5 Landscape Tips To Accent Your Mid-Century Modern Home
If you've purchased a mid-century modern design home, you'll no doubt want the best front yard landscaping to complement it. To get this effect, it's good to plan your landscape design with an eye to what works best with this unique style of American architecture. Here are 5 tips to get your creative juices flowing.
Geometry. Mid-century homes often utilized long, clean lines and interesting angles to make a statement about simplicity or moving toward the future. You should allow your landscape to continue this motif. This can be done with hardscaping, shrub or hedges, walkways, or borders for flower beds. Opt for simple designs that flow or intrigue you.
Accent Windows. Many of these types of houses feature large and open windows or doors that let in lots of natural sunlight. Don't hide these windows or sliding doors; but rather, create a plant design around them that allows a good view both from inside and from outside. Container gardening around these areas is a great way to create a fun accent that incorporates nature and a pop of modern style.
Mix Materials. If your mid-century home features a mix-and-match style of materials -- such as steel, wood, and stone -- continue this theme with your landscape materials. This may mean choosing a stylized wood bench over a crushed stone walkway or creating a low wood retaining wall with metal posts. Have fun with your materials and make it personalized.
Match Hardscaping. Continuity looks great in a mid-century property, so try to mesh your hardscape features throughout the yard. This requires a little bit of planning when designing the front yard so that the front porch reflects any interior courtyard and any backyard landscaping. You don't have to match them entirely, but you can keep the theme going by using similar materials or a similar layout with different materials.
Think "Indoor/Outdoor". Modern design during the middle decades of the 20th century sought to promote health and happiness by bringing the indoors and outdoors together. It often encouraged people to get outside and to mingle. Your mid-century home probably has features that reflect this. If there is already a flow from the inside to the outside, continue this flow using walkways, outdoor patios, fire pits, and conversation groupings. If there's no flow already, you can design one by converting a yard entrance into a glass door and designing the landscape to complement it.
No matter whether your mid-century modern home is a classic or a new construction, you can design a landscape that makes it look -- and feel -- even better than you ever thought it could. Talk to a designer, like Milieu Design.