Our interactive package takes you on a room-by-room tour of new ideas at various cost levels.
Remodeling room by room
Outdoor
Project:
Outdoor remodel
Homeowners
today consider the yard a place for
outside entertainment and enjoyment
rather than a place to work on the weekends.
Seventy-five
percent of homeowners participate in
some type of lawn or gardening activity,
according to a 2004 survey by the National
Gardening Association, spending
an annual average of $449. Only 31 percent
of homeowners do what they consider
a "landscaping project" and
spend an average of $339 annually.
One big
trend: built-in features for outdoor
entertaining -- built-in hearths and
barbecues to fully installed outdoor
kitchens, homeowners are finding ways
to extend living and entertaining to
outdoor spaces.
They are
using elemental features, like fire
and water, to add interest to patios.
Fire pits, or chimineas, are popular
choices, says P. Allen Smith, author
of "P.
Allen Smith's Colors for the Garden."
And small water features like waterfalls
or ponds are also well liked.
So is color.
Homeowners are enlivening outdoor areas
with plants and shots of hot colors.
Small shrubs, grasses and cascading
plants spill out of containers sporting
bright shades of orange, pink, green
and blue. Plain, painted or ultraglossy
terra cotta pots are big. So are elegantly
distressed containers and planters in
unique and unusual shapes, says Charlie
Nardozzi, senior horticulturalist for
the National Gardening Association.
And homeowners
are using their yards to bring a little
fun into their lives with games, says
Roger Cook, landscape contractor for
the TV show "This Old House. From
traditional lawn sports, such as bocce,
badminton and croquet, to less common
backyard pursuits including ice hockey,
That means
grass, while still a yard staple, isn't
getting all the attention anymore. "No
one wants to be a slave to mowing grass
for two to three hours," says Cook.
"Grass will never disappear totally.
But the whole yard doesn't have to be
grass."
