If you're interested in increasing your home's curb appeal but don't know how or where to start, you've come to the right place. Landscaping is the art of making a piece of land look more aesthetically pleasing or serve more functions than it currently has. Landscaping could include something like altering the architecture, or it could involve changing up flora and fauna.

People often get gardening and landscaping confused with each other. This makes sense, considering that landscaping does involve a fair bit of alteration with plants and flowers. However, they are not interchangeable.

You may be hoping to add some more colour to your garden or even the entrance of your home by doing some landscaping. In the article below, I've mentioned some tips that may help you design the landscape of your dreams.

1. Know What You Want And Need

Before you begin on any project, it's necessary for you to know what you want and need the result to be. You should make a list of your needs and wants. What is the purpose of the space? Do you want it to be more aesthetically or functionally inclined?

You should also make some rough sketches of the area that you have and try to identify where you need to place everything. It doesn't have to be some perfect master plan, you can simply use lines, circles and squares to map everything out, and these plans don't have to be concrete. Making a list of your wants and needs can also help you know the things that must stay and those that don't.

2. Know Your Location

You can't execute plans for a location that you've never seen. Study the patterns of sun and wind. You don't want to place a patio or a resting place in a location where the sun is always shining and you're constantly hot. Not taking into account the wind can result in the wind whistling and extinguishing your fire.

The design should consider how the elements will interact with the structure. If you're landscaping your front garage, take into account the space you need to park a car.  Something like a Mitsubishi Triton will have different dimensions than a Toyota Corolla.

3. Take Your Time

Before designing the landscape, you should try your best to spend some time in it. If you don't spend time in the area, you may design a structure that's not good for you in the long term. Once your design and construct something, you will have to live with it until you sell the house.

However, if you take your time to understand all the elements that play out in your yard, you can design something that compliments your time, your needs and your garden.

4. Start Small

You don't have to change your entire garden overnight. In fact, I would advise against it. Taking up smaller projects in the garden will help you come up with a plan to stitch them all together. You won't rush through the work, and you'll create a more beautiful result. Look at your master plan and think about the smallest aspects of this plan and what you are going to do in what order.

You can start with the flower bed. Part of enjoying the process is ensuring that you take all the time you need in growing the landscape authentically. Think about the flowers you like, what is suitable for the ground and the climate. Take breaks when you're working so you don't do any hasty work or work you may regret later.

5. Locate A Focal Point

Whenever you're designing a landscape, you need to have a focal point so you can design around it. You can have one focal point or many focal points to design a space around it. The focal point can be a birdbath or a sculpture. It could also be a set of trees in the centre. They just have to invite your gaze in.

6. Be Mindful Of Scale And Pacing

It's one of the most difficult principles of design to follow. However, scale and pacing make for a look that's put together. There can be many variations in size, height, shape and colour. However, you can still achieve the balance. This is possible by having repetitive elements and some that are new to tie all of the looks together. Repetition allows things to be more cohesive, and new elements prevent the landscape from being boring.

7. Edit, Edit, Edit

You want to be open to change whenever you're setting up a landscape. If you feel like things are just not working out, you may have to change a few things here and there. The most important thing is to keep your eyes and brain open to any changes.

Final Thoughts

Designing your landscape should be a fun activity for you while sticking to certain design principles so that you can create an artistic and functional landscape.