The Best Hardscaping Ideas for This Summer
Keeping your grass tight, trees cropped, and flowers popping all matter. But, installing an outdoor kitchen, a fire pit, retaining walls, or meditative water features can transform your property and make it much more enjoyable, attractive, and functional.
In this article, we’ll explore our favorite summer hardscape ideas that are sure to convert your outdoor spaces from ordinary to amazing.
Outdoor Kitchens
Modern outdoor cooking areas are benefit-loaded, as they lower energy bills by keeping the inside cooler, enhance your star status as an entertainer, keep cooking smells outside, and create a significant bump in your home’s appraisal value.
And did you know that modern outdoor kitchens aren’t like those of yesteryear? Today, you can choose between upscale amenities like granite and marble countertops, islands with plumbing, appealing lighting, outdoor refrigerators, restaurant-quality appliances, and even wood-burning pizza cookers.
Fire Pits
There’s something powerful about the timeless, comforting allure of fire. Nothing beats sitting by a crackling blaze after working a long day and absorbing the tranquil ambience.
Many homes have old metal fire pits that have degraded over time, but a new brick fire pit can revive the area and make it the new go-to place in your home. Always instant hits, brick fire pits are affordable, easy to maintain and repair, and last decades.
Retaining Walls
If your landscape features dramatic gradient alterations, a retaining wall is definitely a hardscape amenity worth considering. They provide deep structural support to bulky masses of earth, while still adding aesthetic appeal to your landscape.
A well-designed and installed retaining wall will also help prevent soil erosion, provide flood control, and add more usable space to your property. And if you have existing retaining walls that have shifted and settled with time, having them releveled is easy.
Water Features
Like fire, water touches our primal foundations and helps keep life balanced. That’s why incorporating water features, like fountains, waterfalls, and bubbling ponds, into outdoor landscapes is ever-popular. These functional amenities make your property stand out and increase its value. However, they offer various other benefits too.
For example, hardscape water features can accommodate plant life, purify the air, and provide watering sources for birds, bees, and other natural friends. Plus, their soothing trickling noises help to cover other not-so-pleasant sounds, like traffic and your neighbor’s lovely screaming children.
Get Hardscaping Design Assistance From Design One
If you want to bring your innovative hardscape ideas to life, but lack the time, skills, or energy to get it done, turn to Design One. We have over 30 years of experience providing custom residential and commercial landscaping and hardscaping services in Michigan. Contact us today to learn more about our capabilities or schedule a project consultation.
