Visualize Landscape Design

Every landscape designer dreads a client who can't visualize. If you're like most such people, it will be hard to transfer what's on paper into a three-dimensional, real-time backyard scenario. If you can afford it, a landscape designer will draw you a nice perspective of the design, but that costs big bucks.

After working with many non-visual clients, I have learned that they will resist approving a design until they feel comfortable with it. The more expensive the proposed project, such as outdoor living spaces with costly paving, the less confident the client. The only way for them and you to find a comfort zone is to actually lay out some lines in the yard. This real-time transfer of lines on paper to lines on the ground bridges this visualization gap. It requires one of two tools: a garden hose or a bag of kitchen flour.

The limits of the space can be laid out with a few general measurements taken from control points such as a fence or house wall. The edges marked by a garden hose can be arranged in virtually any shape. Once it is laid out you can stand inside and assess your views from every angle.

Another technique is inspired by the chalk lines on a football field. Instead of chalk, ordinary white kitchen flour will stand out in high contrast against dirt or lawn. However, it won't work well on concrete or other light-colored surfaces where the hose is a better choice.

Flour's life span ends when you turn on the sprinklers or it rains. Yet flour allows you to roughly see where planters will be located, how big the patio or terrace is, and you can even pin down the location and visual impact of a spa or swimming pool. Once you lay out the lines of a patio, you can observe how it will feel at different times of the day.

Another consideration is the size of the space. Building an outdoor living space too large is never a problem, but one too small can be a financial and functional disaster. Just as with interiors, you want to be sure furniture will fit.

If you want two nice chaise lounges to fit with a small outdoor dining table, the hose or flour method is a foolproof test. Drag furniture of similar dimensions outside into the yard and then try arranging them inside the space you've laid out on. If it feels too cramped, you'd better make the patio bigger or give up on the table or one chaise.

Designers go through these same steps on paper at a particular scale. For your own satisfaction, do the same in real time. Then you can fork over a fat check to the contractor knowing for sure that your new design will indeed be the right one.