​Creating a dream backyard is exciting, but it can be a challenge to visualize the end result and fully explain your vision to your landscape designer. In order to communicate your vision accurately—and to bring your vision to life as close to your budget and timeline as possible—you may want to take advantage of technology. Here are the benefits of 3D design for your Naperville, IL, landscaping.


What Is 3D Design?
A two-dimensional drawing (such as a floor plan) only gives you a partial picture of what’s possible and how your finished landscape will look. This matters quite a bit when you’re considering a multi-level living space. Using to-scale renderings of your house and landscape, a landscape designer can create a 3D model that shows how new plants and backyard features such as a pool, pond, fire pit, or outdoor kitchen will appear in relation to everything else. It’s ideal to see how each individual element appears in context, how design elements come together, and how any tweaks you make will affect the final outcome.

Related:  4 Aesthetic Themes That Suit a Brick Patio in Naperville, IL

The Benefits of 3D Design
The benefits of using 3D design help to create more excitement and relief during the planning process. It’s incredibly fun to see your vision come to life! It’s also helpful to see for yourself whether your ideas are feasible, and it’s also helpful to avoid any misunderstandings. An interpretation of your vision may not translate in the design—the 3D design process can bring clarity if the designer thought you meant one thing when you actually meant something else.

Also, 3D design makes decision-making easier. When you can see your finished project from multiple perspectives—from the “street view” as well as a bird’s-eye view—you can make instant decisions about the placement of specific elements, the size of your outdoor rooms, and their relationships to each other. For example, you may notice that your dream outdoor fireplace is too massive for the space and that it completely obliterates the view, or that short pillars just don’t seem right at your entryway and should be elongated. These are design details that a 2D rendering cannot adequately convey. Your landscape designer can present various design options, which significantly simplifies your ability to make confident choices.

Related: 7 Landscape Design Ideas for Your Paver Driveway in Hinsdale, IL

Another plus: 3D design also delivers greater accuracy, especially when it comes to vertical elements such as retaining walls, a pergola, waterfall, or stairs. There is no question, once a 3D rendering is approved, whether the pergola will be 8’ tall or 10’ tall, or whether the retaining wall will be low enough to serve as a seating wall. This accuracy is essential in finalizing cost estimates, purchasing the right quantities of materials, and avoiding the need to implement last-minute changes.

In short, nothing is overlooked when you use 3D design. Clear communication between you and the landscape designer will ensure that you get exactly what you want—and if it turns out you can’t get “exactly” what you want, you will clearly see the reasons why. And when you are able to tweak the design before construction starts, you can accelerate the timeline and enjoy your dream backyard sooner rather than later.

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Brick is one of the oldest building materials. People have been using bricks to build roads, courtyards, walls, and plazas for millennia. If you want to enhance the feel of your outdoor space, here is how you can bring a traditional look to your Wheaton, IL, backyard with a brick patio.

Why Use Brick?
A brick patio is beautiful, durable, beautiful, filled with character, and can complement virtually any design style. Indeed, a brick patio can work equally well in an ultramodern or traditional setting—no matter what the style you have in place, the look of brick will add stately charm to your home!

Related: 4 Aesthetic Themes That Suit a Brick Patio in Naperville, IL

A Traditional Appearance
Traditional doesn’t necessarily mean formal. Brick inherently adds a time-worn look to your outdoor space. The feel that you will achieve depends on the colors you use, the size of the material, and the laying patterns. Ultimately, the hardscape features that include the look of brick possess a sophisticated aesthetic.

Colors
If you don’t love “brick red” as a landscaping theme, you can opt for lighter buff-colored bricks, sophisticated light grays, chocolate brown, or charcoal. When choosing a color, consider matching the roof of your home. If your home already has brick siding, it may be difficult to match the color exactly, in which case match the roof, or make a bold statement by going with a contrasting color.
Adding contrasting borders or accents adds visual interest while still retaining a traditional feel. Since the choice of brick can make a project seem already somewhat busy due to each brick’s small size and the many joint lines that will be created, you can minimize a visually cluttered feel by choosing no more than three colors for your outdoor space: a primary field color, plus one or two accent colors that you can use on borders or as special shapes within the field.
However, don’t feel that you must add a contrasting border or accents. Brick is so interesting in itself, that simply altering the laying pattern (such as when transitioning from a walkway to a patio) creates variety and character.

Sizes and Shapes
To achieve an old-world brick feel (think Amsterdam), opt for traditional brick shapes. These come in a variety of sizes, which is an important design consideration. Smaller bricks can help make a huge space feel more human-sized while larger bricks make a driveway or patio feel more substantial.

Related: ​3 Trending Landscaping Ideas for Your Wheaton, IL Backyard

Laying Patterns
On old European roads and plazas, bricks are typically laid in a running bond or herringbone pattern. But you aren’t restricted to these two standbys. A basket weave pattern also gives you the old-world and a visually more substantial feel. Bricks laid in linear patterns must be carefully positioned since outdoor living spaces rarely feature perfectly straight lines. You can avoid this challenge by laying the brick at a 45-degree angle to your home.
Circular or fan-shaped laying patterns are also commonly used in ancient European cities and while more difficult to lay (since bricks must be cut and precisely positioned) they could give your outdoor space a panache that linear laying patterns just can’t match.
A good border enhances the look of your brick patio, and it also prevents bricks from shifting. The simplest borders involve laying border bricks at a 90- or 45-degree angle to the field bricks, but bricks give you many options to create interesting and functional borders.

A paver driveway instantly adds sophistication to your home. With so many choices in materials, styles and colors, where do you start? Here are 7 ideas for your Hinsdale, IL paver driveway.

First… why should you choose pavers?
​Aside from appearance and superior curb appeal, paver driveways are:
Easier to repair than concrete or asphalt (replace individual pavers or sections without redoing the entire driveway)
More durable than poured concrete or asphalt  
Cooler on bare feet than asphalt
Eco-friendly: permeable pavers allow rain/snowmelt to seep through, preventing  runoff

Related: Why Choose Pavers over Asphalt for Your Naperville, IL, Driveway

Paver materials, shapes, sizes, and textures
Driveway design begins with choosing the right pavers to get the look you want. Choose from:
Traditional clay brick pavers develop a gorgeous timeworn patina over time. 
Concrete pavers offer a huge selection of styles, shapes, textures and colors to suit any decor.
Natural quarried stone: cobblestone or flagstone (including reclaimed) is durable and timeless.

Design elements for driveway pavers include:
Shapes. Driveway pavers typically come in two standard shapes: square, or rectangular, as well as irregular flagstone shapes. 
Sizes range from cobblestone to large, irregular flagstone. Thickness is most important: choose pavers around 3” thick to withstand vehicle traffic.
Textures: new pavers can be smooth, or textured and weathered. 
Color ties the driveway in with the home. Concrete pavers offer the greatest color variety.

Design Ideas
Make a great first impression with a paver driveway. 

Patterns
Herringbone: the most durable pattern for high traffic, pavers are set at a 45 degree angle to the garage. Not only does it look great, it also minimizes shifting. This is the brick pattern most recommended for permeable pavers due to their larger joints.
Running bond: the classic “brick” look complements the home’s brickwork. Pavers can be set either with the narrow edge or the broad edge toward the garage, and bordered with pavers set perpendicular to the field pavers.
Basketweave: a more relaxed look, this pattern looks more substantial due to the optical illusion of squares, and looks great with more contemporary homes. 
Ashlar: a more random, modern look that mixes different sizes of square and rectangular pavers.
Artistic layouts including circles and fan/fishtail shapes add lots of personality. 

Runners and Borders
Give a nod to tradition with a contrasting border or runners (narrow strips that run the length of the driveway, to mimic the look of centuries-old tire tracks).

Reclaimed brick and cobblestone
For unparalleled old-world charm, use reclaimed bricks or cobblestones as field pavers, accents, or borders.  

Grass driveways
A growing trend is to set pavers in two continuous rows with grass between, to mimic the look of ancient roads. This helps minimize a large driveway and allows for rainwater and snowmelt to seep into the ground easily. Careful installation will prevent shifting under load.

Match the roof
A current trend is to match the color of the roof, either as the main paver field color, or as a border, runner, or embellishment.

Double borders
Double borders add a sophisticated and substantial look to a paver driveway. 

Circles and other embellishments
Create a focal point and artistic flair with circles, fans/fishtails, or random free-form shapes. These embellishments can be done with field pavers for a more subtle look, or contrasting pavers for a bold look.