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Trends in Landscaping Walls

Landscaping walls add dimension and definition to your outdoor living spaces. Whether utilizing a retaining wall to control the slope of your yard, or simply to add dimensional embellishments to an outdoor living space, landscape wall products represent an important element of contemporary outdoor living design.

Terraced Design

Retaining walls present a way to convert a sloped yard into usable space through the creation of terraces. Terraced design can also be used to create a raised or sunken outdoor room.

Celtik® Wall
Celtik® Wall
Tandem® Wall
Weston Stone®
Vertical Gardens

A rising trend in outdoor design, vertical gardens take landscaping to new heights and add a tremendous amount of visual interest and dimension to an outdoor living area.

Celtik® Wall
Belair Wall®
Belair Wall®
Defining a Room

Landscaping and seating walls can help define an outdoor living area or create a transition from one outdoor room to the next.

Belair Wall®
Weston Stone®
Weston Stone®
Fire & Water Features

Walls can be used to incorporate the elements of fire or water into an outdoor design in a variety of creative ways. These types of features become a visual anchor point and add to the ambiance of a design.

Celtik® Wall
Tandem® Wall
Belair Wall®
Outdoor Kitchens

Outdoor kitchens are one of the fastest growing segments of the outdoor living industry, and for good reason. An outdoor kitchen exponentially improves the functionality of an outdoor space, as well as the aesthetics.

Celtik® Wall
Tandem® Wall
Weston Stone®
Embellishments

Landscaping and retaining walls can be used to add any number of coordinating embellishments to an outdoor design — including columns, planters, mailboxes and more — which can help tie an outdoor design together.

Weston Stone®
Celtik® Wall
Celtik® Wall
Built-In Seating

According to the American Society of Landscape Architects, built-in seating has been one of the top 10 trends for the last few years. In addition to providing permanent seating, a seat wall can also help to define an outdoor living space.

Celtik® Wall
Belair Wall®
Tandem® Wall

Next week:  Come back to the Outdoor Living by Belgard blog for more seat wall design and placement ideas.

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Tips for Keeping Your Cool

With triple-digit heat indexes spanning the lower half of the country, many people are now scurrying indoors to avoid the heat, forced to enjoy their beautiful outdoor living spaces from the comfort of the kitchen window. However, there are a number of design tips and tricks that can alleviate some of the heat and allow you to get more use from your outdoor living spaces during those dog days of summer.

Advantages of Pergolas

A pergola can provide multiple design benefits for an outdoor living space. The open-air aspect allows for unrestricted air movement while still defining the space to visually create the look of an “outdoor room”. Additionally, the structure itself both filters the direct sunlight and can provide the framework for a outdoor-rated ceiling fan. To provide additional shade and add to the visual interest, flowering vines — such as Wisteria or Morning Glory — can be trained to grow atop the pergola.

Mega-Lafitt & Urbana Stone pavers, Bristol Elements kitchen
Subterra Stone permeable pavers
Mega-Lafitt pavers and Belair Wall

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Outdoor Living Structures

The benefit of a roofed structure, as opposed to an open-air pergola, is that it provides a little more protection from the elements, including both sun and rain. Although late afternoon sun and driving rain will still creep in, you’ll still have increased shelter, as well as additional opportunities for fans, lighting, audio/visual equipment and appliances.

Mega-Arbel & Mega-Bergerac pavers, Celtik Wall
Mega-Bergerac pavers, Celtik Wall

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Made in the Shade

There are a variety of affordable products available that can help increase the amount of shade in your outdoor living space, particular during that unbearably hot time of the day when the sunlight comes in at just the right angle to make you feel like you can fry an egg right on the patio flooring. Attractive options include indoor/outdoor curtains, retractable solar shades, and colorful sun canopies.

Dublin Cobble pavers
Dublin Cobble pavers, Country Manor Wall
Lafitt Rustic Slab

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Permeable Paver Water Features

Particularly in hot climates with lower humidity, water mist can significantly reduce the ambient temperature of a localized outdoor area. An alternate option to a traditional water-misting system is to install a water-recycling permeable pavement system that incorporates a water feature. The paver system can collect and recycle rainwater and provide a fun activity for kids, all while releasing mist into the air that will help alleviate some of the oppressive heat.

Subterra Stone permeable pavers
Eco-Dublin pavers, Country Manor wall