What do you imagine when you look out into your backyard? If you’ve spent the past few years dreaming of a bigger deck, a sprawling garden, or a lavish outdoor kitchen, you wouldn’t be alone. So many of us have made a habit of putting off these exciting upgrades in favour of practical expenses, more luxurious vacations, or other big-ticket purchases. However, there are several very good reasons why 2021 might finally be the year to make those landscaping dreams come true!
Create a No-Travel Escape
While the loss of non-essential travel has been a necessary and reasonable sacrifice over the past year, that doesn’t mean we don’t miss it. However, if we look at the things we loved most about traveling, a lot of it has to do with the appeal of immersing ourselves in a new environment.
While we’ll have to wait for our next opportunity to try new, exotic dishes and visit famous landmarks, there is a way we can “feel” like we’ve traveled without setting foot in an airport. A landscape makeover can capture the novelty of exploring a new place by reimagining an old one.
If you’re feeling a strong case of wanderlust this year, a landscape makeover might be just the thing to satisfy your urge to get whisked away. The first summer with your new landscape will feel just like an extended vacation—something we’re all craving these days!
Re-invest Your Annual Travel Budget
Speaking of travel, if you’ve typically embarked on an annual excursion pre-pandemic, you likely have a certain amount you set aside for these vacations each year. This 2019 report, which was ironically posted just days before the pandemic reached us, stated that the average Canadian spent $2,573 on travel each year. This means that the average couple spent over $5000 per year on travel, and for many of us with larger families or more room in the budget, that number may have looked a lot higher.
“A renewed landscape unlocks the untapped potential of our yards for helping us get enough exercise, cultivate new hobbies, and manage our mental health.”
Since travel isn’t really advisable, or even possible for the foreseeable future, the upcoming year presents the perfect opportunity to re-invest our travel budgets into our outdoor living space.
Why invest in the exterior rather than the interior? The return on investment on most landscaping projects is as high or higher than most interior renovations. Not only does a new landscape make your own yard more attractive and enjoyable, but it also looks fantastic to buyers. Many buyers see curb appeal as a dealbreaker and won’t attend an open house if they don’t like the look of the home’s exterior.
Even if you don’t plan to sell anytime soon, your household will get much more enjoyment out of a permanent landscape enhancement than a two-week trip to Mexico, particularly at a time when outdoor socializing is encouraged. This brings us to our next point.
Create a Safer Place to Socialize
The past year has tested all of our abilities to adapt to changing norms, including restrictions on gatherings. Outdoor living spaces, like decks and patios, have gone from a pleasant bonus to a near-necessity for enjoying safe social interactions. While it’s a wonderful thing to be able to lean on video calling technology to keep tabs on loved ones, most of us would agree that nothing beats spending time together in person.
With that in mind, we’re now all coming out of 2020 with a renewed perspective on our needs for social interaction and how we might adapt our outdoor spaces to accommodate those needs. Features like covered decks, fire pits, and other outdoor heat sources that can extend our personal “patio seasons” have never been so appealing!
Redefine Your Living Space
Of course, socializing isn’t the only thing that has moved outdoors. This year has taught us that many of our standby leisure activities—like visiting malls, gyms, and museums—are subject to closures and restrictions that we can’t always anticipate. A renewed landscape unlocks the untapped potential of our yards for helping us get enough exercise, cultivate new hobbies, and manage our mental health.
Furthermore, many of us are now enjoying the benefits of working from home for the first time. For the first time in our lifetimes, work that once took place in offices and cubicles can now be done outside from our laptops! Creating an outdoor or partially outdoor workspace is more than a novelty; it’s been shown that working outside benefits productivity and mental health. Plus, moving your workspace outdoors helps you mentally compartmentalize between your work area and living area and combats the sensation of “cabin fever.”
Upgrading your landscape doesn’t have to involve starting from zero. A change as simple as adding a few new perennial beds, planting the right trees, or installing just one new gathering space can have incredible effects on how you perceive, enjoy, and live in your yard. Fall is the perfect time to plan your design project for next spring, so get in touch today to start your design consultation!