When you have a small yard, you might be resigned to thinking that it will always look cluttered or feel like a tight space. However, this doesn’t necessarily have to be the case for small backyards. There are plenty of ways to create an illusion of a bigger backyard. What really matters is how you use the space that you are given. There are plenty of ways to open up your yard and make it seem even bigger than it really is.
In this article, we’ll give you some tips and tricks on how to make your yard seem a bit bigger than it actually is. Here is the big secret: it is all in the landscaping and design choices you make for your yard. Read on to learn more.
Small Backyard Ideas
Having a yard is important to a lot of people. How can you blame them? It’s always nice to have a space that belongs to you where you can just relax outside. We can all probably recall a seminal childhood memory (or perhaps many seminal childhood memories) that happened in a backyard. This is why it can be even more important to have a nice yard when you have kids or even pets.
Lucky for you, humans identify space in strange ways, so you can create the illusion that there’s more space than there actually is. It all has to do with how you utilize the space that you’ve been given. The biggest factors that play into this illusion are ingenuity and using the boundaries of small spaces to your advantage. Otherwise, the sky is the limit (literally).
There are plenty of ways that you can open up your backyard using landscaping, whether it’s through flowers and trees or pavers and stone. Keep reading to find out how you can enlarge your yard space for yourself and your guests.
Backyard Layout Ideas
While it might sound counterintuitive to draw out specific zones within your backyard, having distinct spaces in your backyard actually makes the space appear bigger to guests. For example, creating a specific space for dining or lounging (or both) and then creating another specific space for a garden helps open the yard up. You can even use physical boundaries like bushes or garden arbors to define these zones that you created.
Another way to enlarge your yard is by creating a central focal point. If you have any decorations or furniture that deserves a spotlight, consider making it the centerpiece of your yard. This will naturally draw the eyes of your guests and can even help you with dictating the theme of your backyard, depending on what focal point you decide to go with. With a central focal point, the yard will feel more put together and less cluttered.
In addition to the previous few ways of making your backyard space larger, you can also use hardscaping to your benefit. Hardscape landscaping is essentially all of the physically “hard” aspects of landscaping or the non-living aspects of landscape design. Examples of hardscape include patios, decks, pathways, and more. This option is great for people who don’t want to deal with a lot of lawn maintenance. Hardscapes are a lot lower maintenance than grass, bushes, and trees, plus they look just as good!
Sometimes gardening just isn’t your thing. Maybe you simply want to deal with a low-maintenance backyard. With hardscapes, you don’t have to manage mowing the lawn or watering plants. Plus, you can add seating to hardscape design elements, which helps create a more open space.
Backyard Patio Ideas
Anytime you have a small space and want to make it seem bigger, creating space through building up is a good idea. This is especially true when it comes to your backyard. Many people choose to utilize elevated or sunken patios in this way.
Changing the elevation of your yard helps break up and disrupt the space, which follows the logic of creating zones within the space, as mentioned above. If you’re not sold on elevated or sunken patios, you can also choose to elevate your plants with raised garden beds or planter boxes. This creates the same desired effect.
In addition to changing elevation within your backyard, letting in whatever natural light you have access to can sometimes make all the difference. Overhead accessories or decorations close up the space, making it seem even smaller than it originally was. Having a clear view of the sky and plenty of natural light really does a lot to open up the space and make it seem bigger.
Similar to using hardscapes to make your yard seem larger, you can also utilize the method of limiting your lawn. Essentially, this means filling your backyard up with focal points to distract from the lack of actual lawn space. You can use winding pathways to do this, as well as softscape elements like flowers, bushes, and more. However, we express caution in doing this, especially if you’re not looking for a landscaping company to do it for you. DIY projects like this can end up looking more cluttered and small than the yard was to begin with.
Invest in Landscaping Today
At Arbeen Landscaping, we take our job seriously. Your home is the most intimate and significant setting in your life, so it’s imperative to us that we do the job right. We pay special attention to the details of each individual project and communicate openly with our clients. We hear you out and try to come up with the best possible way to curate the lawn of your dreams.
If you have any questions regarding landscaping or other ways you can make your yard look bigger, don’t hesitate to contact us. Additionally, if you live in the Chicagoland area and are looking for a trustworthy and reputable landscaping company, consider Arbeen Landscaping for your job. We do both residential and commercial landscape work. Begin your landscaping journey with us today!
