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54 Best Landscaping Ideas to Spruce Up Your Space
Give your outside spaces a much needed makeover with these landscaping ideas!
If the outside of your home doesn't feel nearly as welcoming as the kitchen, the living room, or even the mud room, then perhaps it's time to consider remodeling the yard.
A good landscape design can take any space—whether it's a drab front yard, an unwieldy back yard, or an odd little nook created by yard shape idiosyncrasies—and turn it into a lush spot, beckoning you to come and relax. While some landscaping ideas can be very expensive (such as, say, using a local aquifer to build water features), other options literally make use of old junk reclaimed antiques and only cost effort and time.
Here we've put together more than four dozen of our most inspired landscaping ideas, pulled from years of celebrating amazing houses. Use these as your springboard as you think about what you could do to make your outdoor spaces every bit as warm and welcoming as the rest of your house. Whether you want to do a little or a whole lot, we've got ideas that are sure to make it into your project!
More Great Landscape and Garden Ideas from Country Living:
Add Climbing Moonflower
Also called tropical white morning-glory, moonflower is a night-blooming species of morning glory. It features fragrant white flowers that open from sundown to sunup, midsummer to early autumn—you can literally watch them unfurl at dusk.
Find more beautiful flowering vines to adorn walls, trellises and fences.
Build a Sophisticated Treehouse
A treehouse isn't just for kids, you know! Sure, they might spend the most time in it, but don't discount the whimsy and fun that a treehouse will add to your backyard.
Add a Fountain
A centerpiece installation like the tranquil birdbath fountain outside this chic she-shed creates peaceful sounds, attracts beautiful birds, and can help make a space feel calming and pleasant.
Go Floral in the Front
Overflowing with your favorite flowers, window boxes are a irresistible draw for the eye. Consider planting flowers in a shade that complements the color of your home. Or, for dramatic effect, mix in a second plant that picks up your trim color.
Build a Cottage Garden
Nestled behind hedges framing a cute wooden door, a cottage garden can be a lush oasis of fragrant blooms climbing over a garden trellises and pretty pathways.
Get Fancy with Water Features
If money were no object, you could design an entire house around the landscape! For this Wyoming home, architects utilized an ancient aquifer to add truly remarkable water features. (You could add a DIY fountain for a much more reasonable price.)
Add a Topiary or Two
Topiaries are a staple of New England landscaping. They're especially fitting in the colorful garden of this quite-nice Connecticut farmhouse.
Plant Symmetrical Saplings
Once you get past the wonder that is this barn-top-floor-turned-functioning-farmhouse, gain inspiration from the matching exterior evergreens that frame the hayloft just right.
Go Natural in Your Garden Beds
A California family of seven transferred their affinity for white decorations outside the house, as well, which makes for an eye-catching garden bed contrast.
Repurpose a Bike Into a Planter
Landscaping doesn't have to break the bank. Give old items a second life as garden structures or planters like blogger Carlene Blair of Organized Clutter did with this bicycle in her self-described "junk garden."
Make an Urban Escape
Thanks to rustic rockers, a collection of terra-cotta pots, and climbing vines, you'd never guess at first glance that this seemingly pastoral townhouse garden terrace lies in the heart of New York City's storied West Village neighborhood.
Build (or Renovate) a Potting Shed
If you're doing a lot of repotting plants, consider building (or refurbishing) a shed into a more beautiful place to do it. It has the advantage of moving the mess out of your main house!
Have a Seat
Adding seating to your yard opens you up to a world of possibilities: You can dine alfresco, you've got a great new spot to crack open a new book, and so much more. Laying down gravel or pebbles is a good place to start; next, add a table and chairs.
Install a Simple Stone Path
We're fans of stone paths for both pragmatic and aesthetic reasons. They're beautiful, of course, but they're also the easiest and most convenient way to get from place to place. No need to wander through your freshly cut grass anymore!
Gather Around the Fire
A fire pit is the easiest way to ensure that your backyard is the talk of the town this summer. Your neighbors won't be able to get enough! If you do go this route though, don't forget to stock your pantry with plenty of marshmallows and graham crackers.
Grow Patio Roses
A rose arch running over a garden path or along a patio door frame will give any space an English countryside feel. (It helps to have an adorable dog as well!)
Plant a Floral Border
Use a bed of blooms to separate the driveway pavement from the grass, as designer Loi Thai did with this Maine fixer-upper.
Add a Mid-Garden Hangout
After renovating their farmhouse, a Wisconsin family set their sights on their backyard, adding wooden garden beds (designed to look like old fruit boxes!) around a dug-out fire pit and seating area.
Install a Galvanized Water Trough
If your backyard already includes chickens (or ducks!) — or if you just want to keep your furry friends hydrated, consider adding a unique DIY rustic water feature, like an inground watering trough.
Add a Garden Arbor
Leave it to Joanna Gaines of Fixer Upper fame to design such a stunning walkway for her garden. The vine-covered arbor overhead gives the outdoor space an ethereal feel.
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