Having a beautiful, useful garden is a huge selling point for a home. If you want to improve your home’s market value or just make your outdoor space more enjoyable, you might want to think about adding a patio cover, deck, raised planter beds, or an arbor for decorative effect. In this blog post, we will talk you through the benefits and challenges of each of these.
A patio cover is a great, relatively inexpensive way to make your backyard more useful and more beautiful. It’ll offer shade during the summer months and protection from rain when it’s wet out. It will also help create a designated cozy seating space where everybody can gather.
Solid Wood Patio Cover
Wooden patio covers are relatively easy to install, and they look beautiful, but there are a couple of things you should keep in mind before you do it. First, if your patio cover’s going to be attached to your house, you may need to get a permit for it. Check with your city to see what their rules are regarding patio covers attached to the house. Second, you’ll want to think about what kind of wood you use. Depending on the type of wood and whether or how it has been treated, patio covers may be more or less durable. If you live in an area that’s prone to termites, you will also want to consider the likelihood that you may need to deal with termites in your patio cover at some point, which could affect the durability and longevity of that patio cover. Still, a wooden patio cover is an elegant and functional decoration for your garden and one that we highly recommend.
Wooden decks are also pleasant, especially if your home is situated at an incline. If you are on a hillside, and your backyard slopes away steeply, or if your home is designed so that the living areas are on the top floor and the bedrooms are on a lower level, a wooden deck is a great idea for you. It will give you an elevated space with a gorgeous view, and it will allow for gracious indoor-outdoor living during the warmer months. Everybody likes to be able to dine al fresco when the weather is pleasant.
Like wooden patio covers, there are some things to consider before you have a wooden deck installed. Like wooden patio covers, the vast majority of large decks attached to your house will probably require a permit. The permitting process is not complicated, and a good contractor will be able to help you navigate it with no trouble. Second, as with wooden patio covers, you’ll want to consider the type of wood that you are using, and whether and how it has been treated. This will affect its durability, which is extra important when you are planning to be walking on it. Again, a good contractor can talk you through your options and help you find a good fit that’s within your budget.
Raised planter beds are a beautiful ornament for your garden that lends a bit of old-world style. When you install raised planter beds, you have more control over the depth and type of soil that you grow your plants in, which is particularly useful if you are growing vegetables or delicate flowers. Wooden planter beds do deteriorate over time, so you’ll need to maintain them, but they are really visually striking and easily create the sort of carefully ordered garden that you would expect in an English manner house.
Finally, an arbor is a beautiful way to accent an entryway to your home or a pathway along with your garden. Arbors are very easy and inexpensive to construct, and because they are not attached to a living structure, they generally don’t require a permit. The best thing about them is that they give your garden a really romantic feel. You can train roses, clematis, or other flowering vines to climb up over the arbor and give a soft, natural feel.
Improve Your Home Value And Garden
If you are interested in exploring any of these construction options to improve your home value and make your garden more enjoyable, we would love to talk with you. You can see some examples of our work on outdoor spaces here. Feel free to give us a call anytime.
