Creating Your Overall Design Objective

Step 1: Creating Your Overall Design Objective.

What do you want?

I want an exterior design that says I have great taste and style that everyone will consider unforgettable. I want the property to feel inviting, relaxing and tropical, but not over planted and busy. I want it to be sustainable and low maintenance as possible. I love how a property can come to life at night with lighting effects and the sound of water. I need parking for five cars and a spot on the side of the house to park a boat where it will not be seen. I want the yard to be kid friendly and fun, but be sophisticated and spacious for entertaining large groups of people a couple times a year.

Decide who will be using the space the most and how many people. Is this a full time home or a vacation home and how much maintenance will the design require to always look it’s best. What is the overall function of your exterior design? It may need to be as low maintenance as possible with a minimalistic feel, but have some artistic features so that the design is not boring. Whatever your goal is, define it. When making every decision, ask yourself if that will give you your end result. What is your overall budget and how can this be broken into stages if needed? A quick answer to that question in most cases is start in the back and work your way to the front because of access issues, unless you have separate rear access to the property.

Step 2: Front Yard- Curb appeal, grand entrance, define property lines, paver driveway, focal point trees or palms, up lighting, small water feature to tie in larger feature in back, stone veneering around entrance. Target budget:

Step 3: Side Yards- Gates and paths to back with lighting. Privacy hedges, burms, fences on property lines. Additional parking or storage behind fence to one side. Garage, shed or play area? Target budget:

Step 4: Back Yard- Outdoor living space with lounging area, outdoor kitchen, play area for kids, beach area with hammock. Fire pit and tiki torches. Lagoon style pool with grotto waterfall, hot tub, slide, swimup bar, swim lane and sunshelf. Large deck area for entertaining. Heavily landscaped property lines for privacy with up lighting and path lights to various areas. Grass area between deck and burms to play ball etc. Target budget:

This is all an overall view of the factors you should think about in your outdoor design. This is an example to use as a guide and fill in your own ideas for your outdoor design. This is only the beginning, everything can be changed, but you always need a foundation to start from. This blog will continue to go into detail for each of the steps to creating your overall design.