Hardscaping is the use of non-living elements in landscape design. This can include things like paved areas, fire pits, fences, water features, and more. Hardscape is the opposite of softscape, which includes all the living things in your yard, like shrubs, grasses, flowers, and trees.
Hardscape and landscape are typically used together to create landscape design. So, landscaping is the encompassing umbrella term—referring to the process of modifying the land to enhance its appearance and functionality—and hardscaping and softscaping are the more specific examples that fall under the umbrella.
Examples of Hardscaping
Patios
While plants may be first of mind when you picture landscaping, it's actually common practice to do hardscaping first, and follow with softscaping. Patios are often the largest element of hardscaping in landscape design, and they play an important role of designating functional spaces in the backyard. Walkways
Walkways are another highly functional element of hardscaping. They create designated paths for walking throughout, keeping the stress off your grass or groundcovers.
Water Features
Water features—like waterfalls, water fountains, and even reflecting pools—are all examples of decorative hardscaping. Like many of the plants and bushes used in landscape design, water features can be used to help enhance the overall appearance and atmosphere of an outdoor space.
Fire Pits
Fire pits are often coupled with patios, another element of hardscaping, to create a designated area for relaxing and entertaining.
Pergolas
Pergolas can help take a patio to the next level—literally—by adding more height to the space. They can also help mark and section off an area in your yard and provide varying levels of shade, depending on the style and options you choose.
Kitchens 1. Three-tone kitchens. Two-tone kitchen cabinets — meaning the upper cabinets are one color and the lower cabinets another color, or the perimeter cabinets are one color and the island is a different color — dominated kitchens in the past couple of years. So it’s only natural that designers are building on the trend rather than doing away with it. In a three-tone kitchen, one more color or material is introduced to create an asymmetry in the palette that helps define zones or functions and keeps the eye moving. Here, designer Janina Cabrera of J Style at Home designed a gorgeous kitchen with white perimeter cabinets, a light wood island base and a knockout powder-blue hutch. In this kitchen by Hutker Architects , a deep navy defines the refrigerator and pantry wall to the left, joining white perimeter cabinets and a superlight wood island base. Wood via the beams, ceiling, shelves and flooring adds to the diverse three-tone palette. Designer
By Michael Longsdon Downsizing is becoming an increasingly appealing option for older adults everywhere. According to Senior Lifestyle, 40 percent of Americans between the ages of 50 and 64 intend to move in the next five years. Among these, downsizers outnumber upsizers 3 to 1. It’s easy to see what makes downsizing so appealing. It allows seniors to simplify and streamline their life, getting rid of the things they don’t need so they can focus on the things that matter to them. However, this doesn’t mean that it isn’t an emotionally fraught and logistically complex undertaking. If you have a senior loved one who is planning to downsize, here are a few ways you can make the whole process easier on them. Visit Prospective Homes With Them House hunting can be overwhelming, so volunteer to tag along as your loved one looks for their new home. The purpose of this is twofold: it allows you to offer moral support but also to look for elements that make for a safe and appr
1. The Right Storage Your kitchen cabinets make up the bulk of what you see in your kitchen, so your choice of cabinet color and style is a major, consequential decision. But the components inside your cabinets are equally important, if not more. Your storage solutions determine how functional your kitchen is. When you’re at the peak of cooking a large meal, you care less about the look of your cabinets and more about the ease of grabbing the right tools, spices, pots and other supplies. A kitchen designer will often take an inventory of all the utensils, dishes, small appliances and pantry items in your kitchen to figure out the right storage components for you. P ullouts, rollouts and swing-outs will efficiently organize your stuff and make things easier to find and grab. “When budget allows, we always, always recommend drawers or pullout shelves on the lower cabinet level,” designer Lisa Janzen of KC Interior Design says. “There is nothing worse than having to get on your hands
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