What is designing for entertainment? It is creating ambiance and a wonderful mood. In order to do this you have to know the elements that compose the feeling of repose, relaxation, elegance, pleasure and arrange landscape design elements in such a way that everything has a convenient layout and provides interest. The landscape design should create intrigue with different areas to visit and ponder-the excitement factor.

Create the Mood

What creates a fantastic landscape design environment that keeps your guests entertained, refilling their wine glasses, smelling and tasting the fresh hors de chore. Regardless of budget and elements a great outdoor landscape design for entertainment should have multiple uses and activities, be comfortable and beautiful. Although highly personal, a beautiful landscape design should be engaging with water fountains, sculptures, or garden art with graceful foreground trees and a soft lush back drop of hedges and shrubs. Pathways of varying and unifying materials guide your guests form one space to the next with intrigue and interest, “what else is here” is the excitement you want to generate. How can you make the most out of each garden element to create maximum beauty, functionality and use?

Patios and Lawns and plantings

Creating a hierarchy of pathways, patios and landscape lawn areas delineates spaces that have different uses. In addition, you can add details to paving and concrete areas. For example, you can create an outdoor rug effect by adding a mosaic tile pattern to a patio or have a brick herringbone courtyard with a white stone edge to add visual interest and detail in defining the space. You could also change color or materials in transition pathways between larger spaces such as using cut stone with ground cover planted in between to soften the effect of the path and provide greater visual interest and softness with the surrounding garden. Lawns can serve as open courtyards for play with pruned hedges and garden edges that have seating areas-just like in a public park were people love to watch other people.

Swimming Pools, Spas and Water Fountains

Over the years swimming pools have became dynamic architectural elements with built in water features. Sun decks are common to walk into and step down into the pool. Benches can be built along one entire length of the pool for lounging. In addition pools can be shallow for walking. Water fountains can take advantage of adding a vertical sculptural element suck as a raised spa that descends into the pool basin or jets can be seamlessly woven into the pool for visual and auditory effects.

The Outdoor Kitchen

Outdoor kitchens have become multimedia rooms. A beautiful outdoor fireplace can serve as the backdrop for a wonderful evening outdoors serving as both function and art. A simple fire pit can provide all the entertainment and focal point that you need in a small courtyard. If it’s a built in area, a T.V. and stereo can add to your grilling enjoyment. There are all types of variations in grill setups. There are combinations of grilling and smoking as well as sinks or refrigerators depending on the amount of cooking you see doing for your guests. Outdoor kitchens bring indoor entertainment outdoors.

Seating

Seating needs to vary from passive to comfortable. This would include passive seating walls and concrete, stone or wood benches, areas were your guests can sit or stand against to talk to someone for a short mingling conversation. At the next level you may have seating for eating and conversation. Then, more comfortable oversized chair seating for the family and relaxation.

Landscape Lighting

The soft blue glow light off a live oak limb and its leaves cascade across a stone bench. The ambiance of light and water flicker and shimmer off a pools surface. Night lighting is truly what creates the mood and sets the whole tone for evening enjoyment. High voltage mercury vapor lighting gives off a surreal soft glow at night creating a whole new effect to the landscape design. Warm accent lights can be carefully placed to give interest to sculptures, urns, flower bowls or light up the beauty of an ornamental tree.

Build an outdoor extravaganza

The more you can add the above elements, the more your landscape garden design becomes an experience for gatherings, events and private renewal. Just as the inside of your house provides for different use areas, so should the garden reflect your many public and private needs and dreams.

A gazebo can be a wonderful addition to a backyard landscape, adding an aesthetic appeal as well as a comfortable relaxation spot. If you are thinking about adding a gazebo to your backyard décor, you will want to consider the location where you plan to place your new structure.

Gazebo location is going to depend to a large extent on what you are planning to use your gazebo for. Is it a garden gazebo, a gathering place for friends and family on beautiful summer afternoons? Perhaps you’ll be enclosing your gazebo and installing a hot tub or spa inside of it. How you use your gazebo will determine where you should build it. A garden gazebo might be located toward the back of your yard, in order to have friends walk through it. A hot tub shelter should probably be located closer to the door, to minimize the walk in a bathing suit.

Aesthetics are important: you may choose to highlight your structure by making it the center of attention or blend it in to your landscape and make it a secret hideaway. You should also be mindful of the building’s relation to other structures that you may have on your property.

Think about the pros and cons of your preferred site in all four seasons. The surrounding foliage (and weather) can look very different from one season to the next. All of these considerations may have some impact on where you build your gazebo.

Choosing a size for your gazebo is the next important step. The key is to ensure that your space is large enough for its intended purposes, while remaining proportional to the surrounding environment. A general rule of thumb is that an 8′ gazebo fits 2 people (2 chairs) and a small table. With every two-foot addition, two more people can be seated comfortably in the gazebo (for example, a 10′ gazebo holds 4 people comfortably, a 12′ gazebo holds 6 people comfortably, etc.).

Once you have decided on a size, it’s a good idea to stake it out the dimensions in your yard to ensure that the fit is comfortable for your needs and that the location is harmonious with your landscape.

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