A beautiful and functional exterior space adds so much value to your home. As such, it’s important that you have an effective landscape design that maximizes this value. It doesn’t just benefit your home’s aesthetic value; it also improves the utility of your exterior.

In this post, Lifestyle Landscapes discusses how to maximize your outdoor living area.

Establish Traffic Patterns

Regardless of the size of your yard, it’s beneficial to establish a strict yet free-flowing traffic pattern. This is particularly important in general patio design as you need a “link” to your patio and your interior space. Thankfully, this is easier than its industrial-sounding name implies.

One of the simplest ways to establish traffic areas is to lay down walkways and paths. Depending on the style of your home, this can be a physical hardscape like a connecting wooden path or a more “natural” pathway, such as a stone walkway.

Add Some Seating

Adding chairs, stools and benches in your outdoor living area improves its beauty and utility. Your outdoor living area is an extension of your interior space, after all. As a general rule, you’ll want your outdoor seating options to complement the landscape. We recommend more natural and wooden furniture, but metal and stone seating options are good choices, too.

Establish a Focal Point

Finally, your outdoor living area should have an established focal point similar to your interior. This can be difficult depending on how established your aesthetics are. We recommend using your interior space as a point of reference. A large seating area or a piece of decorative art can easily become the focal point of your exterior, especially if it stands out from the rest of the background.

At Lifestyle Landscapes, we can help you enhance the beauty and utility of your outdoor living areas. Call us today at (206) 621-2626 to learn more about our services. We offer professional landscape design throughout Seattle.