Your backyard is supposed to be your safe haven from the world, and these days we all need a place to relax more than ever. But if your backyard is messy, or hectic, or otherwise chaotic, it can be hard to relax there.
How can you make your backyard more inviting and cozy? You should remove any clutter, and add some features that can help you relax, like a water feature, a fragrant garden, and some nice furniture. Transform your backyard into a private getaway that helps you forget stress and worry.
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Clean Up
You can’t relax in a cluttered, messy, overgrown yard. Clean up the place – pick up children’s toys, and get rid of any broken furniture or playsets or other accessories. Prune your hedges and trees. Mulch your flower beds. Cut the grass and weeds.
Add a Water Feature
Adding some water to your backyard will cool things down and help you relax. Merely hearing and seeing flowing water can help you relax, so a small pond with a waterfall or a bird bath with a fountain can be really calming. Other options include a koi pond – just imagine how relaxing it will be to watch the fish.
Of course, getting into the water can help you relax, too. If you really want to go all out, you could put in a hot tub or a swimming pool. Those are water features, right?
Get Some Good Patio Furniture
You definitely need a comfortable place to lounge if you want to turn your backyard into a pleasant oasis. Ditch the plastic lawn chairs and get some good patio dining & seating sets. Comfortable seating is absolutely crucial to being able to kick back and relax outside. If you have good seating, you’ll want to hang out in your yard for hours. Consider sofas, hammocks, and outdoor chaise longues.
Plant a Fragrant Garden
Scent can be a powerful tool for relaxation and stress relief. Make your backyard smell heavenly with a fragrant garden. Grow aromatic and relaxing herbs like lavender, chamomile, and mint for a relaxing aromatherapy effect. Plant fragrant flowers – you can find lots of fragrant flower varieties that bloom at night, like four o’clocks, night-blooming jasmine, and moonflower. You can enjoy these flowers on a summer evening after work. Even a small flower garden can bring color and cheer to your backyard as well as pleasant fragrances.
Make Some Shade
If you want to make your backyard a nice place to hang out on a summer’s day, you need some protection from the sun. A large umbrella can provide the shade you need and remind you of a coastal resort. You could put up a pergola and grow some flowering vines to cover it, creating shade and visual interest at the same time. You can build a gazebo, put up an awning, erect an arbor and cover it with vines, or even use the shade of a large, leafy tree, if you’re lucky enough to have one.
Warm Things Up
A fire pit can be the perfect place to gather with friends and family on a brisk autumn evening or a warm summer night. You can build your own fire pit with concrete blocks fairly cheaply, or you can buy a portable fire pit or chiminea. Just don’t put it inside any structures or on a wooden deck or porch. Make sure there’s plenty of seating around your fire pit so everyone can get closer to the fire – you might want to make some benches or invest in some additional chairs for fire pit seating.
Create Privacy
Any good backyard is reasonably private. Privacy means you can relax and be yourself, away from the prying eyes of the general public. You might need to build a wall or put up a fence to create some privacy in your backyard. You can also create privacy by planting a row of shrubs, hedges, or thick bushes around your backyard. You can hang up curtains or use wooden trellises to create outdoor privacy screens around all or part of your backyard. Structures like arbors, gazebos, pergolas, and porches can make your backyard feel more secluded, too.
Do you want to turn your backyard into a private getaway for just your family and friends to enjoy? Optimize your outdoor space for resting and relaxing with comfortable seating, fragrant landscaping, and plenty of shade. With just a little work, your backyard could soon become your favorite place.
