At Home With Yelp: Get Your Home Ready for Summer

With winter finally coming to an end, people are excited to get started on landscaping projects and refreshing their yards and gardens. We are all itching to be outside and enjoy the warm weather as much as possible, and to do that, it’s important to create a tranquil and serene space.

If you’ve never tackled a landscape design before, it can be overwhelming and some people will try and do too much too soon. Here are some tips to help you design the backyard space of your dreams:

Decide what you need: Before you start a major renovation, think about what you’ll be using the space for. Are you planning to host a lot of parties? Maybe you need a patio bar and a bar cart. Will your kids be the ones enjoying the yard? Make sure you have a play space for them. You always want to have a clear idea of how this renovation will serve your needs.

Pick a color, any color: If you’re at a loss for inspiration, think ultraviolet! Pantone’s Color of the Year is a great inspiration for your garden this year, instead of your walls. Investing in purple plants like lavender, violets and irises are a great way to be on-trend. Monochromatic floral gardens that catch every shade of one hue become statements, and are an absolutely breathtaking reflection of Mother Nature!

Work within your budget: For any project, you can have it good, fast or cheap — you gotta pick two. When it comes to an outdoor renovation, it’s important to find a landscape partner that works with your budget and vision — whether that’s $10,000 or $100,000. Regardless of your budget, you should always make sure you’re comparing quotes from landscapers to get the best bang for your buck! Yelp’s Request a Quote feature allows you to compare up to 10 businesses at a time to find the right landscaper for your project!

Interior design and life stylist,Lauren Makk is Yelp’s new Home Editor You may recognize Lauren from TLC’s “Trading Spaces,” ABCs “FAB Life” and OWN’s “Home Made Simple.” Now as a part of the Yelp family, she’ll be sharing how you can use Yelp to create incredible, affordable transformations in your home. You can find more tips from Lauren here.

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