Outdoor makeover you can do for your house

Adding lights to your garden will transform the look of your ourdoor space.

What you need to know:

  • Are you bored of the monotony of your outdoor space? Fret not, all you need is a few changes here and there, and you will fall in love with your compound again.

If you have stayed in your house for quite some time, some of the features have become too familiar and dull. You do not have wait for a festive season or a celebration at your home to have a makeover for your outdoor.
There are some things you can do to your compound to make the occupants feel like they are in a new place and add life to it. This is can be achieved if you make your exterior features a little more well-defined and attractive.

The lighting
Claire Natukunda, a landscape designer with Nuwell Impressions Limited says, exterior lighting is as important as the indoor lighting. It has a very big impact on your garden and patio and should be properly and functional, to provide a relaxing atmosphere at home. There are several outdoor lighting ideas from which you can choose depending on your style and personality.
“Do not let your home disappear into the darkness. Adding extra lights into your compound will make your home look brighter. Create a more serene atmosphere considering dim lighting to make the house look warm and inviting,” says Natukunda.

Pruning the hedges
Pruning the hedges and mowing the grass in the compound before the actual day will not only save you the discomfort of the smell of cut grass but will also help your compound look more defined and add life. There is no need for you to have extra plants or grass. All you need is to fumigate to keep any insects or rodents at bay.
Push back the wilderness and clear the weeds and fallen, rotting trees then extend the deck to create designated dining area. Insect-repellant flowers and herbs, like lavender and marigolds, keep pests at bay.

Outdoor meals
Meals that are held indoors become like a routine and often boring. Moses Kinobe, an architect at Kinobe and Partners advises that: “You can create a cosy atmosphere that will allow for some seasonal flexibility and depending on the weather, you may decide to create space outdoor near your swimming pool where you will have meals as you enjoy the cool breeze.”
This may also be exciting for the children as well. An eating area at your patio or backyard garden may be a perfect place for you for more enjoyable meals.

Have a walkway
You really need to have a walkway in your compound if you want your grass to remain beautiful. Many people under look the importance of the walkways but they allow you to walk through your landscaped areas without getting your shoes dirty especially during the rainy season.
Kinobe says this landscape architectural element draws the eye to certain focal points of the outdoor landscape while simultaneously providing its own attractive qualities. They create intimate areas within the landscaped area where visitors might want to linger and offer natural traffic flow.”
You must not step on the grass to reserve its beauty. You can use pavers or stones for your walkways and if your walkways are not demarcated, create the walkways. This will make your compound look more organised.

The flower garden
Natukunda says flowers add beauty and contrast to a garden. For the plants to produce flowers, they should be in a place where they can receive direct sunlight for example along walkways.
Weeding the flowers will make your garden look more distinct from the other exterior features. Change the arrangement of the flowers if they are in vases or pots.
She says: “If you have a small ground space for gardening, you can opt for walls and for your green features. Erect a vertical garden by hanging plants on a vertical wall in your compound. You can choose to use gutters to act as planters but ensure there is enough spacing and drainage between them. You may also have a pyramid garden.”

Wash door & window glasses
It could be about your dirty glasses that could be making your house seem too boring.
“To get the remaining moisture out of the corners of the window, use a microfiber cloth to rub the vinegar away. Rub any areas that begin to streak with the microfiber cloth before moving on to the next window to avoid marks that may show up after washing the glasses,” says Natukunda.

Repainting
If your exterior paint looks old and dirty, you can try repainting the walls. These will give you the feeling of a new house. Even when you are choosing to use a new colour, let your personality be expressed in the theme colours you choose
The window panes probably seem dirty because of the dusty season. If they are painted with weather guard paint, you may consider dusting or washing them but if the type of paint you used is not washable, consider repainting them also.