Landscape Design Plans by Exterior Worlds Tie Multiple Layers of Hardscape, Softscape and Outdoor Architecture into the Aesthetic of Your Home.

Landscape design plans are developed to compliment the architecture of your home.
It is as if the innate aesthetic of your house is captured in theme, then extended into the outdoor space of your yard.  Styles that are common throughout the Houston landscape are French, Colonial America, English, Italian, Mediterranean, Small Yard, Modern, Contemporary, and Custom. 

Your landscape design plan represents a virtual expression of your personal lifestyle, and as such, it establishes an outdoor living experience for you and your guests.
What you plan to do in your yard determines what you will have.  If you intend to invite guests over for activities, then consider having structures like outdoor kitchens and family sports courts added to the yard so your guests will have plenty of exercise.

If you plan to host more relaxed social gatherings, consider having us add something like a luxury spa to your swimming pool design.   Think of how elements like arbors, courtyards, and outdoor living rooms can be used to host convivial conversations with a small circle of close friends. 

Special places like this have to be carefully planned by a professional landscaper so that the best seating and vantage points will be available to guests when they arrive. 

Many landscape design plans consist of up to 80 percent hardscape design.
This often surprises many people, who expect landscaping to be more about vegetation and gardening than manmade structures.  However, when we think about all the many elements that are commonly found on a landscaped property, we can see just how many of these fall into this classification.

Perhaps the most common type of hardscape is the patio. 
Patios can be built anywhere in the yard.  Most often, they surround a special point of interest like a swimming pool.  However, this is not an absolute.  One of the advantages that we bring to the table is the option to have custom patios built wherever they can aesthetically compliment the home and other landscape elements, and wherever they can provide a desired function for the homeowner.

Patios are also very integral components to the courtyards and outdoor living rooms frequently detailed on landscape design plans.  Both of these outdoor environments are literally built upon a patio foundation whose aesthetic design establishes a certain mood and theme for the occasion.  The more customized this patio work is, the more decorative it can be, and the more opportunities you have to integrate softscape elements and masonry into its design.

Things like planters, trees planted for scale, and flower beds can ornament the floor of an outdoor courtyard and make it look alive as well as superbly constructed.  Of course, all of this must be mapped out in proportion to everything else.  It is not something that can easily be done, if done at all, on a DIY basis.  Sophisticated drafting software is needed to develop a landscape design plan where various elements are balanced with the scale of the design as a whole.

Other forms of hardscape that are detailed in a landscape design plans are walkways, driveways, masonry features, and retaining walls.
Driveway design is very important because it introduces guests to the architecture of the home and to the theme of the landscape proper.  The appearance of a beautifully manicured lawn will be immediately diminished by a drab concrete slab.  Upgrading the driveway, and possibly adding a motor court with decorative masonry as a special parking and greeting area, immediately upgrades the entire curb appeal of the estate. 

Although proportionally fewer than hardscape elements, softscape elements represent the very life-force of a landscape design plan and as such must be carefully selected and placed.
Nothing can afford to be haphazardly positioned in a scene where all individual elements must ultimately tie together around the house.  Everything from garden design, flower beds, and hedges must be systematically calculated in terms of dimension, location, and content.

Even special vegetation, such as specific flowering plants and special grasses, are often itemized on the landscape master plan so the garden specialists will know exactly what to plant and where. 

Two other very crucial elements to landscape design plans are landscape lighting and water features. 
When people think about lighting, they may only be thinking about lights around the pool or patio.  But there is so much more to light on a landscape than this.  Vegetation of all types needs to be up lit and down lit for effect.  Trees can be lit with special mercury vapor lamps, and pathways and walkways should be accentuated with low-voltage lights that provide both visibility and décor.

Special water features like custom fountains, artificial streams, and natural ponds often go hand in hand with outdoor lighting.  Because many new types of lighting fixtures now allow us to place light underwater, any body of water can be lit from its interior and become an instant sensation with your guests.