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Outdoor Decor - The Growing Trend toward creating Outdoor Living Spaces
The popularity of adding outdoor living areas with outdoor decor that is unique to our needs and tastes is perhaps one of the most important
current trends. We Americans want our outdoor living spaces enhanced with outdoor decor to be a refuge for relaxation and entertaining.
The recent softening of the real estate market, lowered home values, higher gas prices and people putting down deeper roots rather than moving, have lead us to make our outdoor spaces into outdoor living rooms. Creating a personalized outdoor space decorated with outdoor decor that provides additional entertaining, relaxing or dining options is a desire of many of us.
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Bird Houses and Garden Art
Enhancing our outdoor spaces with garden art and outdoor decor can be as simple or complex as we would like.
For the novice it might include adding a small grouping of birdhouses
to attract a variety of birds to the yard. Just for their charm, beauty and insect eating capabilities alone, this is a wonderful way of
enhancing enjoyment in your yard.
Over the past few years hand crafted garden sculpture has increased in popularity.
Garden art comes in a wide variety of options such as hand blown glass pond balls, hummingbird feeders, butterfly feeders, bird finials, welcome signs,
butterfly garden stakes, dragonfly garden stakes, egret and heron garden stakes, copper and tin mushroom art. Garden art serves a delightful purpose.
When we place something unique, sculptural or handcrafted in our garden we add whimsy and a resting place for our eyes. In addition, Garden art used in our gardens is an opportunity to break away from tradition and the more sedate confines of our homes and become more playful. Garden decor acts as a comma or semi-colon between the stands of flowers and greenery in our gardens and landscape and adds a light note.
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Landscape Lighting
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Perhaps one of the most important projects any homeowner can make is to install landscape lighting. The value of landscape lighting in your outdoor decor goes way beyond the obvious of safety and security. Strategically placed quality landscape lighting can highlight a lovely garden area, cast light into the understory of a large tree, bring in light and shadow for a unique appeal, or illuminate a special piece of garden art or statuary.
Landscape lighting can be architectural with simple shapes, or unique, fanciful and charming in designs that are pure works of art. In addition, landscape lighting will increase your home's curb appeal and thus the value of your home as well. Realtors will tell you that a home enhanced with attractive landscape lighting attracts more attention and will generally sell faster.
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Garden Arches, Garden Trellises and Pergolas
Using
garden arches,
garden trellises and pergolas in your garden decor is an excellent way to
increase drama and elevate a plain-Jane area to something quite spectacular and unique. A beautiful pergola draped with climbing roses, wisteria,
ivy, or flowering bushes will also add a shady spot beneath to sit and ponder, or read a book.
A garden arch or pergola can be a transition point
or portal - to a flower or vegetable garden, a pond, or it might offer simply a transition between two areas of your yard. Left unadorned it
becomes sculptural garden art. Adorned with climbing roses, wisteria, or morning glories and it becomes a unique, personal statement in your yard.
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 | Wall trellises placed against a vacant space, such as the
back of a garage or out-building, will add instant beauty. But imagine a lovely arched wall trellis with an espaliered fruit tree or blooming
clematis. Now this simple structure becomes a true wow factor in your yard; the visual impact will be tremendous. Used as plant arbors in
sun-drenched areas of your yard, these examples of simple garden decor will bring a cool calming effect to an otherwise parched area, and
offer a relaxing respite from the hot afternoon sun.
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Planters and Containers as Garden decor
| One of the easiest and most versatile ways for any gardener to create unique garden spaces
with outdoor decor is through the use of garden planters. Container gardening offers endless possibilities. You can visually hide an eyesore with a tall
planter filled with greenery or a group of them, add a flower or vegetable garden in problem sites unsuitable for a regular garden or with poor soil
conditions; or add a garden where tree roots would not permit one. With a lush garden planted in planters you also will will help conserve water.
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Planters come in wide array of materials from
lightweight planters that can be moved to different places in the landscape,
or to follow the moving sun on a patio or deck, to stone planters and manufactured stone
that evoke a sense of permanence and distinction. |
| For anyone wanting to try a water feature, using stone or cast stone planters can be the perfect choice. Or for a more light-weight option, resin
planters are easily adaptable to small
spaces, deck and patios; and requires very little in materials and cost. Plus, it is rather portable and can be moved, if desired. Though small in size
this type of garden decor packs a big impact with both sound and visual appeal.
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Growing Trend in Outdoor living and Decorating
According to experts, enhancing our outdoor living areas is a growing trend
that will become a fact of life within the next five years. Currently this is the hottest trend in the country with more than 70% of us desiring to
enhance our outdoor spaces with outdoor decor. A recent study on design trends for outdoor spaces summed up by saying that the
majority of us believe it is vitally important to our overall pleasure and happiness to expand our living to our outdoor spaces.
Our desire is to
increase and add value to our homes, as well as create additional entertaining and living space. The result is that we are beautifying our outdoor
spaces by decorating with a wide variety of outdoor decor and garden art in ever increasing numbers. Our outdoor spaces are as unique
as we are and they serve our need to extend our living to our outdoor spaces with outdoor art and decor that fits our personal lifestyles and choices.
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