Inspirational front garden designs

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Villa in Frankreich, Bolz Licht und Wohnen · 1946 Bolz Licht und Wohnen · 1946 Modern garden
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Turning your attention to outdoor spaces can be bamboozling as there are so many incredible front garden designs to be inspired by. Whether you have a small area in need of some beautification or an impressively large driveway prime for landscaping, front garden designs are as varied as the houses that they lead up to. 

Let's take a look at some of the possibilities on offer and see if we can inspire you to try something new.

Geometric appeal

Regardless of the size of your front garden, some well placed geometric planters, such as these ones from Adam Christopher Design, will bring some welcome sophistication and aesthetic appeal. For small areas, diminutive pots will work well with box hedge style foliage, as pictured here, and for larger expanses and driveways, dramatically oversized planters will look beautiful when filled with equally large scale greenery. Front garden designs will benefit from the simplicity of these cast concrete planters and allow them to either blossom as a main feature or blend into the wider theme. 

A mix of materials

Nothing adds dimension and texture to front garden designs like a good variety of materials all working together to create something truly beautiful. The juxtaposition of harsh flint against luscious green grass, fantastic foliage and domineering boulders helps to create front garden designs that are not only inviting but also stylish and eye-catching as well as nature friendly.

Raised planters

Whatever you construct them from, whether it be wooden sleepers, bricks or concrete, raised beds are a wonderful addition to front garden designs. Perfect for small plants, herbs or even, for more ambitious gardeners, certain vegetables, raised beds can help to break up large spaces or add useful height to smaller ones. Front garden designs don't come much more unusual than working allotments, but that is a great use for raised beds and depending on the vegetables grown, would make for a very attractive display.

Immaculate ironwork

Set aside the issue of foliage, greenery and beds for one moment and what do you have left? Custom ironwork can make front garden designs pop, most obviously through the installation of a stunning gate that also adds a comforting level of security to any property. Large estates could tap into this trend by erecting large iron gates at the foot of a driveway, but even much smaller terraced houses can enjoy the impact of some fine metalwork with a small but perfectly formed pathway gate. Front garden designs encompass so much more than mere flora, it's just a case of identifying potentially suitable additions and thinking a little outside the box.

Spectacular splashing

Clearly an idea for larger front garden designs, a striking water feature can make a big impact, especially on guests arriving at a house for the first time. This sleek and modern design manages to encompass a number of dramatic characteristics in one feature; a splash of colour, water, uplighting, smooth granite and even a piece of sculpture. Potentially not an idea suitable for those who favour understated styles, but for anyone with some space to play with and a sense of fun, front garden designs can be as wild as you like.

Plants on parade

For minimalist gardeners with less green fingers and more slate-hued digits, an elegant solution to front garden designs is uniform planters with finely clipped topiary. Perfect for tiny gardens and large ones alike, these pots can play house to fun shapes if your imagination leans that way, while offsetting the potential for being more comedic than stylish with planters being kept to softly muted tones and elegant shapes.

Dramatic lighting

Front garden designs can be kept incredibly simple, while still making a huge impact. Take this example whereby there is little in the way of landscaping, despite the vast quantities of available space, and instead, lighting has been used for effect. This could work in any garden regardless of the present foliage as coloured lighting can installed on the ground, alongside a path or even nestled in small bushes.

A warm welcome

The lighting in this picture has been used to such beautiful effect that it will no doubt inspire countless front garden designs. Creating straight lines in a bid to mirror the elegant and stark lines of the building, the lights almost form a decorative grid on the wall, encompassing the entrance with a warm and welcoming ambience. By keeping the rest of the garden installations understated and simple, the lighting is the main event.

Driveway elegance

Front garden designs can extend to driveways, if you don't have a green-fingered mindset. The use of appealing brick weave paving can transform a defunct area of space at the front of a house into a useful and attractive outdoor area ripe for accessorising with subtle plantings and mood lighting. This example is a perfect depiction of what is possible and even includes a cascading flowerbed to inject a little nature into the expanse of stone.

Doorstep utopia

If you're keen to flex your imagination in regards to front garden designs, but have little or nothing in the way of an actual front garden, fear not, you can still enjoy a bit of greenery! Take inspiration from this marvellous picture, which clearly shows a property that is directly on the street, offering absolutely no green space or potential to create any. The solution is to install a singular beautiful pot, as large as you dare, with a fast-growing plant housed within. Not quite a garden, this is a great alternative when you have a green leaning that you can't ignore.

For more front garden inspiration, check out these 10 front garden ideas for your home.

What look would look best in your front garden? Let us know in the comments!

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