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I would like the site located next to the house or cottage to look like a piece of paradise. For a city dweller, this is, after all, more a place to relax, although, if there are beds, this vacation is very peculiar)) Nevertheless, decorating the site – country, garden, backyard – worries all owners. The range of possibilities is wide. There are even different styles so they all look different, expressing the owner’s personality. True, this is the case if you decorated it yourself, on your own. Let not everything be according to the canons of landscape design … But it is precisely such areas, decorated by amateurs, that are somehow more comfortable.
Site planning
The first thing to do when getting a plot is to think about what and where you will have located. Splicing is determined where the house will stand – at the beginning of the site, in the middle, closer to its far edge. Then you “arrange” the rest of the planned buildings. If you plan to build, determine a place for a bathhouse, then place outbuildings – a shed-hozblok, a chicken coop, a firewood shed, garden beds and greenhouses, decide where the garden will be. Next come the places of rest – these are sheds, gazebos.
There are main buildings on the plan, now paths are being laid between them. Straight tracks are needed only in one case, if the section is long and narrow. In this case, a smooth path to its far end will visually make it closer. For all other objects, it is better to make them sinuous, with smooth bends.
Now it’s time to think about placing decorations for the yard. First of all, these are flower beds and flower beds. They are built quickly, planted with annuals already in the first season, they will delight you, while everything else is still in the process of construction and beauty is still far away. A longer matter is the arrangement of rock gardens and rockeries. To drag and lay a couple of tons of stones is no joke, besides, they are planted mainly with perennials, they take their final shape only after three or four years. And then, only on the condition that you immediately chose and planted all the plantings correctly, that without experience is an unprecedented success.
Do you want to impress your friends and neighbors? Paint the flowerpots with fluorescent paint. At nightfall, they will glow, giving your lawn an unusual look.
The second option for turning ordinary things into extraordinary is the use of car paint with a chrome effect. Paint several stones or the same pots and get mirror stones …
Another traditional type of jewelry is small or large water bodies – ponds and ponds. Very small ones are built quickly – from a tire, so generally in a couple of hours. Larger ones may take a couple of days to complete. But it is not worth arranging reservoirs before the house is built and paths are laid. Save this decoration closer to the finish line. Also, after the main construction, it’s time to put pergolas, arches, canopies. And already at the very end, they begin to play with backlighting, although there are very simple and original ideas. For example, take a tin can, make holes in it, but not just like that, but according to the scheme, creating a pattern. Inside, you can start an ordinary low-power lamp, and if there is no electricity yet, put a candle and put / hang it near the house.
Such decoration of the site can be hung in the garden or on the veranda. It is not difficult to make, it looks great, however, only in the dark))
Little about styles
Our most common style “natural garden”, although many owners are unaware of this. These are the areas where there is everything at once – the entrance-ceremonial zone, the garden-garden, the recreation area. Moreover, the areas are small and all, or almost all, of the zones are visible. Natural style allows, focusing on the existing relief and soil, to create sites with any landscapes. Is there a swampy lowland? Arrange it lightly by adding a pond or making a swamp, leaving natural plantings and adding decorative ones, ennobling the banks. You can make a dry stream or build a natural one. Is the area flat? Organize the site according to the type of meadow, you can – alpine lawn. Put up a gazebo, plant ivy.
For romantic natures, the same style is closer. It is characterized by gazebos covered with roses, well-groomed lawns, flower beds, which adjoin thoughtfully overgrown secluded places.
Country style easily recognizable by the characteristic “household” decor elements. Internal fences – wattle fence or picket fence, flowers – in tubs, cans, carts. Benches and garden furniture are deliberately rough, if painted, then with a dark tinting composition, and not with covering paints.
English style lawn lovers can choose. Any free area is sown with lawn grass. This type of gardens can be summed up in two words “all in a bunch”. In English gardens, everything can really be mixed up: a garden / vegetable garden is a single concept, flowerpots are also placed everywhere, all free places are occupied by grass. Another feature is the ivy-covered walls, a large number of roses, figurines and funny figurines placed in suitable places.
classic garden draw up strictly according to the plan. This is the option when everything is clear, borders, shapes, height of bushes and borders. Everything is lined up and straight. In strictly allotted places, artsy benches are installed, next to which fountains are arranged, decorative flowerpots with flowers, statues and columns are installed.
Fences and fences
First of all, the area is fenced off. It is understandable: it is necessary to start building materials, but how to protect them? Beyond the fence is easier. If possible, it is better to immediately put up a beautiful, capital, reliable fence. Not all of them cost a lot. Budget options can also be very attractive. The main thing in this case is the idea, and they are in the photo. So from a combination of long and short boards, you can get an interesting fence, more transparent from above and almost without gaps from below.
If the boards are placed edgewise, the effect is even more interesting. If you don’t see it, you won’t believe it…
With thin fresh boards, you can make a beautiful fence that uses the principles of wattle making. Boards are passed between posts and bent.
You can make an original fence from a slab. You will have to tinker – and treat it well from parasites, and match the boards one to the other so that there are as few gaps as possible. You may have to work them with an ax or a planer. But the slab is almost a waste material, its prices are low, so there is a chance to get a designer fence for little money.
More models and photos of wooden fences in this article.
If funds allow, you can put up something monumental, such as a stone or brick fence. It will require a lot of work and money, but it will also stand for a long time.
For the internal division of the site, such solid fences are useless. For a vegetable garden, you can put a lattice made of a thin bar, grow a hedge, weave a wattle fence.
If you are “lucky” and a blank wall enters your garden, you can also decorate it with a kind of fence along which climbing plants can be planted. An interesting option is presented below. When the ivy grows a little it will be very beautiful. Instead of ivy, you can plant clematis. In winter, the view is over, worse, but in summer …
Read more about fences in the article “Types of fences for private houses”
How to decorate a garden plot with flowers
This part of gardening brings the fastest results. Annual flowers bloom within a few weeks after planting, perennials are also pleasing, growing more and more every week. There is a separate article about regular flower beds, and here we will post some interesting ideas that can give impetus to choosing a garden style.
The decoration of the site often consists of little things. For example, an ordinary wooden box can easily be turned into a garden decoration – interesting coloring and custom installation – hang on ropes that are designed like hands. The pole is used as a base for hanging flower pots.
Sculptures are made from ordinary pots. They pick them up in different sizes, fasten them with wire, add a little paint or plants – everyone has their own fantasies … marvelous figures are obtained.
Even leaky rubber gloves come into play. It’s good that the colors are bright, and the base is dense. Soil is poured, annuals are planted, tied to trees or ropes, nailed to fences. Fun and bright.
Everyone knows that flower beds and flowerpots are made from car tires, but few people know that you can make a wonderful flower bed in the shape of a swan from planks. Such a wonderful swan turned out: they cut out “feathers”, fastened it with wire, glued it, the head and neck were sawn out of the board.
For those who are not afraid of difficulties, there is a more difficult option: a flower bed in two tiers. They made an arch, spread geotextiles and mesh, poured a layer of soil into which light-loving plants were planted. Shade-tolerant flowers grow in the niche formed below. Such an unusual two-tiered flower garden.
Read more about flowerbeds and fencing for them here.
Highlights of our garden: ponds
Perhaps the second favorite decoration of the site after the flower beds is ponds and ponds. The picturesque combination of water and plants fascinates, gives coolness in summer. The design of reservoirs is a creative process and there are many styles here too. You can make around the flooring of the boards. And in order not to suffer with their painting and impregnation, they may not be wooden, but composite – there is such a new material that looks very much like wood. The only difference is that it does not rot, does not change color. This material is called decking. It can be used for flooring an open veranda or terrace, near the pool. You can see an example of its use around the pond in the photo.
You can lay out the space around with stone slabs. This arrangement will take more time, but many people like this option more. So that the whole finish does not “float”, you will have to remove part of the soil, fill in crushed stone, tamp it down, and a layer of sand on top. You can already lay slabs on it. The gaps can be covered with a mixture of sand and cement, thoroughly sweep the excess, and then either wait for the rain, or pour the blind area – the cement will grab, fixing the plates. The coverage will be reliable.
Using the same technology, you can lay out the edges with boulders collected on the river bank (or bought at a garden center).
If the paths in the garden are made of paving stones, it makes sense to arrange the shore of the reservoir as well. The technology is known, only the material is different.
Decorating a garden or cottage with improvised materials
As you probably understood, you can make a garden decoration from any object or thing. The main thing is the idea, then a little imagination and work, and the decor is ready. For example, around a tree, you can make a table, a small terrace, a bench and use this corner for relaxation.
Stumps often remain on the site. It takes a long time to uproot them, in the process they trample everything around … They stick out until they become rotten and crumble themselves. And from stumps you can do very interesting things. For example – use as a flower bed.
Or make an interesting figurine out of it for the garden.
On the prosaic, but necessary – toilets
These buildings sometimes appear before the fences, because without them – trouble. Builders will master all the nearby nooks and crannies, and who, interestingly, will like it. So the most necessary, perhaps, building on the site is a toilet. And why are we talking about toilets, in relation to decorating the site? But because this building can be made in such a way that it will not necessarily be hidden. Putting it on display is also not an option, but you don’t need to mask it either. For example, a standard birdhouse can be made from logs. Get a mini hut.
Plant around the plant, make a nice path, and this corner of the garden will also be attractive. For example, such as but the photo below.
A few more variations on the same theme. One and the same uncomplicated design can be designed in different ways. Choose the style depending on the style in which the cottage or garden plot is framed.
Well, if you need a stone toilet, then why not decorate it in the style of a medieval castle. Only crowds of tourists will need to be driven away …
Photo Ideas for Garden Decoration
There are many ways to make your garden or summer cottage bright and beautiful. A few of those who liked the eccentricity were collected in a photo gallery. Maybe some of them will help you decorate your corner.