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Serving the Naperville Community
Serving the Naperville Community
 If you’re looking to freshen up your landscape, you’re probably looking at ways to make it more modern and on-trend. To help you with your design decisions, here are the hallmarks of contemporary landscape design and landscaping in Wheaton, IL. Related: Landscape Design Ideas for Showstopping Entrances in Hinsdale and Naperville, IL Areas Today’s outdoor living is very different from when you were growing up. Most backyards had a simple patio or deck, a portable grill, a picnic table with a sun umbrella, and cheap lawn furniture. Today, homeowners are blurring the line between indoors and out. They want many of the same amenities, and all of the comforts and conveniences. They are looking for more sophisticated backyards for entertaining, and many are more eco-conscious and want backyards that are environmentally friendly. The good news is you can have all of that with modern landscape design. Pavers If there’s one element that adds sophistication to your outdoor living spaces, it’s pavers. Paver patios look and perform better than any poured concrete patio, or wood or composite deck. Concrete pavers are available in a huge array of styles, colors. You can even get permeable driveway pavers, which will reduce runoff and keep your driveway safer since snowmelt and rain filter through to the ground below. Beauty and function combined means pavers offer a significant boost to your home’s value! Fire A fireplace, fire table or fire pit gives everyone a place to gather. If you don’t want the massive proportions of a fireplace, opt for a fire table meant to be dined around; or a fire pit that brings back campfire memories. Whichever style you choose, you can adapt its aesthetic to fit your style! A Pergola Forget flimsy umbrellas. Up-level your shade solution with a chic pergola! This timeless piece of outdoor architecture can shelter an outdoor kitchen (and keep it cooler, too, since the roof is open and heat can escape), a dining area, or a sitting area. Integrate it into your awesome new paver patio by setting the pergola’s supports on masonry pillars. Add fun string lights and gauzy outdoor curtains and you’ve transformed your backyard into a resort-worthy retreat! A Zen Retreat Create a quiet space where they can relax with a book, meditate, or nap. Dedicate a small part of a side yard to an enclosed private retreat. Tall privacy fencing, minimalist plantings such as ornamental grass, a comfortable place to lounge, and a soothing water feature are all you need. Eco-Friendly Design Low-maintenance and water-wise native plants, and specialty areas like edible gardens or pollinator gardens are beautiful and eco-friendly. A few raised bed masonry planters throughout the backyard can give your edible or pollinator gardens their own presence; plus, raised bed masonry planters with a generous ledgestone are a delight to sit on. Smaller Lawns Instead of a sea of grass, create a series of interconnected patios that each have their own distinct personalities and uses. These can be surrounded by any kind of vegetation you like to keep the space beautiful; and, they can replace a chunk of fussy, thirsty lawn! Integrated Landscape Lighting Today’s landscape lighting fixtures are unobtrusive. Many are carefully concealed in vegetation, or integrated into retaining walls or pillars. With so many different lighting techniques to choose from, you can create exactly the nighttime ambience you want using a multitude of low-wattage bulbs, without any harsh shadows or scary dark corners. Smaller Kitchens Fully outfitted outdoor kitchens are a must if you’re a serious cook/entertainer. But for most people who want just a little more than a grill station, one fresh solution is to simply add a peninsula bar and a pizza oven to your grill station. This creates an L-shaped cooking space that’s big enough to seat four or more people and give you more work space, without taking up the entire patio. Related: Check Out These Landscape Design Ideas for Large Naperville, IL Properties
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 The mid-century modern look is a style that ushered in the era of modern design. It inspired later trends, but has stood the test of time. Mid-century modern patios are just as chic today as in the 1950s. Here are 5 ways to achieve a mid-century brick patio in Hinsdale, IL.
Related: Landscape Design Ideas for Showstopping Entrances in Hinsdale and Naperville, IL Areas Mid-century patios echo the linear shapes, mixed traditional and modern materials, and emphasis on functional beauty that characterize the famous mid-century modern style. Here, we’ll discuss the five characteristics of the mid-century modern style as they relate to outdoor living spaces. 1. Form Follows Function Objects and spaces weren’t created to be purely decorative. Instead, the mid-century patio puts beauty into functional elements such as retaining walls, fire features, water features, outdoor kitchens, and patio materials. Every element of the patio serves both a functional and aesthetic purpose. From patio pavers to the veneers on your grill station, every element is chosen with great care for their visual impact as well as practicality. Today’s brick pavers are easy to care for, and you can recreate a natural or man-made look according to your preferences (for example, you can find brick pavers that mimic the look of tumbled limestone, or smooth and sleek pavers that are unabashedly not trying to look like a natural building material. 2. Minimal Ornamentation Since patio elements themselves are the focus, there is a distinct lack of ornamentation. The lovely textures and patterns of the patio pavers, plantings, and fencing keep the eye occupied and contribute to a lack of clutter and a fresh, open feel. This is a brilliant solution for small backyards. Since concrete can be colored and formed to virtually any style, you can take the opportunity to emphasize paver texture as a way to bring interest to the space. 3. Lack of Clutter The mid-century patio uses clean lines and a mix of organic and geometric forms such as large format square brick pavers on the patio, a horizontal teak slat privacy wall, and a few rounded chairs around a fire pit. Underfoot, large format pavers in neutral colors contribute to an uncluttered feel. The lack of joint lines makes the space feel unified; and neutral colors that blend into the environment also visually expand the space. 4. Use of traditional and Non-traditional Materials Brick is certainly a traditional material, but it can take on a distinctly modern vibe by changing up the shape. Today’s “brick” choices include the standard clay-brick shape that has been around for centuries, as well as more modern shapes such as oversized squares (24” x 24” or even larger) or plank-like pavers in colors not normally associated with bricks. Non-traditional building materials are also used. For example, Plexiglas panels around the pool serve as an interesting contrast to the textural and visual richness of brick pavers separated by ornamental pebbles in a darker color. 5. Use of Bold Color The style utilizes a huge range of color. The main patio features are still natural: brick, wood, and natural stone (brick as the main patio field, wooden privacy fencing, and decorative stone used throughout as accents or banding). Accent colors are primarily found in furniture: too much bold color on the patio can make the space feel busy. While banding and accents are not a mid-century modern feature, you can use them to create contrast between horizontal and vertical elements. For example, you could achieve bold contrast with a cinnamon-brown privacy fence, a sand-colored masonry fire pit, and neutral mid tone grey brick pavers. Related: 3 Landscaping Ideas for Making Your Naperville, IL Property More Useful Make an Outdoor Living Space Feel Like Home With Outdoor Lighting and a Fire Pit in Naperville, IL7/7/2020  One of the comforts of home is the ability to turn on the lights when dusk starts to set in, and continue on with your evening, whether you are cooking, reading, working, watching television or enjoying a family game night. When you are doing these activities in your backyard, why bother with cleaning everything up and going inside when the sun starts sinking down? Your outdoor spaces should be just as enjoyable and as functional as your indoor spaces. Fortunately, there are many ways to keep your landscape beautiful while getting the most out of it functionally. These are our ideas on how to make an outdoor living space feel like home with outdoor lighting and a fire pit in Naperville, IL.
Related: Check Out These Landscape Design Ideas for Large Naperville, IL Properties Patio Lights Seamlessly continue your daytime activities into the night with modern patio light designs. For homeowners who frequently find themselves on the patio, install elegant fixtures on the side of the house or fence that is adjacent to your patio with sensors that will switch the lights on when it starts to get dark outside. For a modern and lively atmosphere, hang a set of globe string lights across your patio, lawn or pergola. Ground Lights Navigate safely throughout your yard long into the night with the installation of ground lighting. Whether you are arriving back home after dark or bringing snacks out to the fire pit, ground lighting provides peace of mind along with a variety of sophisticated designs. These types of lights are designed to look decorative during the day, and commonly use solar-powered batteries which will turn on automatically when it starts to get dark out. Moonlighting Another way to combine safety and ambiance is with the installation of moonlighting. These lights remain hidden in trees or tall structures during the day, and at night bathe your yard in a soft, cool-colored glow. Allow this style of lighting to provide ample visibility throughout your yard, while staying true to the natural nighttime environment. Uplighting While this style of lighting is slightly different from what you’d find indoors, uplighting is a popular landscaping technique that allows you to enjoy your outdoor decorations at night. Similarly to ground lights, uplighting is installed on the ground, but instead of illuminating a walkway or patio border, they shine up onto the prominent fixtures of your yard such as trees, fountains, gardens and even the siding of your house. When these types of statement pieces are part of your enjoyment in your yard during the day, it makes sense that you’d also want to delight in them at night. Backyard Fire Pit From candles to fireplaces, dancing flames are an enchanting feature both indoors and outdoors. However, enjoying a fire in the great outdoors doesn’t have to mean that you have to “rough it.” Bring the coziness of a campsite fire, or of an indoor fireplace, into your backyard with a fire pit. Fire pits can be large or small, portable or permanent, stone or metal. A permanent stone fire pit is a great place to gather with family and friends to share stories and toast marshmallows. Add an extra element of comfort to your stone fire pit with the addition of a surrounding paver patio and benches. You can also find metal fire pits in many different sizes and designs. Related: Bored At Home? Consider These 5 Landscape Design Ideas for Hinsdale, IL Backyards |
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