Whether your tastes are more aligned with a backyard fairy garden, a useful vegetable garden or a relaxing backyard escape, investing in a home outdoor area for you and your family to spend time can greatly enhance your quality of life. A few simple steps can transform any area into a desirable and enjoyable refuge.

Start With the Basics

Busy days away from the house have perhaps left your outdoor spaces as catch-alls for sports equipment, lawn and gardening tools or even little-used outdoor furniture. Take a hard look at your areas, clear out the clutter, prune overgrown trees and hedges and get rid of anything broken or no longer used. After creating as much of a blank slate as possible, take a look around. If you have a natural great view, capitalize on it by adding outdoor seating that allows you to enjoy it. Many outdoor garden benches offer comfortable yet aesthetically pleasing seating to enjoy sunsets, lake views or forest canopies.

Enhance Smartly

Areas without natural views can be equally enjoyable respites with the right enhancements. Add privacy features such as hedges, trees, fences or arbors to add seclusion and provide the necessary shade. Enhance a small concrete-covered area with a warmer wooden deck surrounded by fragrant plants. Add a relaxing water feature like a small fountain or birdbath. Add nighttime warmth with string or lantern lights and a fire feature, such as a fire pit or chiminea. If possible, add a hot tub that will allow you to relax amongst soothing warm bubbles after a long day.

Creating an outdoor space where you and your family want to spend time will give you a great alternative to holing up night after night in your den or family room. Beckoning outdoor spaces give you opportunities to make new and different memories with your family and get some additional relaxation time to boot!