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The side yard is more than just a transitional space. This area can round out your landscape and add more functionality to your home. Go beyond patterning its design on the front yard or backyard, and give it the attention it deserves. Draw inspiration from these seven practical side yard ideas.
1. Border With Greenery
Add plants to lend this passage more life and visual appeal. The presence of foliage can make your side yard a pleasure to walk through because of biophilia. Green induces serenity, so flanking a stepping stone walkway with ornamentals and flowers can render this strip of land more calming to look at.
Introducing vegetation can make the side of your house literally relaxing. A vegetated area has a cooling effect and neutralizes sunlight. In contrast, a material with high thermal mass and long thermal like brick or concrete absorbs and stores the sun’s heat for a long time, raising your outdoor space’s surface and air temperatures.
Think about sun exposure when choosing plants. Selecting succulents is a low-maintenance idea to jazz up your side yard. These plants need little water and only a certain amount of direct sunlight for survival.
If you live in a wet climate, go with plants that can handle regular rainfall and stay lush with little sunshine. Fuchsia species and coleus are excellent candidates. These yard plants thrive in shaded areas with moist or water-retentive soil. You can grow them in planters, which is neat when your side yard mostly consists of masonry.
2. Set Up an Edible Garden
Start an edible garden to embellish your space with greenery and have access to fresh produce. Although the backyard can accommodate more plantings, the side of your house can hide your crops from the patio or deck if you prefer to have a clear view.
Consider gardening with raised beds instead of planting in-ground. Building raised beds needs work but solves many horticultural challenges like compacted or contaminated soil. These beds give plants more room to grow vertically and squeeze in more crops — especially those that lure pollinators, such as zucchini, cucumber and eggplant — with less space.
This landscaping idea is feasible only if your side yard is wide enough. The minimum pathway width is 42 inches, which means your space should be more than twice as wide to fit in raised beds accessible on all sides.
3. Define Spaces With Arbors
Build these architectural features to demarcate your side yard’s boundaries. Delineating where your front yard and backyard begin and end matters in landscape design. This strategy aids visual transition between outdoor spaces, helping the eyes adapt to changing sceneries.
A single arbor will do, but a pair emphasizes proportion, unity, balance and rhythm — other basic landscape design principles. These transitional elements can be imposing and can serve as arresting focal points.
Bare arbors are aesthetically pleasing because their latticework is interesting in itself. However, dressing them with dramatic lighting can give them character at night.
Anchoring vegetation to arbors is a smart idea to beautify a small side yard. These fixtures are perfect for growing vines. Make at least one arbor crop-draped to allude to your edible garden.
Vines can be high-maintenance plants. They need regular pruning to stay immaculate. Overgrown vines can be hazardous and eyesores. Prepare yourself physically and mentally for the upkeep when dressing your arbors with vertical greenery.
4. Increase Shade With a Pergola
Install a partially covered pergola to enjoy sunshine minus the intense heat. A shaded side yard unlocks a world of design possibilities. Your space becomes a comfortable place to create a nook you can turn into a grilling corner or potting station. This intimate spot can be a social spot if you add more chairs or construct a curvy seat wall.
Erecting this architectural feature is better than hanging an awning, aesthetically speaking. Pergola materials range from lumber to aluminum but typically come in earth tones. Natural elements like wooden or wood-looking features bring warmth to your space and complement your garden flora.
Pergola covers are numerous. Popular options include lattice, louvered roofs, retractable canopy shades and tinted polycarbonate sheets. You can also grow vegetation and mount outdoor lights.
5. Raise Privacy With Trellises
Obscure your neighbors’ view with trellises. These fixtures are stylish and low-cost substitutes for solid fences and walls to keep your business safe from prying eyes. They also provide some shade, letting only narrow rays of light through.
Each trellis offers plenty of surface area for horticulture. Vegetated trellises are living vertical walls that give you more privacy and sun protection.
6. Add a Water Feature
Buy a garden fountain to enhance the atmosphere around your home. This water feature incorporates art into your outdoor space. Place something as ornate as a Roman marble sculpture or as simplistic as an ordinary terra-cotta birdbath into your side yard. Such a fixture can make this overlooked area inviting either way.
The fountain is one of the more expensive ideas for side yard makeover on this list, but it is worth it because of its therapeutic effects. The soundscape of an outdoor space with flowing water can be anxiety-inducing. Research shows that the sound of a fountain at 20-30 decibels aids good sleep. This outdoor noise can create a soothing ambience when it permeates into the bedroom.
7. Build an Outdoor Shower
Have a secluded shower in the side yard. This fancy addition can enrich your lifestyle and boost your property’s value. An outdoor shower conveniently lets you have a quick wash after an exhilarating jog around the neighborhood or a tiring day working in the garden.
Use a pergola or trellises to define, barricade and obscure this space. Use batwings as doors for easy access and extra privacy.
The rainfall showerhead is the perfect choice for this outdoor retreat. Limestone pavers make a refined foundation and pair them with similarly hued pea gravel for drainage. Surround the area with dense greenery to counterbalance the hard, rugged hardscape texture and create an illusion of a backcountry shower.
Spruce Up Your Humble Side Yard
No side yard should be an afterthought. Adopt these practical ideas to maximize every square foot of your forgotten outdoor space and fall in love with your home even more!
About The Author
Evelyn is the founder and editor-in-chief of Renovated with over 5 years of experience immersed in researching and writing on interior design, construction, and renovation. She is a passionate advocate for improving mental health and safety in the construction industry. When she's not writing, you can find her reading at coffee shops in Lancaster.
Her insights have resonated far beyond Renovated, gracing publications like the National Association of Realtors, Construction Executive, Fieldwire, DecorMatters, and Renewable Energy Magazine.
For more sharp takes on design, construction, and everything in between, you can follow Evelyn on Twitter at @renovatedmag.
