Front Yard Kerb Appeal Design Ideas and Landscape Photos

The five metres between the footpath and the front door decide what people think of the whole house — path, planting, lighting and letterbox done properly. Kerb appeal is not decoration, it is choreography. A visitor walks a fixed route from the street to the door, and everything they see on that walk forms their impression of the house. The best front yards make the route obvious, generous and pleasant: a wide path with a crisp edge, planting that changes as you move along it, a level landing at the door, and light where you need to see your feet. Width is the most common failure. A path under a metre wide forces people to walk single file and makes a house feel mean, while 1.2 to 1.5 metres feels hospitable and allows two people to arrive together. The material should relate to the house rather than the street — large format pavers, exposed aggregate or bluestone laid with tight joints — and the edge should be defined by steel, stone or a clipped hedge so the line stays sharp for decades. Planting in a front yard should be simple, structured and evergreen for most of the year. Three or...

Read the full article

Garden Designs

Formal Courtyard Garden Design with Honed Concrete Paving and Shaded Arbour Bench and Soft

Formal Courtyard Garden Design with Honed Concrete Paving, Black Steel Arches and Pale Pebble Mulch, Clipped Hedging, Standard Roses and. this image created by www.homedesign-photos.com — Formal Courtyard Garden Design with Honed Concrete Paving, Black Steel Arches and Pale Pebble Mulch, Clipped Hedging, Standard Roses and Silver Foliage Contrast, featuring a Shaded Arbour Bench and Soft Evening Garden Lighting, with Considered Outdoor Zoning and Soft

Garden Design Concept 40 is part of our Garden Designs collection — one of 96 large-format widescreen concept visuals in this section. It is presented here at full size so you can study the layout, the planting, the surfaces and the way light falls across the design before you commit to building anything on your own block.

Planting layers, flower borders, formal parterres, productive beds and full garden schemes. Use this concept as a starting point: note the proportions between built form and greenery, where shade and shelter sit, how paths and paved areas move people through the space, and which materials repeat to hold the whole scheme together.

Every visual on this site is a design idea created for Home Design Photos. Browse the rest of the Garden Designs collection, or open the complete image catalogue to see every home, garden, pool, pergola, furniture, lighting and beach house concept in one place.

← Formal Courtyard Garden Design with Honed Concrete Paving and Shaded Arbour Bench and Soft Resort-Style Garden Design with Rustic Timber Sleepers and Quiet Seating Nook and Central Garden →

More Garden Designs concepts

Productive Family Garden Design with Bluestone Stepping Pads and Sculpture Court, Reflection Pond

Productive Family Garden Design with Bluestone Stepping Pads, Corten Steel Edging and Fine Gravel Paths, Raised Vegetable Beds, Espaliered Fruit Trees and Herb Borders, featuring a Sculpture Court, Reflection Pond and Meandering Stone Path

Designed Garden Landscape with Crushed Granite Paths and Garden Dining Terrace and Curved Lawn

Designed Garden Landscape with Crushed Granite Paths, Rendered Planters and Copper Water Spouts, Structural Succulents, Yuccas and Drought-Tolerant Groundcovers, featuring a Garden Dining Terrace and Curved Lawn Walkway, complemented by Durable Weatherproof Finishes and Low-Maintenance Detailing

Resort-Style Garden Design with Rustic Timber Sleepers and Quiet Seating Nook and Central Garden

Resort-Style Garden Design with Rustic Timber Sleepers, Sandstone Walling and Terracotta Pots, Ferns, Hydrangeas and Dappled Shade Under Established Canopy, featuring a Quiet Seating Nook and Central Garden Water Feature, balanced by Clean Sightlines, Shaded Retreats and Relaxed Family

Designed Garden Landscape with Crushed Granite Paths and Garden Dining Terrace and Curved Lawn

Formal Courtyard Garden Design with Honed Concrete Paving and Shaded Arbour Bench and Soft

Formal Courtyard Garden Design with Honed Concrete Paving, Black Steel Arches and Pale Pebble Mulch, Clipped Hedging, Standard Roses and Silver Foliage Contrast, featuring a Shaded Arbour Bench and Soft Evening Garden Lighting, with Considered Outdoor Zoning and Soft

Resort-Style Garden Design with Rustic Timber Sleepers and Quiet Seating Nook and Central Garden

Complete image catalogue

Infinity Edge Swimming Pool Design Ideas and Photos

The engineering behind the world's most photographed pools — wet edges, balance tanks, levels, tile choice and how to make water look endless.

An infinity pool works by an optical trick: the water is held exactly level with the top of one wall, spills over it in a thin film, and from a viewing position the surface appears to merge with whatever lies beyond. That is why the effect only pays off where there is something to merge with — a view, a garden, a drop in level — and why an infinity edge facing a fence is money spent on nothing.

The hidden half of the pool does the work. Water spilling over the edge falls into a catchment channel and then into a balance tank, which stores the volume displaced by swimmers and returns it as needed. The tank must be sized properly, the overflow wall must be built dead level within a couple of millimetres over its whole length, and the pumps must move enough water to keep the film unbroken. This is engineering, not styling, and it is where cheap infinity pools fail visibly.

Detailing decides how expensive it looks. The spill edge should be capped with a precisely ground tile or stone with a crisp arris, the catchment grate should be invisible from the viewing side, and the interior finish should be dark enough to read as depth. A mid to dark grey glass mosaic gives the deep blue that photographs so well, and it also disguises the inevitable mineral line at the spill lip.

Swimming Pools design ideas photo from the Infinity Edge Swimming Pool Design Ideas and Photos feature. this image created by www.homedesign-photos.com

The surround needs restraint. One paving material, a wide flush deck on the approach side, planting kept low where it would interrupt the view line, and shade positioned so loungers work in the afternoon rather than only at noon. Light the wall below the spill from the catchment side so the falling film glows after dark, keep the underwater lights warm and dim, and the pool becomes the reason people photograph the house.

House Design Photos is a HUGE Library Gallery and Directory of Home Design Photos

Front Yard Kerb Appeal Design Ideas and Landscape Photos

Formal Courtyard Garden Design with Honed Concrete Paving and Shaded Arbour Bench and Soft

More Garden Designs concepts

Infinity Edge Swimming Pool Design Ideas and Photos