Summer is fast approaching, so now is the time to plan a summertime landscape design in Rochester Hills, MI. From water features to fire features, from a shelter to a speaker system to updated landscape lighting to a beautiful outdoor kitchen, your new personalized landscape can become the go-to destination for your friends and family.
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A Water Feature
Part of what can make a landscape such a desirable retreat is the presence of a water feature. You can choose from a virtually endless array of water fountains, waterfalls, and more elaborate features that will create a special ambiance for your landscape. Some fountains and waterfalls can be adjusted so that water flows at different levels, allowing you to establish either a more relaxing or a more dramatic setting all summer long. As a bonus, a water feature will continue to provide entertainment long after a pool is closed up for the summer.
A Fire Feature
A fire pit, fire table, or outdoor fireplace presents a wonderful gathering place for friends and family. Fire pits tend to be rudimentary features that evoke the feeling of camping and gathering around a fire to roast marshmallows and tell stories. Fire tables add to a festive touch—since fire tables can be anywhere from fire pit height to dining table height to bar height, you have plenty of choices to achieve the atmosphere you want. Outdoor fireplaces are larger masonry structures that give your outdoor space a living room coziness, and can be customized to your liking. You can even combine the outdoor fireplace with a wood-fired pizza oven that’ll keep your loved ones warm while providing them bubbly hot pizzas after a day of fun.
A Shelter
Sometimes, summer weather can be rather unpredictable. Whether you need relief from the hot summer sun or have to seek shelter from an incoming rainstorm, you can rely on a backyard shelter. Pergolas allow some sunlight through and scatters the light, making for a cool and breezy place to enjoy a hot day; most do not, however, offer shelter from rain. Pavilions offer a more weather-resistant structure with their open sides and solid roof. You could even include an outdoor living space and outdoor kitchen in a pavilion that acts as an extension to your home.
An Outdoor Speaker System
When the party needs a soundtrack, a speaker system built right into your landscape will give you the ambience of music without blaring it loudly into the neighborhood. Speakers can be hidden in the smallest of landscape features to provide an incredible level of surround sound. Today’s outdoor entertainment systems are designed to function in zones, much like landscape lighting. The idea is having the sound be consistent throughout the landscape, rather than one area being deafening and another being too quiet.
Updated Outdoor Lighting
Creating the best nighttime atmosphere means having the right amount of light where you need it—and marrying function and aesthetics. Today’s LED landscape lighting fixtures can be incorporated into masonry, trees, and landscaping, so that it’s unobtrusive during the day and provides ambience, safety, and security at night.
An Outdoor Kitchen
Nothing completes the summertime outdoor living experience quite like a delicious home-cooked meal prepared outdoors. Your outdoor kitchen can either take up a portion of your patio or be a central feature inside a pavilion. Outdoor kitchens typically don’t need all the amenities of an indoor kitchen, but it can if you prefer. You could simply plan for the outdoor kitchen to include the essentials: sink, refrigerator, grill, and countertop. The countertop can serve as an area for bar seating as well as a prep area for some delicious meals.
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