Finding Ideas

This page is my ULTIMATE guide on how to FIND and USE interesting garden design ideas and inspiration.

I’ll outline:

• A basic summary on what is design?
• How ideas can help you design
• How you’re using garden design ideas INCORRECTLY
• How to use garden design ideas CORRECTLY
• Where to look for interesting and useful garden design ideas
• Thinking outside the box
• Using personal experience
• Some DO’S when looking for and using garden design ideas
• Some DON’TS when looking for and using garden design ideas

Much of this work sets the table for the design process itself. In my 7 Step Garden Design Guide, the first two steps cater to finding ideas and using them correctly. After working through this information, you should be in a much better position to begin the design process.

Following the steps outlined below, you will determine what you want to do in your garden. Before we there, let’s explore the basics of design.

 

Design – What is it?

Design is where form meets function.

 

Form is the appearance and shape of something. And how it interacts with your senses.Function is what it allows you to do. How you use the item or space.

All man made things were designed. Cities, buildings, objects, songs, books, systems and more.People who work in these industries may not call themselves designers. But what they create has a similar intent and effect regardless of profession.

The designer wants you to use or experience something in specific way. “There are exceptions – like post-modern art. But let’s ignore those for the moment. For our purposes, we want to create spaces that fulfill a function while having a ‘style’ or form.

Find out more about the basics of design. Designing spaces, using materials and design styles.

Planes are very well designed. They focus completely on function. Any additional form translates to weight, which is a bad thing. Planes are ‘lean’. Photo by Jordan Sanchez on Unsplash

 

I’m assuming by now you have spent many hours browsing for garden design ideas. There are infinite ideas on websites, social media, magazines, TV, and the world around you. All you need to do is look.

As Picasso (supposedly) said “Good Artists copy. Great Artists steal.”

For garden design, this means the best designers steal concepts. Other designers copy them. From one site to another.

The best way to use garden design ideas you find is to develop a list of concepts. I call them ‘flexible criteria’. I explore this process more under How to Use Ideas Correctly.

When you begin searching for inspiration, collect images and notes of what you like. Again, we want concepts – not exact copies. This search will help you build a list of things you want to include in your garden.

I break these things down into two categories; Activities and Features.

 

ACTIVITIES

 

These are things you interact with. Spaces designed for a specific activity. These include:

Swimming Pool
Spa
Sand Pit
Relaxing Area
Cubby House
Slide
Lawn
Hidden Nook
Tennis Court
Basketball
Football
Outdoor Movies
Studio
BBQ Area
Entertaining
Planting Beds
Vegetable Garden
Seat/ Bench
Hammock
Swings
Trampoline
Playground
Fire Place/ Pit
Childrens Play Area

 

FEATURES 

 

These are focal points. You don’t interact with them directly. They can be ‘used’ from the house. These could be:

Feature Tree
Pond
Fountain
Arbor
Water Feature
Screening Plants
Bridge
Sculpture
Bird Bath
Flora for Native Animals
Painting
Mosaic
Mural

After searching for garden design ideas, you should have a list of concepts you want to add to your design. This is the first starting point in the design process. It exposes you to new ideas, materials, activities, features and other possibilities.

Finally, you will never stop searching for new ideas. If you find a good designer you like, look at their other projects. Same thing for materials. Or activities or features. Design is always in flux. Don’t make this list and never add to it again.

The only problem a list like this will create is how you implement your garden design ideas. Let’s look at how people do it wrong…

 

How you’re using garden design ideas INCORRECTLY

 

“I really want to do something with ‘that’ area of the yard.”

Almost everyone utters this at some point when looking at their garden. In doing so, they’re setting themselves up for failure before they’ve even begun.

All DIY beginners follow the same process when designing or building their garden.

1. Find Garden Design Ideas!

You decide you want to improve a spot/ area/ space/ section etc. of the yard. Then you search for ‘garden design ideas’ on Google. Finding some garden design ideas that really interest you or catch your eye, you collect them.

2. Pull it apart!

From there, you try to deconstruct how it was put together. Exactly how it was put together. You’re being the ‘good artist’. Once you’ve determined the structure and combinations, it’s off to the local hardware store. Having all your materials, and some time on the weekend, you’re ready to get some work done!

3. Put it somewhere

Most likely, you look around a few locations in your yard. Choosing one, you prepare it and get to work. If you’re lucky, you finish the project, getting everything in place with no intrusions from real life. Or, you stagger it over a period of time. Hopefully, you can work through it and finish it. Otherwise, it will sit and slowly be forgotten.

4. Repeat… for another area

So after this process has occurred, you (hopefully) improved an area of your garden. Seeing how this worked well the first time, you repeat it for another area of your garden. Find another image you like, deconstruct it, buy the parts, pick your spot and build. Hopefully you succeeded again – without interruptions, intrusions, boredom, distractions or any other issues.

 

Why this doesn’t work

 

This process is difficult to follow. It requires perseverance, stamina and time most people don’t have. Often, you are left with a collection of unfinished projects scattered over the yard. You wait a few years then repeat the process. So why was this process doomed to fail from the start?

By choosing to start with one area, and design and complete it, you’ve failed to consider how it interacts with the rest of the garden. Going through the whole process for one location reduces flexibility. It also wildly skews your allocation of resources. You spend all your budget (of time and money) on one or two areas, with nothing left for the rest. Too much time and too much money for too little gain.

 

So what’s the solution?

 

You need a plan. One of the whole garden or backyard. If you choose to implement it one step at a time, that is fine. But you need to know, before you begin, how each space will flow into another.

By all means collect garden design ideas, images, inspiration etc. Instead of copying them into a random location, get a proper design together. Make it rigorous and tested. You’ll be amazed at the difference. You have more confidence in what materials you buy, what you build and where you build it.

Finding ideas and pasting them into your garden one at a time is a recipe for disaster. Let’s look at how to use what you find more effectively.

 

How to use garden design ideas CORRECTLY

 

A lot of my prior ramblings have really led to this section. If you read only one thing on this page, it should be this.

I have a short series going through the processing – my 7 Step Garden Design Guide!

I also have some additional content to help you use your garden design ideas ‘correctly’. Fill in your email below to get access to the Idea Generator Series – with FREE Cheat Sheets to follow each step!

So if you have followed the sections above, you should have some images and a list of activities and features. I’ve stated you shouldn’t copy directly from the image. This is the ‘Good Artist’ approach, but results in mediocre design.

The best way to use images is to learn how to ‘unpack’ them. It’s a simple process to follow – even though it can take some getting used to applying. What it produces is your secret weapon to creating a fantastic garden design – flexible criteria.

 

Flexible criteria

 

What are criteria and why do they need to be flexible? Well, criteria are a checkbox of things you want to include or follow when designing and activity or feature. And the more flexible they are, the easier it is to apply them to different positions around your garden.

Let’s look at each step in this ‘unpacking’ process to see how it works.

 

Sign Up and get access to my FREE Idea Generator ‘Cheat Sheets’ to follow along with the steps outlined below.

 

1. Get your list together

I’ve outlined this step under how ideas help you design. Basically, work on creating a list of activities and features you want in your backyard garden. If you’ve made it here, you may have this in hand already. Great! If not, check out the video in the link below to learn more.

2. Unpack the image

This is the key step. Unpacking involves going through the image you have and defining what you like, and why you like it. To simplify it, I break the images components down into 2 categories: physical elements and design elements.

Physical elements are colour, size, shape, material and material finish.

Design elements are the function of the component, combination or contrast of materials and anything else that may interest you.

In this step, you go through the things you like in the image and just write down why you like them. Consider the physical and design elements I’ve listed above. You don’t need to comment on each point. Simply choose the positive points and make a quick note why you like them.

 

3. Change it up!

The third step in the process is unusual and rarely done. Once you have the points from unpacking your image, we want to test how flexible those likes really are. We do this by sketching the component and changing the points you unpacked.

For example, if you liked the material (say timber) change it to stone or metal. How does that change the component? Do you still like it? Or is it terrible? Perhaps you change the size, shape, colour etc. of the component. Have a play around, sketch (even if you are terrible at sketching).

The intent is to reconsider what you like by altering some of the elements. You may like a particular component, but find you are more flexible with what you like about it. It doesn’t have to be timber, just because it’s timber in the image. It doesn’t have to be that exact plant, just because it’s in the image.

 

4. Defining your criteria

This final step brings it all together. Having unpacked the image and altered some elements, let’s write down some key criteria summarising what you took from the image.

I consider things in terms of MUST or Maybe. This particular element is a MUST – I MUST have timber decking for my entertaining space. The Maybe part could be the type of timber – the colour, timber choice, slat width etc. So in defining this point, I’d say:

• • • Entertaining Area: Timber Decking – MUST. Material/ colour TBD

Defining the exact material later makes this a lot more flexible. You can choose based on another area of the garden. Perhaps you find a beautiful timber in another image. You want to tie parts of the design together. So a simple approach is to use a similar material across these areas.

Another bonus is you can adapt to changes in your situation. You can look for cheaper timber, or use what is available at the time. After talking to an expert (say a landscaper or builder) they may suggest an option you hadn’t considered. If you’re only MUST is that you have timber, you are able to work with those suggestions.

 

NOTES

 

What I like about this system is it trains you to be more aware of your environment. Another benefit is you draw inspiration from literally everywhere.

You can steadily build up your criteria for each activity or feature in your list. Some images may provide criteria for multiple activities. Or, you may utilise multiple images to build criteria for one activity.

Having flexibility at this stage allows you to adapt to changing scenarios in the future. And it may open up your design to new and exciting possibilities you had never considered.

 

Where to look…

 

This is the both easiest and hardest question to answer.

The easy answer is:

• The Internet
• Videos
• Print media – books, magazines etc.
• The World around you

This video goes through the internet, videos and the world around you in a bit more detail. Print media is functionally the same as the internet, so any tips for the latter apply to the former.

So why is it hard? Because there is literally too much. Too many possible ideas and pieces of inspiration. You don’t have the time or energy to look through an infinite amount of images etc.

 

Passive vs Active Search

 

One way to think about searching is how engaged you are doing it. I break it down into two styles – passive and active searching.

 

Take it easy

Passive is what you do without concentrating or searching for a specific thing. Kind of like browsing when shopping. You’re glancing through things until something catches your eye – letting your brain run on autopilot. This is useful if you’re looking through Pinterest on your phone while watching TV.

The benefits of passive searching are it can be done anywhere, anytime. It also allows your own level of interest to be a filter. Something that catches your attention when you’re not engaged is likely to be something you want to include in your design.

 

Narrow it down

Active searching is what it sounds like. You’re devoting your full attention to the search. These sessions are more mentally intensive. The bonus is they help you narrow down to a specific activity, feature or other item.

When you’re really engaged you can search more efficiently. Therefore, you’re finding many ideas and pieces of inspiration to ‘unpack’ and test quite quickly.

 

You need both

The difference between the two approaches may be the terminology you’re searching for. Passive is broad – garden design ideas, garden design tips etc. Active is specific – entertaining areas, cottage garden beds, raised vegetable gardens etc. Along with the term you’re searching, your focus level varies.

Both types of searching are helpful. You need a balance of both, and can take advantage of your time and mood to explore each option. Just lounging? A bit of passive searching and saving things that catch your eye. Feeling motivated or have an activity swirling in your brain? A short burst of active searching and taking notes (or even unpacking as you go if you want) can help you quickly build a catalogue of ideas.

Either way you’re aiming to follow your interests. Passively you meander from one to another. Actively you answer some questions you had, and develop a few more.

 

Not just the images

An easy way to uncover new inspiration is to follow the source of something you like. By that I mean look up more work by that designer or builder. Or perhaps the website or author of the article/ list you’ve found. Like music or books, if you like this piece or title, you may like other work they’ve done.

This tactic may lead you to find inspiration for different activities or features – what you weren’t originally searching for. This is a nice bonus and adds another layer to the searching process.

Ultimately this process will happen many times over the design process. You want to be relaxed and informal about it. Despite what I’ve outlined above, don’t treat this as a tick the box approach. Let your natural inclinations guide you. If you do more passively, do it passively. If you need intense periods of active searching, get into it.

Recognise that both work and you’ll need to do a little bit of both to get the best source of garden design ideas and inspiration.

 

Thinking outside the box

 

You may think to design a specific activity or feature you need examples of it. Hopefully one thing you’ve realised from finding various garden design ideas is how flexible the criteria you take from them can be. Remember, ‘Great artists steal’! To me this means we ‘unpack’ concepts and reuse them in other areas.

You don’t need to find ‘small courtyard’ examples to design a small courtyard. It can help, and I’d encourage you to see what you could find in that search. When you get more confident unpacking images you will learn how to adapt your criteria to other spaces.

 

Criteria are flexible!

Using criteria from other activities is one way to design a space without using similar examples or ideas. For your path leading to an activity to the vegetable garden, you could use the same material palette you have in the entertaining space. This is an obvious example, but the lesson is you don’t need an image of a pathway, or even a list of criteria for a pathway, to design a pathway.

When you get to the design process, you will work through mixing different criteria for all your garden design ideas. You’ll open up new possibilities testing the efficacy of different positions for all the activities and features.

The second way to think outside the box is to take more notice of the world around you. Notice how different spaces make you feel. How different materials change the way you move through a space. Our environment sends us many signals. Being more aware of our reactions to them will help you develop extremely interesting spaces in your garden.

 

Personal Experience

 

Memory.

They’re not something people consider when it comes to designing. But if you want to put your mark on your garden design, you need to draw on your personal experience.

Only you have lived in that site. Only you have formed memories of that space. You’ve experienced it changing over seasons. In all sorts of weather. You are in the best position to design something unique for that site.

But it’s not only about living at this site. Look to your childhood. Your history. Have you had experiences you’d like to replicate in your garden? A particular space? Certain materials? Or other things that played on your senses – sight, smell, sound, touch?

Finding garden ideas is not just about browsing the internet. Look at the existing world around you. And the world of your past. What can you take from that?

See my personal memory – ‘The Brick Wall’ – for my example.

 

DO’s

 

Let’s look at a few quick points around things you should aim to do when finding garden design ideas:

1) Never stop looking for ideas

2) Be aware of the spaces you move through each day – what can they teach you?

3) ‘Unpack’ what you can – the more you practice the quicker you will get

4) Combine multiple different sources for each activity or feature

5) Consider what other users of the garden would like – who are your other ‘clients’?

6) Accept input and new ideas – but you don’t always have to include them!

7) Be prepared for repetition

8) Be prepared for repetition

9) Be prepared for… you get the idea

10) USE YOUR ENVIRONMENT! Change the design of an activity based on the conditions of each specific location in your garden.

 

DON’Ts

 

All this said, what are somethings you should avoid?

DON’T:

1)      Stop looking for ideas (again, so you remember!)

2)     Design one space at a time

3)     Settle for the first option

4)     Be afraid to test crazy ideas

5)      Be afraid to ask for feedback (from experts or others)

6)     Get too attached your ideas – make mistakes here, not in the build!

7)      Be afraid of critique!

8)     Change your design to suit everyone – ultimately you live with the result

9)     Stop looking for ideas (one more, just in case)

10)  COPY AND PASTE STRAIGHT INTO YOUR DESIGN