How to make a cottage beautiful - decorate a summer cottage. Original design of a summer cottage: ideas with a photo How to decorate a summer cottage with plants

The landscaping of a summer cottage implies not only competent planning and cleanliness, but also a certain decor. Most often, various borders, original flower beds and garden sculptures are used for this. To avoid unnecessary costs, we decorate the cottage with our own hands, using only improvised materials.

For the manufacture of garden paths, a wide variety of materials are used: brick, stone, gravel, round cuts of wood, and others. To make the site look harmonious, all tracks must be of the same material and, preferably, the same width. The most important thing is that the surface does not slip and does not collapse under the influence of moisture.

Prices for paving slabs

paving slabs

For work you will need:

It is more convenient to lay out a path from a whole brick, but a more beautiful surface is obtained from a broken one. So, first mark the boundaries, and then remove a layer of turf 15-20 cm thick. The bottom of the trench is well tamped, covered with a layer of coarse sand. The sand is poured with water for greater compaction and the laying of bricks is started. Very often, a brick is laid out without cement mortar, filling all the gaps with sand, but the use of the mortar will make the masonry much more reliable and durable.

Brick can be laid in any way: in parallel rows along the length or width of the track, in a checkerboard pattern, randomly, intersperse a whole brick with a broken one, form geometric shapes. Each element must be tightly laid next to the others and knocked out with a rubber mallet so that it does not protrude above the surface. The denser the laying, the more reliable it is. In a similar way, paths are made of stone or gravel.

Learn from step-by-step instructions, how, in our new article.

wooden walkways

If there are a lot of old unnecessary trees in the country house, you can create very beautiful garden paths from chocks and saw cuts of trunks. The saw cuts must be of the same thickness, not less than 15 cm; It is not necessary to select according to the diameter of the workpiece. You can not use too cracked or rotten parts of the tree - they will not last even a season.

For work you will need:

saw cuts of thick branches and trunk;
bituminous mastic or waste oil;
geotextile;
coarse sand;
a hammer;
shovel;
building level.

All saw cuts must be cleaned of bark and soaked with mining or hot drying oil from all sides. If bituminous mastic is used, the blanks are thickly coated on the side that will be in the ground. While the wood is drying, you can make markings on the ground and remove the top layer of the earth.

Laying saw cuts

The depth of the trench should be such that the saw cuts, after being installed on a sand cushion, are flush with the surface or slightly rise above the ground.

The bottom must be well tamped and covered with geotextile, releasing the edges of the material up on both sides of the trench. A layer of sand is poured, leveled, saw cuts are tightly installed and the gaps formed between them are filled with the same sand or screenings. With the help, they control the location of the saw cuts horizontally so that the track has a flat surface.

Beautiful homemade borders can be placed along the paths, around the flower beds, at the gate, or delimit the site into zones. For the manufacture of curbs, wooden chocks, rods, vines, bricks and stones, glass bottles, cinder blocks, and concrete are used. Broken glass, multi-colored pebbles and ceramic chips are used as decoration for concrete products.

Borders made of brick, stone and cinder block

To lay out a brick border, you will need:

According to the markup, a layer of earth is selected to a depth of 15 cm and a width of 20 cm. The bottom is compacted and covered with crushed stone to half the depth of the groove, and poured with mortar from above. When the mortar sets well, lay out the brick in rows in a checkerboard pattern. The border can be solid or have gaps - it depends on the amount of source material and the imagination of the master. In the same way, lay out a curb made of stone or cinder block.

To make the cinder block more decorative, you can use outdoor plaster and dye. After laying the cinder block and drying the solution, a plaster mixture is prepared: dry plaster is diluted with water and a coloring pigment is added. Now the surface of the border is covered with a decorative mixture and patterns are created using a spatula. This edging looks very attractive both along the paths and around the flower beds.

For wooden borders, small-diameter saw cuts, chumps made of branches, strong rods and antiseptic-impregnated hardwood timber are suitable. The blanks must be of the same size and without bark, otherwise the border will look very sloppy. First, all wooden elements must be soaked with used oil, drying oil or dried well in air.

While the workpieces are drying, you can make markings and select the soil to a depth of 15-20 cm. The bottom and walls of the groove should be covered with geotextiles, and then a layer of sand should be poured onto the bottom. Dried logs are alternately inserted into the groove, knocking with a mallet and checking their height by level. The gaps are filled with sand or screenings, soil is poured on the sides and compacted.

You can make neat and attractive concrete curbs. For this you will need:

Mark the borders of the curb and take out a layer of soil 15 cm thick. On both sides of the groove, formwork is installed from the boards and fixed with jumpers. The inner side of the formwork is upholstered with polyethylene to make the curb surface smooth. For the same reason, the boards should be as even as possible. As a reinforcing frame, 2-3 steel bars with a cross section of 10 mm can be laid, interconnected by wire at a short distance.

The solution is poured into the formwork, the surface is leveled with a trowel. After 2-3 hours, colored fragments of ceramics, pebbles, glass are pressed into raw concrete - everything that fantasy suggests. After a day, rub the irregularities and leave to dry completely. If desired, finished borders can be painted.

Border decorated with pebbles and lids

Making garden sculptures

Home-made garden sculptures can not only decorate the cottage, but also give it a special atmosphere and originality. You can use plywood, stumps, clay, gypsum or cement mortar, old car tires, scrap metal, plastic bottles and even polyurethane foam to make sculptures! The most important thing is that all the figures are combined with each other and in harmony with the surrounding landscape, otherwise the summer cottage will look like a warehouse.

It is easy to make any decorative figure from plywood. In the process of work you will need:

sample;
jigsaw;
waterproof plywood;
primer;
self-tapping screws;
screwdriver;
multicolored paint.

The figurine can be three-dimensional or flat, depending on the chosen template. Flat ones are easier to make and the process itself takes less time. To do this, a template is applied to the plywood sheet, circled with a pencil and cut off all the excess with a jigsaw. Then the sections are ground and the workpiece is treated with a protective primer. When the plywood dries, all that remains is to paint the figurine and install it in the garden.

Volumetric figures look more original and can perform additional functions, such as this cow.

To make it, you will need 4 identical sheets of plywood and several small fragments from which the animal's head will be made. Additionally, you will need a metal or wooden frame and a container for plants. Plywood sheets are cut according to the template and fastened in the form of a box. The head of a cow is assembled from scraps, ears are attached to it and all together are screwed to the base. Then you need to properly paint the structure, dry it, and then install and fix it on the frame. A container is placed inside, filled with earth and ornamental plants are planted.

Find out how to do it with step by step instructions in our new article.

Plaster sculptures

Gypsum or cement mortar makes it possible to pour a sculpture of any shape and size. For small figures, the mold is made from plastic containers, and to create a large sculpture, you will need to assemble a strong metal frame. In the absence of experience, it is recommended to start with small products of a simple form; Compositions of fresh flowers look very nice surrounded by gypsum mushrooms with bright hats, figures of gnomes or, for example, a turtle near a makeshift pond.

I would like the site located next to the house or cottage to look like a piece of paradise. For a city dweller, this is, after all, more a place to relax, although, if there are beds, this vacation is very peculiar)) Nevertheless, decorating the site - summer cottage, garden, backyard - worries all owners. The range of possibilities is wide. There are even different styles so they all look different, expressing the owner's personality. True, this is the case if you decorated it yourself, on your own. Let not everything be according to the canons of landscape design ... But it is precisely such areas, decorated by amateurs, that are somehow more comfortable.

Plot layout

The first thing to do when getting a plot is to think about what and where you will have located. Splicing is determined where the house will stand - at the beginning of the site, in the middle, closer to its far edge. Then you “arrange” the rest of the planned buildings. If you plan to build, determine a place for a bathhouse, then place outbuildings - a shed-hozblok, a chicken coop, garden beds and greenhouses, decide where the garden will be. Next come the places of rest - these are sheds, gazebos.

There are main buildings on the plan, now paths are being laid between them. Straight tracks are needed only in one case, if the section is long and narrow. In this case, a smooth path to its far end will visually make it closer. For all other objects, it is better to make them sinuous, with smooth bends.

Site plan - we place the house and the main buildings

Now it's time to think about placing decorations for the yard. First of all, this. They are built quickly, planted with annuals already in the first season, they will delight you, while everything else is still in the process of construction and beauty is still far away. A longer matter is the arrangement of rock gardens and rockeries. To drag and lay a couple of tons of stones is no joke, besides, they are planted mainly with perennials, they take their final shape only after three to four years. And then, only on the condition that you immediately chose and planted all the plantings correctly, that without experience is an unprecedented success.

Do you want to impress your friends and neighbors? Paint the flowerpots with fluorescent paint. At nightfall, they will glow, giving your lawn an unusual look.

The second option for turning ordinary things into extraordinary is the use of car paint with a chrome effect. Paint several stones or the same pots and get mirror stones ...

Mirror balls are balls painted with chrome effect paint.

Another traditional type of jewelry is. Very small ones are built quickly - from a tire, so generally in a couple of hours. Larger ones may take a couple of days to complete. But it is not worth arranging reservoirs before the house is built and paths are laid. Save this decoration closer to the finish line. Also, after the main construction, it's time to put, arches, canopies. And already at the very end, they begin to play with backlighting, although there are very simple and original ideas. For example, take a tin can, make holes in it, but not just like that, but according to the scheme, creating a pattern. Inside, you can start an ordinary low-power lamp, and if there is no electricity yet, put a candle and put / hang it near the house.

A completely unsightly jar turns into a flashlight of marvelous beauty ....

Such decoration of the site can be hung in the garden or on the veranda. It is not difficult to make, it looks great, however, only in the dark))

A little about styles

Our most common nature garden style, although many owners are unaware of this. These are the areas where there is everything at once - the entrance-ceremonial zone, the garden-garden, the recreation area. Moreover, the areas are small and all, or almost all, of the zones are visible. Natural style allows, focusing on the existing relief and soil, to create sites with any landscapes. Is there a swampy lowland? Arrange it lightly by adding a pond or making a swamp, leaving natural plantings and adding decorative ones, ennobling the banks. You can make a dry stream or build a natural one. Is the area flat? Organize the site according to the type of meadow, you can - alpine lawn. Put up a gazebo, plant ivy.

For romantic natures, the same style is closer. It is characterized by rose-covered, well-groomed lawns, flower beds, which are adjacent to thoughtfully overgrown secluded places.

Cozy places and arches, pergolas, flower beds, climbing roses are signs of a romantic style in the design of the site.

Country style easily recognizable by the characteristic "household" decor elements. Internal fences - or pickets, flowers - in tubs, cans, carts. and garden furniture are deliberately rough, if painted, then with a dark tinting composition, and not with covering paints.

English style amateurs can choose. Any free area is sown with lawn grass. This type of gardens can be summed up in two words "all in a bunch". In English gardens, everything can really be mixed up: a garden / vegetable garden is a single concept, flowerpots are also placed everywhere, all free places are occupied by grass. Another feature is the ivy-covered walls, a large number of roses, figurines and funny figurines placed in suitable places.

Lush vegetation punctuated by manicured lawns - signs of an English garden

classic garden draw up strictly according to the plan. This is the option when everything is clear, borders, shapes, height of bushes and borders. Everything is lined up and straight. In strictly designated places, elaborate benches are installed, next to which they arrange, install decorative flowerpots with flowers, statues and columns.

Clear geometry in everything is a sign of a classic garden

Fences and fences

First of all, the area is fenced off. It is understandable: it is necessary to start building materials, but how to protect them? Beyond the fence is easier. If possible, it is better to immediately put up a beautiful, capital, reliable fence. Not all of them cost a lot. Budget options can also be very attractive. The main thing in this case is the idea, and they are in the photo. So from a combination of long and short boards, you can get an interesting fence, more transparent from above and almost without gaps from below.

If the boards are placed edgewise, the effect is even more interesting. If you don't see it, you won't believe it...

With thin fresh boards, you can make a beautiful fence that uses the principles of wattle making. Boards are passed between posts and bent.

A slab fence is cheap and cheerful, however, there is a lot of work ...

If funds allow, you can put up something monumental, such as a stone or brick fence. It will require a lot of work and money, but it will also stand for a long time.

My home is my castle…

For the internal division of the site, such solid fences are useless. For a garden-garden, you can put a lattice made of a thin bar, weave.

If you are “lucky” and a blank wall enters your garden, you can also decorate it with a kind of fence along which climbing plants can be planted. An interesting option is presented below. When the ivy grows a little it will be very beautiful. Instead of ivy, you can plant clematis. In winter, the view is over, worse, but in summer ...

How to decorate a garden plot with flowers

This part of gardening brings the fastest results. Annual flowers bloom within a few weeks after planting, perennials are also pleasing, growing more and more every week. Oh, and here we will post some interesting ideas that can give impetus to the choice of garden style.

The decoration of the site often consists of little things. For example, an ordinary wooden box can easily be turned into a garden decoration - interesting coloring and custom installation - hang on ropes that are designed like hands. The pole is used as a base for hanging flower pots.

Sculptures are made from ordinary pots. They pick them up in different sizes, fasten them with wire, add a little paint or plants - everyone has their own fantasies ... marvelous figures are obtained.

Even leaky rubber gloves come into play. It's good that the colors are bright, and the base is dense. Soil is poured, annuals are planted, tied to trees or ropes, nailed to fences. Fun and bright.

Highlights of our garden: ponds

Perhaps the second after the flower beds, the favorite decoration of the site is. The picturesque combination of water and plants fascinates, gives coolness in summer. The design of reservoirs is a creative process and there are many styles here too. You can make around the flooring of the boards. And in order not to suffer with their painting and impregnation, they may not be wooden, but composite - there is such a new material that looks very much like wood. The only difference is that it does not rot, does not change color. This material is called decking. It can be used for flooring an open veranda or terrace, near the pool. You can see an example of its use around the pond in the photo.

Flooring around the pond - it will be convenient to walk even after rain

You can lay out the space around with stone slabs. This arrangement will take more time, but many people like this option more. So that the whole finish does not “float”, you will have to remove part of the soil, fill in crushed stone, tamp it down, and a layer of sand on top. You can already lay slabs on it. The gaps can be covered with a mixture of sand and cement, carefully sweep the excess, and then either wait for the rain, or pour the blind area - the cement will grab, fixing the plates. The coverage will be reliable.

Using the same technology, you can lay out the edges with boulders collected on the river bank (or bought at a garden center).

Boulders are a great way to decorate the shore of a pond

If they are made of paving stones, it makes sense to arrange the shore of the reservoir as well. The technology is known, only the material is different.

Paving stones - you don’t need to look for anything, everything is in the store

Decorating a garden or cottage with improvised materials

As you probably understood, you can make a garden decoration from any object or thing. The main thing is the idea, then a little imagination and work, and the decor is ready. For example, around a tree, you can make a table, a small terrace, and use this corner for relaxation.

Stumps often remain on the site. It takes a long time to uproot them, in the process they trample everything around ... They stick out until they become rotten and crumble themselves. And from stumps you can do very interesting things. For example - use as a flower bed.

And even a stump on a spring day...

Or make an interesting figurine out of it for the garden.

On the prosaic, but necessary - toilets

These buildings sometimes appear before the fences, because without them - trouble. Builders will master all the nearby nooks and crannies, and who, interestingly, will like it. So the most necessary, perhaps, building. And why are we talking about toilets, in relation to decorating the site? But because this building can be made in such a way that it will not necessarily be hidden. Putting it on display is also not an option, but you don’t need to mask it either. For example, a standard birdhouse can be made from logs. Get a mini hut.

Little cost, looks good...

Plant around the plant, make it pretty, and this corner of the garden will also be attractive. For example, such as but the photo below.

A few more variations on the same theme. One and the same uncomplicated design can be designed in different ways. Choose the style depending on the style in which the cottage or garden plot is framed.

Well, if you need a stone toilet, then why not decorate it in the style of a medieval castle. Only crowds of tourists will need to be driven away ...

Photo Ideas for Garden Decoration

There are many ways to make your garden or summer cottage bright and beautiful. A few of those who liked the eccentricity were collected in a photo gallery. Maybe some of them will help you decorate your corner.

Unusual gazebo - lawn grass is planted on the frame Swing made of large stones Cozy corner for relaxation - wooden benches, covered with colored leatherette Even stumps can be useful in the household - they made a bench out of them

Do-it-yourself cottage design: we bring the fairy tale to life. What can be done to decorate a country house and the area adjacent to it so that passers-by turn their necks, and arriving guests instantly get excited about the idea of acquiring a hacienda and organizing on it the same corner of heavenly rest, peace and quiet, like yours? Designing a dacha with your own hands means telling your life story with natural materials, implementing a project with a bright personality, colored by amazing impressions, favorite stories and a joyful attitude to country life.

We look in the house or from the house

First you need to decide what exactly is required: decorating the interior of a country house or an interesting design of the entire site? You should highlight the decor elements that are characteristic of the interior and exterior spaces, and then decide which of them you can make with your own hands.

If the home interior decoration items cannot be too large, mainly textile decoration, wall decor and small accessories that are accents of the premises, then the decor of the summer cottage can be divided into large-volume, medium in size and very small - the “highlight” of any corner garden.

It is worth decorating the entire site, starting from its features (shape, division into zones, height difference, prevailing verticals, existing groups of green spaces), taking into account the view from the window of the central room or your favorite room in the house, based on your own hobbies and financial capabilities.

Tips from more experienced craftsmen, books and master classes will come to the aid of a beginner DIYer, and “advanced” decorators should use the results of their hobby to decorate the surrounding space from improvised materials, or maybe learn something new from knowledgeable people.

Wooden decor of the site

All parts of a tree are suitable for decorating a summer house, starting with its branches and ending with stumps with remnants of roots. In different versions, wood materials are subjected to various processing: soaked, sawn, sanded, sanded, spread on boards, covered with stain, hollowed out.

In its manufacture, a specially prepared willow vine or cut branches of deciduous trees of small diameter that are similar in length are used. The main indicator of the material used is flexibility. The weaving method creates:

fences, doors in the garden part of the site;
framing high beds;
baskets and boxes, as a place to store garden supplies;
voluminous containers for planting luxuriantly blooming letniki;
garden sculptures;
balls of different diameters, as a decorative element of strict minimalist gardens, replacing stone ones.

Advice. When creating beds and containers, line the inside of the object with geotextile or thick cardboard so that earth does not spill out into the cracks.

Decorating with the use of natural forms. In this version, the skinned parts of logs with butt and thick roots are used to make garden benches, bird feeders, bases for children's houses in the style of Russian folk tales, and decoration of playgrounds.

To create a flower girl, the inner part of the stump is taken out, leaving a few centimeters of the outer layer, a layer of drainage, a soil mixture is laid in the recess, then flowering letniki are planted. To enhance the effect of naturalness, in some cases, the embossed tree bark is left untouched, and long-weaving plants, such as nasturtium, are chosen from plants.

Country decor made of treated wood

Boards and bars covered with stain or paints for external woodwork are put on benches, small garden forms - arbors, arches, pergolas, sheds for grapes.

Special skill will require the creation of a slightly inclined cart for plants and decorative pumpkins, from which blooming petunias or pumpkin "lanterns" pour onto the ground in a bright waterfall.

A do-it-yourself bridge thrown over a small stream, as an interesting accent of a romantic corner of the garden, makes it possible to stand and look at the running water - one of the three phenomena that, according to the sages, can be observed endlessly.

Beginning home crafters can start making garden decor items with less effort, time and woodworking skills.

The plank framing of containers for flowers, made from any plastic, tin or enameled containers, will allow you to remove inconsistency from the garden and bring the whole decor to the same style denominator.
Using wooden pallets left over from a large construction site as a starting material will clear the site of construction debris, turn it into garden tables, benches, stools, compost boxes or a seedling table next to the garden equipment house, on which it will be convenient for the gardener to dive and transplant plants.
The simplest option for decorating garden elements with wood is to create harnesses from textured ropes and wood planks (trimming of door frames of the required length is good), making plastic barrels for collecting rainwater not a foreign object that you want to remove from your eyes away, but a full-fledged participant in the decorating performance.

Houses for domestic animals: decoration and benefit at the same time

Together with people in the summer, those who walk on all fours move to the dacha. Getting "on free bread", they refuse to be constantly in the house, but demand free walking. Also, if the owners have a certain courage or desire to eat environmentally friendly, natural products, laying hens, ducks or rabbits may appear in the backyard farm.

For the self-made construction of a chicken coop or a dog house, which, in addition to practical use, can become worthy decorations for the household part of the dacha, you will need much more skills and free time. However, the pleasure that the master receives from the admiration of other people and awareness of the level of his own skill is worth it.

Projects of modern buildings for pets are castles, cottages, mansions and towers in miniature, hiding full-fledged premises behind a beautiful facade for comfortable living for those who protect, feed and relieve nervous tension of family members. Such houses in different styles look interesting with a flat grass roof, windows with painted shutters, a decorative balcony on the pediment or carved pillars supporting a canopy over the terrace for everyone's favorite.

Stone and concrete paths

High-strength materials - stone and concrete, capable of taking any shape, are suitable for creating decorative elements of a suburban area of various sizes.

Horizontal planar decoration occurs by delineating the site with footpaths, platforms and driveways. If you look at the hacienda from above, then the correct lines of the paths should be woven into a simple but harmonious pattern. In small dachas, it is not recommended to make the routes straight or with sharp turns.

Track options available for DIY:

concrete (solid pouring, creation of individual blocks by mold pouring);
stone with a gravel frame (stones are laid on a dense base, gravel with compaction is poured into the gaps);
stone with a lawn frame (lawn grass is planted around the main flat stones on a layer of earth, which is cut along with the lawns);
gravel (gravel is poured into the bed of the path);
paving stones (granite blocks or a concrete analogue of old street masonry are used);
pebble (large pebbles placed on edge are pressed into the cement mixture with a dotted pattern).

By selecting materials according to color and shape, mixing different techniques, changing the direction of laying, a true master can create paths that cannot be repeated. The chain of routes laid at the request of the owners, connecting different parts of the garden, organizes the space, delimits it into zones and makes it not like neighboring summer cottages.

Advice. When excavating the soil to prepare the garden path bed, after setting the curb stones, lay high-density geotextiles (used for paving) on the bottom with a plant on the walls of the grooves. It will not allow the base (sand and gravel layers) to go into the ground, it will prevent the germination of weeds. Only then backfill and lay the front material of the track.

Small concrete molds

Plastic concrete can be used to create small decorative elements that can bring intrigue to the calm flow of country life and revive the monotony of remote green corners.

The main thing in the process: the choice of a high-quality mixture, accuracy in pouring, removal of internal air bubbles and careful subsequent processing, including decorating with various materials, if the master’s own color does not suit the master.

From concrete, you can make original decorations for a summer cottage:

the base of a fountain or small waterfall;
garden table and "eternal" chairs finished with stone, tiled, faience mosaics;
sundial on a stand;
baths for birds;
man-made stones with moss grown in depressions, stonecrops.

A bird's drinker, cast from concrete, where a leaf of burdock or rhubarb served as a form, looks very interesting. The combination of the natural pattern of leaf veins with technological material will successfully decorate the cottage in a modern style.

The main task of any owner is to make his suburban area attractive, comfortable for life. Even in nature, not everything is perfect, and when a person intervenes, carrying out construction work and disturbing harmony, then decoration is required.

Some area of the local area must be hidden, and the most successful perspective or cozy corner should be accentuated, presented to the viewer so that in no case does he pass by. With diligence, patience, and some effort, you can turn an ordinary cottage into a fairy-tale world with your own hands.

A cozy beautiful cottage with a well-groomed garden and vegetable garden is the dream of every city dweller. Fresh vegetables from the garden, flowering flower beds, barbecue and garden chairs are simple, but such important components of a country holiday. And anyone who has at least a small plot can get it. Arranging your own dacha is an exciting creative process. But it requires preparation and following a plan. Then the dacha will turn into a real paradise where you can relax alone, with your family or invite a noisy company of guests.

Where to start the arrangement: preparatory work

Before you start arranging a garden plot, you must definitely draw up a plan. A chaotic plantation of trees cannot be turned into a beautiful garden. And if you do not foresee in advance where the recreation area will be, and where the beds are, you will get a useless use of space.

Preparation for the development of a summer cottage begins with a plan, and before that a preliminary inspection is carried out. It is necessary to explore the site, study the parameters and take into account its features. The main criteria: the location of the house and the relief. If there is no house on the site yet, the task is simplified. For future construction, you can choose the best place.

If you have a house, you will have to adjust the location of the garden, vegetable garden and recreation area. The gentle relief will also simplify the task. With strong relief differences, you will have to choose one of the possible solutions: leveling or use it as the main feature and “highlight” of the site.

Drawing up a plan-scheme of a country project

It should be remembered that the plan is not drawn up in advance without visiting the site. When developing a primary plan, the main factors affecting the location of individual zones are taken into account:

Buildings that are already on the site. The house is the central building, they are repelled from its location when planning the placement of a recreation area.
The boundaries of the site, the location of the entrance and entrance. It is important to consider the type of gate: swing or sliding. It depends on how much space you have to allocate additionally so that the gate can open freely.
Communications. The plan displays: water supply, electric cable, gas pipeline, sewerage. Trees cannot be planted near utility lines, so it is important to accurately display them on the plan.
Plants. It is necessary to divide trees and shrubs into groups: those that cannot be transplanted and they will remain in place, those that can be transplanted and those that can be cut down.
Soil type. Loose clay soil requires additional strengthening of the foundation of buildings and the allocation of space for a vegetable garden and flower beds.

When placing a plan-scheme on paper, the south-north direction should be strictly observed. On the sheet, yut is at the bottom, north is at the top.

Breakdown of the site into zones

There are mandatory areas: house, garage (if you have a car). The rest are selected depending on personal needs and preferences. Most often in suburban areas are placed:

In addition to the standard zoning, additional decorative zones can be placed in the country house, for example, a winter garden. But this is possible only in large areas with relatively flat terrain.

Ideas and ready-made solutions: mandatory components of a summer cottage

A traditional Russian summer cottage, where it is comfortable to relax, must have a house, a bathhouse and a garage. The bath should be located so that it is not visible from the street and as close as possible to the house. Near the bath it is convenient to place a barbecue and a gazebo. If the plot is large, a flower bed or flower garden is usually laid out next to the gazebo. For the garden, a place is allocated in the lower zone of the site, behind the gazebo.

Fruit trees are planted behind the house, grouping them in the left or right corner. It is better not to stretch the garden and plant them in a square. The main decorative elements must be placed on the side of the facade. Ideally, if you manage to break the flower beds under the windows or at a distance, but so that they can be seen from the windows.

Budget minimalism: how to cut costs

The budget may be limited, but it is not necessary to restrain the imagination. You can save on clearance with:

You cannot reduce the budget on materials for buildings. This is an imaginary savings: cheap materials are short-lived and you will have to make regular repairs so that the finish does not lose its original appearance.

Entrance: door trim

The door and the space around it is responsible for the first impression of the cottage, therefore, it needs special design. Most often, doors and a fence are decorated with climbing perennials.

But if the fence does not allow this, you can get by with hanging flower pots. Other popular decorating options include trimmed trees (planted on either side of doors) or lanterns.

Backyard: arrangement of free territory

Arranging the backyard provides the greatest scope for experimentation. Here you can create a "wild garden" by planting decorative varieties of plants. You can also equip a pond or bulk platform. The backyard with a flat terrain is ideal for arranging a playground for active games: football, basketball, table tennis.

How to set up a place to stay

Verandas and gazebos are considered as the main types of recreation areas. The veranda can be open (without walls) or closed (with thick walls that cover the area from wind and precipitation). The type of veranda depends on what type of recreation the owners of the cottage are used to. For those who like to spend evenings on the veranda, a closed type with windows is more suitable - this will allow you not to give up your favorite pastime even in winter.

The open veranda allows you to have tea parties only in summer.

The gazebo is actually a separate open veranda. This is a small building with a dense roof and carved walls. The gazebo does not shelter from the cold, but copes with rainy weather. This type of recreation area is suitable for those who like to spend time outdoors, surrounded by greenery.

Garden and garden in the country

It is not advisable to plant a large garden in the country. Fruit trees take up a lot of space, and you can harvest a sufficient amount of crop from several trees, subject to regular care. For a classic garden is enough:

1-2 apple trees;
1 cherry;
1 pear;
1 cherry;
1 peach;
2-3 currant bushes;

A good addition would be a bed with strawberries and a small area with raspberries. It is better to choose varieties that bear fruit 2 times per season. Decorative bushes or trees are an optional element; it is more practical to replace them with weaving perennials.

The country garden is a space for imagination. But it is important to consider 2 points: the shape and location of the beds and the proximity of individual plant varieties. Square beds are not convenient: they take up a lot of space, and it is difficult to process them - you won’t be able to reach the center from the edge. It is better to choose oval or oblong beds. Light-loving plants should be placed closer to the center, and shade-loving and cool plants should be placed closer to the fence.

Tracks: the principle of location and shape

The location of the tracks must be provided immediately, at the stage of drawing up the plan. The main paths lead from the entrance to the house, from the house to other buildings and along the central garden alley.

Paths cannot be drawn, focusing only on their own aesthetic views. All curves should be motivated and look natural. Having drawn a path on the plan, you need to rotate it and see if it overlaps with others. There should be no sharp corners at the intersections, it is desirable that the intersections be proportional. The maximum allowable slope angle is 12 cm per 1 m. If the relief difference is greater, you need to make steps.

The material for the track is selected depending on its purpose: basic, walking, decorative. The more often it is supposed to walk on it, the stronger and more durable the material should be.

MAFs and other decorative elements: how to decorate a site

MAfas (small architectural forms) include decorative elements that do not have a practical function, performing only the role of decorations. MAFs include:

fences;
conversations;
flower beds;
bridges;
rotundas;
benches;
monuments;
awnings;
hedge.

For the manufacture of MAFs, wood and sculptural material are used. You can create them yourself or buy ready-made ones in gardening supply stores.

Country fence decoration

Various decorative elements are used for decoration: lamps, decorative stone, garden sculptures. Ornamental trees, flowerbeds and ampelous plants belong to the vegetable decorations of the garden. Experienced gardeners recommend choosing the latter.

Ampel flowers are called flowers with a long stem, which are planted in hanging pots. Unlike hedges, they are mobile: pots can be moved or removed at any time. Popular ampelous plants include surfinia, lobelia, petunia.

Decoration of flower beds and flower beds

A simple and profitable design method is the “chintz garden” technique. To create it, perennial flowers of contrasting colors are used. They bloom almost simultaneously and delight the eye all season. The shape of the flower bed can be any, but oval looks neater. The frames of the flower bed must be delineated: brick, stone or slate.

Original alpine hill with conifers

Alpine slide is a type of flower bed that has several levels. Decorating it with conifers is an original idea that allows you to create an almost eternal flower bed in one season. For an alpine slide, decorative thujas and spruces, junipers are suitable. You should not choose tall plants: they will spoil the structure of the slide.

How to furnish a small area

To visually make a small area larger, you need to use the techniques of space curvature:

light colors;
smooth lines;
more lamps;
minimum plantings.

It is better if the fence is not solid, but lattice. This will add lightness and light to the site.

How to make a long section harmonious

If there is not yet a house on the elongated site, it is planned to place it at the far end of the site. Trees and flower beds are planted in front of the house. Outbuildings are taken out to the fence, placing them on one side. The path from the gate to the house should be winding. The central part of the site can be left under the lawn or beds with undersized plants can be laid out. All high plantings are best moved to the fences.

closed type has 2 subtypes: with horizontal closure and vertical closure. In the horizontal version, viewing the space is partially difficult and is blocked only from above (for example, loose tree crowns). The vertical version closes the space with "walls" - crowns of trees, shrubs, lattice. All structures on the site are of a closed type of spatial structure.

open type is a plane not occupied by solid elements. These include: reservoirs, lawns, flower beds with undersized plants, paved areas. Open space can be enclosed (surrounded on all sides) or inverted (closed on one side).

What are viewpoints and what are they for?

The view point is the area on which a person stands, examining a landscape picture.

viewpoint is the center from which the view opens. When a person moves from one zone to another, the viewpoint changes. But the landscape canvas itself remains intact. It is necessary to select the central view point (from which the entire area is viewed) and points in each zone. Additional points often include:

garden gate;
porch of the house;
recreation area.

Having identified the center of the landscape picture and the main viewpoints, you need to check how they fit together. From each point, a view of the accent should open: a building, a tree, a decorative element. If they are not, you need to add these elements to the plan.

We are invited to visit a beautiful dacha, the photo of which will tell the story of the old house, which the owners inherited from their grandfather. In this house with worn floorboards, every thing has its own special story. The owners tried to carefully update, while maintaining its special atmosphere. But at the same time, the house must be in a residential condition, because. the family lives here all summer and comes for weekends throughout the year.

The doorways in the house were so low that everyone who was taller than 177 cm would certainly hit the back of the head.

Simple ideas on how to equip a cottage with your own hands.

The veranda is used from early spring to late autumn.

Everyone loves to gather at the large dining table on the veranda, as in summer you can open wide double doors and feel like you are in a garden. Because grandchildren often come to the dacha, then on this large veranda there is a place for everyone.

Updated bathroom.

Small garden pond with frogs.

The lupins love the sandy soil in the garden and are actively spreading throughout the garden.

The kitchen corner is everyone's favorite place.

Delphinium broke its previous record of 480 cm.

Climbing rose Flammentanz grows under the windows of the veranda - it's much better than just planting it near the wall of the house - so you can admire it from all sides.

Beautiful cottage photo: rose and astrantia near the house.

Gladiolus is very easy to grow. Dig up in the fall, wrap the bulbs in newspaper and put them in a cool place, plant in May, and you have a sea of flowers. From one bulb there can be 20-30 children. These are excellent cut flowers.