4 Hardscaping Ideas

Hardscaping has gained popularity in the last few years, and for good reason. Gone are the days when hardscaping meant ripping out grass and filling your front yard with rocks.

Today, hardscaping is beautiful and decorative, as well as money-saving and eco-friendly. With dozens of designs and ideas to gather inspiration from, there's sure to be a hardscaping design that's right for you.

What Is Hardscaping?

More popular in dry climates where foliage struggles to grow, hardscaping is a form of landscaping that uses only intimate materials. By combining different variations of rocks, brick, stone, and pavers, hardscaping allows you to create a beautiful landscape with no foliage.

Individuals can also use things like fire pits and water features to enhance their hardscaping look. As long as it's not living, it can be added to hardscaping.

Hardscaping is hailed as eco-friendly because it eliminates the need to water anything like grass or plants. Especially in drought-prone climates where lawns need to be watered via a sprinkler system, hardscaping is a good way to save money on your water bill and help save water.

If you live in a very humid area or a place that gets a lot of rainfall and you're interested in hardscaping, make sure to choose hardy materials that can stand up to the humidity and rain.

Fire Feature

Water features are popular in hardscaping, but fire features are definitely making a splash right now. Built-in fire features are not only beautiful, but they create a fun atmosphere in your yard where friends and family can gather around and spend time together.

You can opt for a traditional fire pit surrounded by stone benches or create a built-in fireplace on your patio. Outdoor pizza ovens have been making a big impact on the hardscaping scene, and we think it's a creative way to incorporate a fire feature in a unique (and delicious) way.

Pretty Patios

Patios have been around for quite a while, but with new hardscaping trends, patios are getting a facelift. Stamped concrete patios are becoming more and more popular.

Using concrete stamps, you can create a variety of looks in your concrete that help elevate the look of the concrete in a fun and inexpensive way. Concrete patios are often one of the largest elements in a hardscaped yard, so dressing yours up is a great way to instantly add curb appeal.

Colored concrete is another way to dress up your patio. You can color your concrete in a number of ways, but one of the most popular ways to DIY colored concrete is with special outdoor paint. If you don't want to color all of your concrete, try using a stencil to paint a pattern on your concrete. This DIY works well on a front porch too!

Walkways That Wow

Walkways are essential to hardscaped yards because you need a path through the various elements (most of which are difficult to walk through without a path). In many hardscaped yards, the walkways are cement, but you can change up the paths in your yard to elevate the design.

Use various stones and pavers to create paths through your yard. You can use stones to create archways across the paths to accent your design.

Waterways

Water features are also a popular hardscaping element. Whether it's a pool or a stream through your yard, a water feature is a fun way to add a fluid element to your design. Water features can be expensive, but it's definitely less expensive to add a small feature waterfall than it is to add an entire pool.

As with any home renovation project, it's important to budget. Hardscaping can be more expensive than traditional, basic landscaping initially, but in the long run, it does save you time and money.

If you are looking to hardscape your yard, consider using a hardscape designer at least for your initial consultation so you can learn about what hardscaping materials work best for the area of the world that you live in.