curb appeal Archives - At Home in Arkansas

Walled In

April 26, 2018 by ark_admin

Part of a series: Living the Good Life with Chris Olsen

You may not think a lot about walls, but they work on many levels at a property. They can keep something in or out, provide demarcation and boundary, and serve as punctuation for a landscape. They’re the very definition of utilitarian. But I have a question for you: do they have to be strictly about purpose, with nothing left for aesthetics or pleasure? I think a wall can become part of your plantings, which will mean seasonal interest, color, and a bit of something unexpected in your landscape.

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‘Cool’ Isn’t Complicated

February 3, 2016 by ark_admin

If you want to make your house and landscape stand out as something individual and not like all the other houses on the block, you don’t have to do much. Homeowners often think they have to pull it all out, replace entire mature plantings, and hire an architect to create a new entrance, when really all you have to do is step back, and look at what’s already there with a fresh eye. Try a dash of unexpected color, install a few new plants, rethink concrete surfaces, and then you really have what you seek: a house and landscape that will be a better reflection of you.

Let’s talk color. The easiest thing you can do is slap a new hue on an existing surface, like a door and shutters. And think about a color that will both thrill you and be calm as well, like the eggplant shade used here. It’s the perfect complement for the pale gray stucco walls, injects a modern feel, and is serene at the same time. And, yes, unexpected. If you don’t trust yourself to pick out the right shade, consult a color wheel. You’ll see complementary colors opposite each other. Start with the front door, then add your dash of new to other, smaller architectural details. This simple—and quick—change will make all the difference in setting the tone you want as people come up your walk.

And what about that walk? Most of us have poured concrete already in place, but you can easily lift it and replace with cut flagstone or terrazzo. By removing a bit of the concrete that seems to sometimes surround us everywhere we go, we can personalize the space. You have many options besides cement. And you’ll probably want to flank your new walk with a bit of (controllable) planting. Nothing does the trick as well as dwarf mondo grass. You don’t have to trim or mow, and it doesn’t sprawl or spread. Plus, it has this great ‘cuteness’ factor, which almost brings in a sense of play. Something as small as mondo can add that ‘happy’ factor you’ll want.

Recall what I said about removing some concrete? I simply hammered up the middle strip of the drive and replaced with some more happy mondo. That idea of poured concrete for an entire driveway is relatively new, and you can breathe a bit of life—literally—by taking part of it out and planting. Mondo is easy, drought tolerant after the first year, and needs almost no upkeep. Something else to note: I used aspidistra along the house. It’s the best friend you’ll ever have in deep shade. It’s hard to find something that will live without sun, but aspidistra is it. In fact, if it gets sun, the leaves tend to yellow or burn. It spreads, but oh so slowly, and provides a nice contrast to the mondo. I sell lots of these hardy plants because they are resilient, look good, and last a long time.

Your last addition should be something unexpected, like this vintage lamp post. It originally stood sentry outside a commercial building, but such an architectural leftover can bring a bit of serendipity to any residential landscape. And you don’t need to place it front and center, either. I nestled it into the existing bed here, so it’s a bit of a surprise to anyone passing.

You can create a thrilling new look for your house and landscape by keeping it simple, changing minor details, and adding a touch of color. You won’t go broke, need a building permit, or require a series of craftsmen coming in and out, to get what you want. Just take it one detail at a time, and don’t try to alter your entire landscape. ‘Cool’ is easier than you thought.

Live Life to the Fullest,

Chris H. Olsen

chrisholsen.com

botanicagardens.com

Living the Good Life with Chris H. Olsen: A Parade of Pumpkins on Pedestals

October 7, 2015 by ark_admin

Anyone who knows me, how I approach my craft, or what excites me knows I love pumpkins. I use them from the time I can first purchase them—sometimes directly from the grower—then deep into winter and beyond. (They can last many months—a fact that wasn’t lost on farmers in the days before refrigeration.) I feel you can’t beat their vibrant colors, wildly varying textures, or happy shapes.

Here’s the thing: they don’t have to be relegated to Halloween displays, carved up into jack-o-lanterns. Pumpkins and all their range of colors and textures are wonderful complements to the fall garden.

Have you ever noticed how, oftentimes, we love our gardens the most at the end of the season? Everything is at its verdant peak—the colors more saturated, the growth more lush. You can add a mix of pumpkins (and ornamental squash) to the plantings you’ve nurtured all summer long. It will add further visual interest and make the approach of fall a little merrier.

To really get the most out of your pumpkins, why not put them on simple pedestals? You highlight their addition to your garden, add height and interest, and ensure they’ll be noticed. And appreciated. We carry these metal pedestals at Botanica, and you can use them throughout the year.

Think about the area you want to use them in. Do you want them to trace the line of your walk? Give height between foundation plantings near a wall? Create visual interest at the end of a path? Provide punctuation to an existing design? Then give them each a small stage, so that they can have their moment in your garden.

Notice that I’ve mixed them. It’s far more interesting to use pumpkins that differ in size, shape, and color than featuring all the same type. The pedestals make the point here that you’ve found really interesting shapes and colors, even warty ones, and you’re now taking them to another level. They become part of your landscape, part of your hearty end-of-season garden when used this way.

It’s a really simple idea, but (as is often the case with simple ideas) it’s a good one. And those little pedestals can be used to display seasonal bits of interest in your garden all year long. Once you elevate a bit of garden color and texture, you elevate the senses and the design appeal, which is what makes your guests want to come back, season after season.

Chris Olsen is a nationally known home and garden guru, designer, author, TV personality and public speaker. In his book, Chris shares his landscape and gardening knowledge along with his unique flair for home decor and design.He is also a member of the Association of Professional Landscape Designers. Learn more about Chris and all of his work at chrisholsen.com.

Outside the Box with Daniel Keeley: December Update

December 11, 2014 by ark_admin

Hello and Happy December! I hope you all had a wonderful Thanksgiving and continue to enjoy the holiday season. I hope you also enjoyed last month’s issue of At Home and the featured Outdoor Thanksgiving meal we had here at the Outside the Box House. It really was exciting to see that in the magazine, and I send another big thank you to Chef Jen Lewis and everyone else who was involved!

I tell you, in the past month we have been so busy getting our clients’ houses and gardens all decorated and ready for the holidays, that there just hasn’t been a whole lot happening around here at the Outside the Box House. Earlier in the year, I had big plans to go all out with holiday lights and decorations and perhaps even throw a party. However, as I am sure many of you can relate to, life happened, reality eventually set in, and…well…that just ain’t gonna happen! Still, I couldn’t let the season pass without giving the house at least a touch of holiday spirit, so my team and I fashioned a simple swag of fresh evergreens for the front door. Tied with beautiful, monochromatic ribbon, it is a quick and easy decoration that still adds grace and customized charm for the holidays….

Outside the Box with D. Keeley: October Update

October 8, 2014 by ark_admin

Well, autumn is officially here, and you can definitely feel it here in the northwest part of the state. We have already seen temperatures in the upper 30’s and low 40’s, and I am enjoying it immensely. This time of year, I love to crank open all the windows and fill the house with the smells and sounds of the crisp, fall air. The garden seems to be enjoying the new season, as well!

At the front entry, the ornamental grasses are in bloom, and the Fescue lawn is loving the cool weather. Most of the annuals in the large urns had run their course, so we removed those and will replace them with something more seasonally appropriate, so stay tuned next month for that!

At the street (and elsewhere) the white begonias continue to thrive. It almost looks like this boxwood cone in floating on a cloud!

Around back, we have been getting the outdoor living spaces ready for fall entertaining by cleaning up, preparing the fire pit and by adding little flourishes here and there, including this centerpiece.

This is something you can easily recreate, and it makes an interesting focal point during any season. We simply took a large, shallow container that was lying around the house and filled it with several sandblasted Manzanita branches. This is a particularly sculptural branch I like to use when decorating, and we rely on them year-round for arrangements, special displays and holiday decor. If you prefer, you could use branches harvested from around your own garden. Next we placed a dozen or so Tillandsia plants among the twisted branches. These easy-care, exotic plants give the arrangement an edgy, yet natural, look and are about as low-maintenance as it gets. They do not require any soil to live and simply have to be soaked or misted on a regular basis. You can find Tillandsia and other ‘air plants’ (as they are called) at your local garden nursery or florist.

Other than keeping up with seasonal chores around the house, as I mentioned last month, I recently took my first trip to Charleston, South Carolina. I can not believe it has taken me so long to visit this wonderful, historic city, but ‘better late than never’ right? I am absolutely in love with the culture, cuisine and charm of this gracious southern town and can not wait to go back. My trip was a social one: visiting friends, going to the beach and eating too much! But, of course, I couldn’t help keeping an eye out for examples of the passion for garden and design for which Charleston is known. Below are some of the things that caught my eye and that I managed to capture…usually while biking past. In fact my friends and I traveled almost exclusively by bicycle throughout my stay, and that was one of the most charming aspects of the entire trip! Each image has one or more details that could easily serve as inspiration for a fun fall home and garden project. This entry grabbed my attention for several reasons including beautiful architectural details, mood-setting gas lanterns and traditional iron urns. At the same house, asparagus fern draped elegantly from baskets at each window.

This home was similarly captivating, with its gorgeous front door and the interesting way the vines have been trained around the lampposts. It, too, was further decorated with colorful window boxes and planters lining the walk.

This building may be missing a shutter, but the window boxes look great! I thought these were particularly attractive.

Gates are one of my favorite garden design elements. I love how creeping fig vine has completely covered this garden entry…

…and how the view through this garden gate is so mysteriously inviting.

This entry I found perfectly complete in its simplistic charm. Sometimes a couple of nice planters is all you need!

Equally simple, yet sophisticated, was this front entry walk. Boxwood is my favorite shrub, and these clipped hedges make a deliberate, yet unpretentious, statement.

Slightly bolder, but still refined and elegant, was this basket-weave boxwood parterre. This is right up my alley! The powerful, central placement of the urn as a focal point with respect to the large parlor window, as well as the position of the ornamental tree and adjustment in hedge treatment to correspond with the side porch, shows that someone gave the design of this small garden a lot of thought.

Finally, this stunning and serene pool setting. I almost rode right past this one, but I caught it out of the corner of my eye and had to turn around. What I find most attractive about this scene is the scale of the Italian Cypress across the back side of the pool, the dark plaster color which turns the pool into a reflecting pond and the placement of the four planters at the corners of the pool.

Like I said, Charleston definitely knows how to Live Outside the Box and has been doing so for a long time now. I am excited to go back soon and explore even further the garden and design history of this southern beauty. I am also very excited to inform you that the November issue of At Home in Arkansas will contain a fall outdoor entertaining feature, highlighting areas of the garden you have never seen before, decorating ideas for autumn get-togethers, as well as the culinary talents of my friend, Chef Jen Lewis. So be sure to look out for next month’s magazine, and come back here to visit, too!

Exterior designer Daniel Keeley is an Arkansas native and founder/principal of DK Design. His work has won numerous awards and accolades and is featured regularly in various publications. For more information visit dkdesignoutdoor.com.

To see the progress at the “Out of the Box House,” read Daniel Keeley’s past updates!

Living the Good Life with Chris Olsen: Strength in Numbers

August 6, 2014 by ark_admin

Thick, textured, lush, healthy, shining. Adjectives from a shampoo commercial? You bet, but they also should be your watchwords for summer plantings. You can achieve the sort of blooming beds—the kind that people will remember—with just a little bit of planning and maintenance, and a few simple design ideas: Plant more; think color, then texture; find vitality in simple design (I like to call this the “shove it and cram it” style); feed and water consistently.

Even if you have only a small area to plant, you should put out more than a few paltry little specimens. By planting more—think of it as more plants sharing tight quarters—you create a unified design. While it’s fun to try mixing different type plants and assorted colors, you achieve a more pleasing look some times by using just one or two varieties of annuals.

You’ve heard me exclaim before about the great impact of the dainty-appearing angelonia, but here it is in full glory. The color range is in the cool spectrum, so you’ll find them in white, pink, and a couple of shades of violet. Crowded in this way, you get the effect of waves of color. And, despite their diminutive stature, they’re the workhorses of summer annuals. Also known as ‘summer snapdragon,’ their bloom is unstinting for months in the summer heat.

Another extraordinarily hardy bloomer is scavolea. This plant tends to creep, run, and ramble, so it can easily be placed as a foundation planting under something taller. Great for borders, where the color can ‘pop,’ or in pots assembled with other bloomers, you get 120 days of bloom every time. And scavolea comes in a thrilling blue. When you see it blooming, you’ll want more, which means creating that unified design I’m showing you here.

Another benefit of the ‘more plants, closer together’ or ‘shove it and cram it’ philosophy is that you can pair them with something taller, to create a texture contrast. These begonias are matched with fan palms. The vibrant red blooms are countered by the nodding fronds overhead, an unexpected pairing, but one of two rugged plants that thrive under the steady sun. And a benefit of the palms towering over the begonias is that those fronds shade the begonias, meaning cooler roots, and less fading of bloom color. Another benefit of close planting is that the volume of blossoms overhead, plus the increased amount of plant leaves and stalks, is that all the roots get shaded from above.

Another good design idea to remember is to FORGET about the color wheel. It doesn’t have to match the brick of your house–it’s all about personal preference. If you want to create a planting pair, try something like the angelonia placed cheek-by-jowl with the brilliant yellow lantana here. Also a great texture and shape contrast, such a planting maximizes your space, and is pleasing from a distance, a good idea if you want your beds and borders to be seen from the street.

You’ll want to build in maintenance for your plantings. Annuals are heavy feeders. Feed with time release fertilizer, like Osmocote or Miracle Gro’s ‘Shake and Feed,’ as well as an occasional dousing with water soluble fertilizer. Yes, it makes a difference. It takes a lot of strength, stamina, and fortitude for these plants to bloom under relentless summer conditions, and they need your help. Which also means water deeply on a consistent basis. Shampoo commercials promise happy, tossing, rolling, shiny waves of hair, and with just a bit of suggested care. You’ll be able to get the same kind of feeling from your summer annuals with a little bit of planning and maintenance, and you won’t have to think about spokesmodels at all.

Outside the Box with D. Keeley: July Update

July 9, 2014 by ark_admin

Well, summer has definitely arrived! Last month I complained about all the rain, and I suppose I should have kept quiet, because it is plenty hot and dry now. Still, it has been a wonderful month full of rewarding projects and fun events.

One of the most exciting happenings was the realization of the At Home in Arkansas Curb Appeal Makeover. My crew and I spent a weekend with the contest winners, along with members of the At Home family, and we had a blast! Be sure to check out the full makeover feature in the August issue of At Home. Until then, here are a few sneak peek photos:

We used large boxwoods (my favorite shrub) to dress up the home’s entry.

Hydrangeas and azaleas helped fill in a forgotten shady corner.

Hostas and other textural plantings were used in various spots for their interesting foliage.

And here is Yours Truly, filling a pair of window boxes with colorful annuals!

Another thrilling experience of the past month occurred June, 20th…the evening of the Garden to Grill dinner party we hosted with Chef Jen Lewis. It was a beautiful gathering with delicious food, tasty drinks, good music and great people!

Around the Live Outside the Box House, the garden continues to fill in rapidly. The hostas I showed you last month burst into bloom finally and are only just now beginning to fade.

In the perennial garden, the purples are dominating right now, with the Hyssop and Chaste Tree taking center stage.

The view through the perennial garden looking toward the front lawn has improved for other reasons, as well. I decided to plant a trio of Emerald Green Arborvitae at the end of this vista to help screen out the neighbors house. Nothing against the neighbors, of course! Although it is a little difficult to see in this photo, I think the result is a good one, as the eye can now focus on all the colorful blooms of the perennial garden without being distracted by the house beyond.

The vegetable garden also continues to thrive and to provide me with fresh produce! The cabbages (despite a few worm holes on the outer leaves) are ready to harvest.

As are some of my tomatoes! I actually am dying to fry up some of the green ones before they all ripen, but these will be great on a grilled hamburger or chopped into some fresh salsa.

The dill from the Nourishmat is as tall as I am (6’2″ in case you were wondering)!

And one of the grape vines has already grown to the top of the fence and then some!

I can’t wait to have them all properly trained along the entire fence. At this rate, I am hoping they may really look like something by the end of the season. Either way it is so fun watching them grow….which you can practically do! So, join me next month. Who knows? Maybe they will have taken over the whole place!

Did you miss Daniel Keeley’s May Update or June Update? Click through to enjoy!

living the good life : stylish pumpkin lanterns

February 9, 2014 by ark_admin

Having stylish fall dÃ©cor is rather easy with a little help.Â Add drama and interest to any container inside or out, with your very own pumpkin lanterns.Â Pumpkin lanterns will brighten up any dark porch or scary corner and also look spooktacular on both sides of a fireplace.

All you need are the following supplies for each lantern:

Ex-Large to Large foam pumpkin

2 different size circular bits and drill

1 under-the-counter round halogen 20watt light fixture (from your local hardware store)

Light is not water proof so it’s best to keep your lanterns under a covered area.

Go ahead and drill circles all over your pumpkin in a random pattern.Â Use two different size bits for contrast.Â Remember not to drill too low since we do not want to see the light fixture that sits at the bottom of the pumpkin.

Add an autumn wreath to the top of the pot rim first for fluff and softness. Place the pumpkin lantern on top of the container if desired or floor.

Remember to also place your light inside the pumpkin and plug into a grounded electric outlet.Â Â To ensure your pumpkin is lit each evening, a timer is a great idea.

Add some real pumpkins, gourds, and a few yellow mums around your new lantern to create more curb appeal.Â Now your home will glow with autumn cheer.

The Number Game with Chris Olsen

February 9, 2014 by ark_admin

Once your landscape design and planting reach the street, a simple house number stenciled on the curb might get obscured by all that happy greenery. Enable your guests to find your house, plus create your own numbering system with staked and planted terra cottas pots. It’s especially easy if your street address is one digit, but if it’s as many as five, you can just add another, smaller pot to the top of your pyramid. Make your stack sturdy by placing plants close to pot rims, so they can trail easily, and not interfere with the pot above.

Supplies:

3 clay pots in graduated sizes

Green spray paint

Oil based stain

Acrylic paint for number

Painters tape

Paper towels

Brushes

Here’s how:

1. Paint pots green, and allow to dry.

2. Tape off large square(s) on pot(s) for house number(s).

3. Brush stain on pots avoiding number area. Blot with paper towel for mottled effect. Allow to dry.

4. Paint stripes along taped edges of pot(s) to feature number(s).

5. Remove tape and paint number(s).

6. Fill pots with soil, stack, and plant around edges of pots.

Enjoy,

Chris Olsen

Want to see more amazing projects from Chris? Follow him on Facebook for garden and home inspiration.

Walled In

Part of a series: Living the Good Life with Chris Olsen

‘Cool’ Isn’t Complicated

Living the Good Life with Chris H. Olsen: A Parade of Pumpkins on Pedestals

Outside the Box with Daniel Keeley: December Update

Outside the Box with D. Keeley: October Update

Living the Good Life with Chris Olsen: Strength in Numbers

Outside the Box with D. Keeley: July Update

living the good life : stylish pumpkin lanterns

The Number Game with Chris Olsen

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