Luxury Housing Trends & Home Improvement Ideas

The sound of water can be peaceful, and you might even look forward to those evening thunderstorms. Lull yourself to sleep or enjoy the sound of free flowing water whenever you like right in your backyard.

The STI Group Cobblestone Cascade with Wild Bird Wading Deck features a maintenance-free resin fountain, so you don’t have to worry about it taking up much of your time. This design is equipped with an energy-efficient pump, which won’t eat up your money every month.

Enjoy watching and hearing the water flow from the small pond at the top of the fountain and trickle down to the larger pool. Wild birds will love it too, and they can sit or stand on the wading deck.

Ponds can be whimsical additions to your backyard. You can fill it with koy fish, and it will attract dragonflies and frogs. There are so many features that a pond can bring to your yard.

However, after you dig your 5′ deep pond, you need an essential accessory. A Firestone Pond Liner is helpful for creating a barrier between the soil and the water so that your freshwater aquatic life can thrive.

This liner is made from synthetic rubber, and it’s completely safe for water gardens and even fish ponds. Other liners have fire retardants and anti-fungicides applied to them, but this liner is just made from rubber without these additives. This durable liner will keep your pond looking and functioning beautifully over the years.

Ponds are functional and beautiful landscaping accents. In addition to providing a pleasing atmosphere outdoor, they also attract local wildlife such as frogs and butterflies, and you can add coy fish too.

This Floating Light and Water Show is perfect for an outdoor pond or lake. It can even function in your backyard pool too. This light features LED lights in red, green, blue and yellow, which give various hues to the spouts of water. The kaleidoscope of colors is ideal for evening pool parties and social gatherings.

Through the base station, you can connect the light to an iPod and synchronize the music with the water fountain. This light requires four D batteries, and the remote control gives you some convenience.

Optimize your property’s space by creating impressive landscaping accents, and use larger than life planters to create the look you desire. Arrange them together or place them on the sides of a doorway.

These Parisian Planters are inspired by actual planters found outside an antique store in Paris. This planter features a black and white design, and it’s available in a small (20” x 25”) and large (22.5” x 31.5”).

These planters are made from distressed white marine plywood and black wash iron. Between the massive size and black and white contrast, these planters make a presence. They are perfect for larger shrubs and trees, which can create more privacy in the backyard. Or, you can simply use them as decoration near your patio or pool.

Travelocity made the roaming gnome appealing…how can anyone resist this cute little guy with the red triangular cap? If you’re a lover of garden gnomes, consider a functional one that has a classic style.

The One-Light Cotswold Garden Gnome available from Linens-n-Things. This yard gnome has an aged bronze finish and measures 25” H x 17.5” L. This whimsical statue stands proudly holding a working lantern and has beautifully detailed features, especially on the face and beard. One outdoor decorating option is to incorporate a couple of these gnomes leading to your garden or patio.

This pathway light includes a cable connector, 12-volt wedge base socket and two 8” in-ground stakes. Since the light requires 12-volts, a transformer is required.

Have you ever noticed those houses with globes in their lawn? Maybe you’ve always wondered why people choose to decorate their yard or garden with these odd shaped accents. Well, it’s actually to add smooth, rounded lines to their landscaping. In addition to being pleasing to the eye and softening the landscape, it can also add color and art to your landscaping.

Debra Prinzing was in the July issue of Better Homes and Gardens, and she has beautiful photos on her blog showing how she has incorporated garden globes into her yard. Along with mimicking her circular shaped flowers in her perennial bed, she has also added the spheres to her fountain. As you can see, the colorful globes add personality to the fountain, and it’s not something you always see.

Stone — natural or decorative — can be become beautiful accents in your yard. Whether you create a stone wall or path, this material can make your home stand out from the road. Even small stone accents such as stepping stones can increase your curb appeal.

The cement Nouveau Blossoms Stepping Stones from Kirkland’s measure 10” x 10”. There are three designs to choose from. One has orange and red tones and says, “Count your Blessings.” The second option has purple tones and says, “Faith makes all things possible,” and the third design has cream and green tones and says, “Love is patient. Love is kind.”

Of course, these stepping stones can be arranged in your garden, but you can also add them into your landscaping, especially near your front door or mailbox. These stones also come with a metal easel and keyhole, so you can display them inside your home too.

There are all sorts of materials you can use to create a walkway through a garden or small yard, with any of them being functional, but such a small space offers an opportunity to get creative with design, too. Get a little artsy, and your path can make an attractive landscaping element that adds drama to the area.

Pebble mosaic walkways are one way to make a garden space feel more luxurious and personalized. You can have mosaics professionally done, but if you’re an artsy type they’re not so difficult to install that you can’t create something lasting on your own.

The pebble pathways shown below were done by California-based Ziemienski Studios.

Tired of tripping over things in the yard at night? (Don’t worry–we won’t ask you what you’re doing out in your yard after dark.) Then perhaps you could lay a path through your landscape with these solar lighted walkway tiles.

“These illuminated pathway tiles harness the sun’s energy to provide a lighted walkway anywhere in your yard. A matchbook-sized solar panel built into each tile absorbs daylight and automatically illuminates the four inlaid LEDs at night, casting bright, diffused light. The 11 1/2″ sq. tiles are made from four planks of PVC that are fashioned to look like slatted hardwood. The modular tiles interlock on any side for customizable, contiguous set up on a level patch of lawn or soil bed, or they can be laid apart like stepping stones.”

A set of four tiles costs $100 at Hammacher Schlemmer:

Solar Lighted Walkway Tiles

At that price, you may not want to run tiles around your whole yard, but they could be just right for a small space.

Backyard critters can be enjoyable to watch and supporting your local wildlife is an eco-friendly thing to do. However, when the deer, rabbits and birds are destroying your garden and landscaping, your hard work and money is going down the drain. Since old time scarecrows only work to a degree, it’s wise to upgrade to a more modern one.

The Scarecrow Motion-Activated Sprinkler does more than just scare off animals with its peculiar appearance. It will spray animals that pass by with a sprinkling of water. So it’s a more humane and safe deterrent to use if you need to protect your garden and other plants.

The motion-activated sprinkler system will detect and spray animals in 1,000 square foot area every day for 24 hours. The scarecrow includes a sprinkler, mount, motion detector and 9-volt battery.