that provides a great deal of pride and joy and satisfaction (as well as a garden ‘WOW’ factor).

Other topiary art shapes can be achieved more simply by just cutting and shaping an existing bush or tree over time into simple shapes such as cones, or squares, where frames are not necessarily required. Below is a gallery of topiary art and trees crafted into various recognizable shapes and styles. If you have a garden of similar trees yourself, or you’d like to take on a project and create one of these in your own garden, then hopefully, you will find some inspiration and ideas from this gallery.

French landscape gardens with large amounts of carefully trimmed topiary trees and bushes