Many modern homes are built uniformly to match the existing aesthetic of a housing estate, which can lead to both your home and garden appearing indistinguishable from that of your neighbours.
As a result, attempting to make your home and garden stand out amongst the crowd transcends simple vanity, as it can increase the kerb appeal of your property for when you are looking to move.
In this article, we will highlight 5 ideas that can give your home more of an individual flair, ranging from simple flourishes like adding cladding, to more complex additions like creating an outdoor room. Let’s take a look…
1. Choosing Fascia’s, Finishes and Cladding
If the front of your house is designed to look near identical to that of your neighbour, it can be hard to make your home stand out. These first impressions of your space count, as it will be the first thing a potential buyer to your home will see should you ever choose to move.
Choosing an alternative finish to standard brickwork can help make your home feel more memorable. There are many options available, including stonework and trowelled plaster, just to name a few.
Composite cladding is an easy way to rapidly transform the exterior of your home into something more modern and eye-catching. Slatted cladding especially can create a seamless, smart, linear fascia to the front of your home.
Cladding is easy to install once the framework is in place, and crucially, is extremely low maintenance to look after, needing only a basic hose down every six months to keep it looking its best, helping your home retain its good looks for longer.
2. Create A Garden Room
Long has the garden been served with the inclusion of the humble shed. Once simply a place for storing tools and potting plants, homeowners are becoming more and more aware of how an outdoor room could help to maximalise the parameters of your space.
From a home office to suit hybrid working, to a practise room for any hobbyists, or even a home gym, a garden room creates a perfect outdoor escape.
Pergolas and other kinds of outdoor shelters can also make a great place to sit down and relax in, while keeping you exposed to the fresh air.
These shelters can be transformed into gorgeous outdoor kitchens, a place to congregate around a fire pit, or even somewhere to watch the football, if you use a weatherproof outdoor screen.
Decorate the space with long-life outdoor furniture and soft furnishings for extra comfort, such as waterproof cushions, throws, and rugs.
3. Install Water Features
Should you space allow for it, a swimming pool is a fantastic addition to any garden. However, most gardens are smaller, especially in new estates, and may not be able to accommodate the necessary space for a pool.
Thankfully, this doesn’t mean you can’t add a water feature to your space. Instead of a pool, ornamental bodies of water and rills are the perfect alternative for smaller spaces. Trickling water from fountains also creates a calming sensory environment, helping to block out unwanted noise from beyond your garden.
Outside of the aesthetic benefits of adding a water feature to your garden, there are more practical advantages too. For example, water features can help to keep your surrounding planting themes hydrated, creating rich, vibrant greens for your garden space.
Creating a smaller pond, and filling it with fish, can also increase the biodiversity of your surroundings, encouraging more amphibians and insect life to populate the area. Ponds can even attract pollinators, which will have a positive effect on the environment at large.
4. Build A Tiered Gardening
Most modern gardens are flat, level spaces. Unfortunately, this can inadvertently remove any sense of life and character.
To combat this, adding tiers and platforms to your space can give your garden a much-needed visual texture, as well as giving you more space for ornamental flourishes and planting. Adding patio slabs or decking boards is a fantastic way to artificially create these extra platforms.
There are many materials you can choose for your decking or patio spaces. With patios, you can choose from traditional paving slabs, interlocking brick paving, or porcelain, to name a few.
If you instead opt for decking, you can choose from traditional timber, aluminium, or composite materials. If your raised deck will be used frequently by people less steady on their feet, we recommend building balustrades as a surrounding perimeter.
5. Invest In Modern Fencing
Fencing is often overlooked as a decorative element for an outdoor space, but it can massively set the tone and aesthetic of the entire area. If using timber or concrete fencing, you can hang trellises to encourage vertical planting, keeping your lawn space free, but allowing you to feel surrounded by nature.
Alternative fence materials, such as composite fencing, even allow you to add decorative metal screens on top of the finished panels, letting in more light, airflow, creating beautiful shadows.
Even simple steps like opting for a different colour other than a naturalistic timber finish can change the overall feel of your space. If you have lots of vibrant, colorful flowers, we recommend choosing calm, neutral tones such as grey or a soft green.
For a more modern look, choose a sumptuous dark brown or black. You can achieve this look by painting the surface of your fencing, or by buying alternative fencing materials that comes pre-supplied in your chosen colours.
To conclude, there are many ways to help your home and garden stand out from amongst the crowd. Decorating the exterior of your home in a way that differentiates it from its surroundings is the most immediate change, but elevating your garden with a practical outdoor room and beautiful water features can make a significant impression too.
Making more out of your space with tiered gardens can help to sell the idea that your garden is bigger than it is, whilst composite fencing can keep your space at the forefront of modern outdoor designs.
