Early winter’s a great time for new landscaping design ideas

The colors of fall are quickly giving way to the browns and grays of a Mid-Atlantic winter. Whether your home is a quiet, traditional property in Chevy Chase, or an edgy bungalow in Takoma Park, the arrival of the ‘dormant’ season might make you — along with many other homeowners in the greater Washington DC area — downright blue. But take heart! This is really a season of opportunity, a time to see your home freed from the distractions that abound during warmer months. Now, as you walk up your driveway or peer out a back window, you can see your landscape and hardscape as a blank canvas — and you as a creative painter with total freedom. Those neutral grays and earthy browns allow you to experiment with landscaping design ideas without feeling rushed to prepare the soil, purchase plants, or haul bags of top soil around your yard. Imagine what your place would look like if you changed your walkway, your patio, your garden furnishings. Imagine a new mix of hues and colors, a new sense of depth or openness using different bushes or brighter perennials. Here is a three-step process for putting winter to work for you:

• Peruse our photo galleries to open up your thinking and see what others have done. You don’t need to worry about being a ‘copy cat’ — remember, you’re just looking at some of the endless possibilities available. To do so, visit https://jlsinc.net/photo-gallery.
• Grab your digital camera and walk around the outside of your home. Snap a handful of pictures from different vantage points so you have a collection of shots showing your existing landscape and hardscape. Now, take those images with you (keep them on your camera or upload them to a mobile device) while you go get coffee or a relaxing lunch. Stare at them. Mull over them. Remember, you’re a painter and those pictures show your home as an open canvas.
• Finally, after you’ve spent some quality time in the confines of your own (and maybe your family’s) creative perspective, contact us. We can visit your home and offer advice and professional guidance that allows you to transform those imagined possibilities into practical plans.

See, winter is not so long and bleak after all. It can be a time of renewal and preparation for a whole new look.