Landscape Lighting Can Add Drama and Elegance
You’ve seen those million dollar mansions on the cover of the luxury real estate magazines. There is always a collection of design features that give it the wow factor. Building the wow factor into your landscape is no different. Here are five design features that give your landscape the wow factor.

Sophisticated Design

A well designed and professionally built landscape will exude a type of appeal that reflects the designer’s touch. Good designs follow the fundamental principles of design including balance, contrast, color, scale, movement, cohesiveness and focal points.

A well designed landscape will reflect the designer’s thoughtfulness represented in the way all the elements and spaces work together in a stylish yet uncluttered fashion. Each of the principles of design can be observed if one knows what to look for.

Elegant Simplicity (keep it simple)

Elegant simplicity is a term I devised for my design questionnaire in which I am attempting to appeal to those clients who prefer simple, unpretentious design. It is a type of look that is beyond the starkness of Zen or the staleness of contemporary mundane. “Less is more” is also known as understated, yet in order to rank in the wow factor category; it has to have something about it that gives you that stirring emotional response. This is often difficult to put into words or a finite set of guidelines since it has more to do with your reaction to the objects, their placement and the setting.

Unique and Creative (not cookie cutter)

There is nothing unique about having a cookie cutter kidney shaped pool built in the center of your backyard. This is the essence of having a customized design that not only is functional and serves your needs, but also is reflective of your personality and style. Unless you want to be like everyone else, why not add something unique and creative that is out of the ordinary yet tasteful? Sometimes creative features in landscapes are the result of “accidental design” often unique solutions to a problem on site. Not all creative and unique design features are thought about on paper.

Vanishing edge concrete pool designed by JSL Exteriors Landscape Design Build

Infinite edge pools add drama and excitement to the backyard landscape adding to the wow factor

Have you ever been to a garden that is like a paradise? What makes it feel like a paradise is the emotional reaction you have to the elements and spaces. The garden itself is not paradise; it’s the term you use to describe it in terms of how you feel.

Gardens also need strong visual components that keep you engaged and interested. It could be a focal point, the bold use of color, the fragrances or statuary that is symbolic of something profound.

Creative use of fire and water can add the element of drama that conjures up feelings of excitement or tranquility.

Another emotional component of a garden is whether you feel safe and secure or does it make you feel like you are on display? Are there private areas for seclusion? Does the whole garden give you a sense of sanctuary – protected, safe and secure free to let your mind wander or focus of friends and family?

All the Bells and Whistles – (the E-ticket ride)

Pools, spas, ponds, fountains, outdoor kitchens, gazebos, ramadas, fireplaces, fire pits, sculpture, artwork, accessories, synthetic grass and other amenities can all be designed into a backyard. If that is what you want or want to feel like you have your own resort backyard entertainment paradise, then you will have to have all the bells and whistles.

Of course, the available space must be able to accommodate all the elements so it doesn’t look crowed. It still must possess cohesive design so all the elements work together instead of appear like a showroom or some kind of garden Disneyland.

The key here is to design it in a way so that it does not appear cluttered with too many things going on. The mind’s eye needs to come to a rest at some point and not get a sense of chaos.

A garden with all the bells and whistles will naturally possess the wow factor; it just has to be toned down so it doesn’t become an “Oh my God!” factor.

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