Every few years, you might look at your home’s interior and exterior and realize that it’s fallen out of alignment. If you like to perform home improvement projects in stages, it’s not surprising. Many people discover that, in the effort to upgrade their garden or kitchen, they have made the rest of the space appear older or outdated. The good news is that you can bring it back together once again. Try these tips to help brainstorm a design that will work great for your home.
Trendy Home Improvements
You can usually tell the age of a particular home improvement by the color. All-white was big about five years ago, along with the surprisingly evocative color named “greige.” For those who are hoping to make the space up-to-the-minute, you may want to take advantage of the most popular colors for the current decade:
- Warm browns
- Vintage blue tones
- Soft, pale gray
When you want a home and garden that perfectly complements each other, you could not go wrong with these hues. They invoke aspects of nature from all over the world: cinnamon bark, blue spruce, and quaking aspen. If you’re not sure how to incorporate these colors into your home design, look for tips inside Better Homes and Gardens Magazine for more ideas.
For 2021, you might want to update your home to incorporate a few changes to your daily living. Many more people work from home now, not to mention schooling from home. Designating rooms or stations within a multipurpose room to accommodate these activities is a great idea. Don’t forget to add storage like shelving or cabinetry so that you can keep everything close to hand and off the floor.
Gardening That Complements Your Home
People often think of the garden as a completely separate entity from the home’s interior, but this does not have to be the case. A garden that works with the home, instead of working against it, is likely to appear more intentional and cohesive. For example, if the home has an open floor plan with lots of natural lighting and a great flow, the garden should have the same. In this case, homeowners might want to leave much of the ground open and flowing. For example, trees with tall canopies provide shade from the sun without making the space seem boxed in. In addition, limiting raised beds to the yard’s perimeter creates an unstructured feel, more in line with the home.
Although the garden itself tends to focus on a home’s landscaping, hardscaping is an important design element to incorporate. It offers a necessary break between the garden and walking spaces. You can take advantage of natural stone, weather-resistant wood, or stamped concrete to create your own stylistic flair. There’s no need to limit yourself to a flat expanse of concrete slabs.
Balancing Curb Appeal and Interior Design
The best and most cohesive home designs take the interior design layout and elements and expand it to the outdoors. If you want your property to look as gorgeous as those featured in a magazine photo, you must invest at least a little into every piece. Curb appeal is more than a buzzword used by real estate agents, of course. Your home’s exterior needs updating, too. Take a moment to inspect the siding and the windows. If they have seen better decades, it’s probably time for a refresh.
For a seamless transition from inside to out, choose a couple of elements from each side to share with the other – and don’t forget to make room for entertaining. Outdoor dining and relaxation are a lasting trend in home improvements, mostly because they allow you to expand your living space at a lower cost. If you have space, consider upgrading to an outdoor kitchen for unparalleled functionality and the ability to entertain larger groups. You can make it easier to move from home to garden by evaluating how to improve the flow. Sometimes, adding a set of French doors is just the ticket.
Your home will look so much better and more intentional if you upgrade both the interior structure and the property in similar ways. By incorporating complementary design elements and ensuring that you maintain the right flow, you can have a home that is as beautiful to look at as it is to live in.
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