Increase The Resale Value of Your Tulsa Home with Outdoor Upgrades

The key is to make livable space that’s flexible, something not too personal, but something buyers can see themselves using like their Tulsa outdoor environment.

Liveable Space. Everyone could use more space, so if you add areas where people can entertain and enjoy themselves more fully, then you have a good thing. But you may think, “Shouldn’t I just covert my garage into a room?” And true, converting a garage may afford more space, but then you also don’t have a garage, which many homeowners want. Whereas, adding a deck, patio, or outdoor kitchen extends the confines of your home, creating more living space that’s even more practical. For instance, if you have an outdoor kitchen and decide to put your house up for sale in the spring, buyers can envision themselves having their own cookouts. Or if you added a deck or patio to your Tulsa home, prospective homeowners will imagine a variety of different entertaining ideas and nights enjoyed with their family.

Perhaps you’ve been thinking of adding an outdoor kitchen, pool, or outdoor fireplace to your home in Tulsa, besides the obvious, there’s good reason to do so – the added resale value that these upgrades can bring. Even if you’re not thinking of selling your home right away, making it more “sellable” is always a good thing, just in case you want to sell in the future.

How do outdoor living improvements add value to your home? Two general principles come to mind...1. The more liveable space you give to your home, the more the value of your home goes up. 2. The greater your curb appeal, the quicker you’ll sell or greater your value will be.

Sandy Koepke, Interior and garden designer in Southern California, was quoted in the New York Times as saying that there’s many reasons for building an outdoor kitchen. “You’re getting a lot of bang for your buck because you’re basically creating a very usable room for a lot less money than if you were adding on to the house,” she said in the article.


Curb Appeal. Consider this, if you’ve made major renovations inside, buyers may never see them if their first impression of the house scares them away.

“If I were going to spend money on a property, I would really work on making sure the curb appeal was strong” realtor Ron Phipps told HGTV in an article. “You really want to convey a sense of welcome. If all your remodeling is on the inside but the outside of the house is challenging, you’ll never have a chance to even show the inside,” he said.

Don’t underestimate how landscape maintenance can add resale value to your home by increasing its curb appeal. Having a professional landscape design and maintenance plan can greatly increase the curb appeal of your home while taking away the hassle of regular lawn care while you live there.

Regular landscaping and lawn care can update the look of your home and keep it looking beutiful and well-cared for overall.

Also you might consider putting in a walkway to the front door or a path to the side of the house to add interest.

 So if you are wanting to add much resale value to your property while at the same time make your home more enjoyable for your own family, the Tulsa landscaping contractors at Oklahoma Landscape can help you in every way.

Outdoor Kitchens in Tulsa - 7 Things Every Kitchen Needs

Outdoor kitchens have become a popular outdoor living addition to many Tulsa area homes. If you had an a dream outdoor kitchen, what would it include? Today’s custom Tulsa outdoor kitchens can include almost anything.

What are some popular features of today's outdoor kitchens? We’ve narrowed them down to seven things that every outdoor kitchen needs to entertain in style.

Grill Stations. Every outdoor kitchen will of course need a suitable grilling station. Gas grills with attached side burners allow you to get to cooking right away. Kamado-style grills, epicurious.com noted, are very versatile with a grill, oven, and smoker in one along with a great ability to retain heat. Some outdoor kitchens also have rotisserie grills and convection ovens for even more restaurant-style cooking.

Pizza oven. For delicious restaurant-style pizza at home, a wood-fired pizza oven to accompany your outdoor kitchen is an absolute must. And in addition to cooking great tasting pizzas, these classic ovens bring a Tuscan-style atmosphere to your Tulsa outdoor space.

Swim-up poolside bar. You don't have to travel to a luxury resort. Your own Tulsa pool and outdoor kitchen area can have an elegant and entertaining poolside bar. This beautiful addition is fun for adults and kids alike, and bring the kitchen to the pool with relaxed poolside dining.


 
Mini fridge. Your complete kitchen will rightly need a refrigerator? Stainless steel appliances like mini fridges built-in to your outdoor kitchen area make preparing and cooking outside a breeze.

Outdoor fireplace. A complete Tulsa outdoor environment will need an outdoor fireplace to match the outdoor kitchen area. Imagine relaxing by your outdoor fireplace after a delicious meal prepared in your outdoor kitchen. These outdoor fireplaces can be as elegant or as simple as you’d like them to be and can be custom made to match the décor of your outdoor kitchen and home.

Wine cooler. As part of your top-of-the-line outdoor appliances, don’t forget the handy and elegant wine cooler. Keep all your fine wines ready to serve with a built-in wine cooler. Perfect for entertaining!

Sink and storage areas. Again, every kitchen must have a large enough sink and plenty storage space. And your outdoor kitchen is no different. There are a variety of stainless steel sink options available including those with pull-down faucets for easy cleaning. Adequate storage is also a must for an outdoor kitchen. Continually carrying everything you need like utensils from inside to your outdoor kitchen can be frustrating, so these built-in storage and waste containers make prep and cooking times much shorter and easier.

These are just a few of the many choices you can have when designing and building an outdoor kitchen. The outdoor environment specialists at Oklahoma Landscape in Tulsa can help you choose the right options and features for your outdoor kitchen. They can custom-design and build an outdoor kitchen that will be the ideal outdoor entertaining spot.

Ideas to Brighten Your Tulsa Landscape Design This Spring

Do you want to give your Tulsa landscape a little touch-up for spring? There are many easy ways to spruce up your Tulsa landscape design while adding valuable curb appeal.

A pathway of pavers.
 
Pavers are a great way to give your landscape added charm. Pavers come in a wide array of sizes, shapes, textures, colors, and materials, which makes them a favorite when it comes to Tulsa landscape design. Create an elegant walkway to invite guests to your home’s entrance or a patio in the backyard to entertain or even a distinctive driveway design.

Tulsa pavers are also great for landscaping because they can endure severe weather conditions much better than their asphalt or concrete counterparts. They are also much easier to replace than concrete if they do get damaged.

Add more color to your garden.
 
You can add a dash of color to your Tulsa landscape with an interesting mix of colorful annuals. Do you want to plant brighter hues closer to the home to direct attention there, or do you want to spread the color purposefully throughout your garden landscape? The choice is yours, so have fun with your living paintbrush. Container plants are also an easy and fun way to decorate your landscape and home.

Many are replacing much of their lawn with colorful native plants and ornamental grasses that require less water and maintenance while creating an interesting visual diversity in their yard.
Pruning any overgrown trees or shrubs can also be an easy way to give your landscape a more manicured look.

Renew the mulch.
 
A new layer of mulch added around trees and flowers bring a more polished look to the landscape and provide needed contrast.

Go for organic.

Planting a vegetable garden can give your landscape an added dimension while providing healthy food for your family. You could simply section off a spot for your garden or make a raised garden bed. Organic gardens offer not only great food, but also provide more color and interest for your landscape.

Build an outdoor environment.
 
If you really want to liven up your Tulsa landscape design, building an outdoor environment with an outdoor kitchen, fire pit, outdoor fireplace, pool, or simply just an outdoor living area will create an entirely new dimension for your landscape and home. Good planning and preparation is needed though to build a successful and efficient outdoor environment that your family can enjoy for years to come. The Tulsa landscape designers and architects at Oklahoma Landscape can help design and build the perfect outdoor environment for your home.

Sprucing up your landscape can be as simple or extensive as you want, but either route you take, there are plenty of ways to enliven your landscape and give it a fresh start for a new season.

Landscape Design Plans A Must For Your Tulsa Outdoor Environment

When developing their Tulsa outdoor environment, many homeowners may start by buying a grill for the patio or a porch swing. They may add items to their outdoor living space as they find them at gardening stores or change things about their landscape as they see new ideas.

Of course, starting small and finding new things as you go to add to a garden is fine, but without a particular theme or design in mind for the landscape, a yard could become a jumble of mixed-matched styles and items. This could leave the homeowner feeling a little disheveled, like there was always something missing in their outdoor living space, and then they’re on a never-ending search for what will complete their landscape design. 

Having a definite design style in mind when creating an outdoor environment will help to keep your landscaping projects focused and make your outdoor space a work of art. You can have a theme for your outdoor environment such as Mediterranean, Tuscan, or Asian-inspired. Choosing one of these themes not only will help you to have a more unified look, but will give you direction and purpose in your landscaping. 

It’s good to put your landscape design ideas down on paper. This will help you carefully plan out how best to divide your space, where to plant shrubs and trees, and help you anticipate any problems to your landscape plan. To help save water and maintenance, try to group shrubbery together by their watering and sunlight needs. Also, plan for the future in deciding where to plant foliage by determining how big trees and plants will grow when they mature. Will they block a view from window, or will their root systems have to struggle against other plants’ roots for nutrients as they grow? 

Determining how you will most often use your Tulsa outdoor environment will help you to better use the space you have. You may not be able to include every outdoor feature you would like in your space, so by drawing or writing out your plan, you can better see the amount of unfilled space and prioritize what you’ll include accordingly. Do you want an outdoor kitchen space or a fire pit? Would you like to have an outdoor dining area? Is a swimming pool a must? Knowing what you must have in your outdoor living space will help you know where to start when you begin building.  

Professional Tulsa landscape architects can help you to design and build your entire outdoor environment and can assist you in choosing a theme that will best match the architecture of your home and how you want to utilize your outdoor space. These professionals also understand how to use retaining walls and other hardscapes to prevent erosion and how to effectively divide your outdoor space into ‘rooms’ that mimic all the comforts of home.  

So before you dive into renovating your backyard this spring, think about how you want to use your space and carefully design a landscape plan and theme that will create a one-of-a-kind outdoor oasis.

Small Spaces Can Still Have Big Tulsa Outdoor Living Ideas

Tulsa outdoor living spaces do not need to be large to be interesting, practical, and filled with amazing beauty. Notice these tips for creating functional Tulsa outdoor environments in even not-so-big landscapes. 

Plan, Plan, Plan

Tulsa homeowners may want to dive in and renovate their outdoor space quickly, but careful planning is worth the wait. 

How would you most like to use your Tulsa outdoor living space? Do you do a lot of entertaining or cooking out? Would you use the space mainly to relax, read, and get away from the world? Would like to have a spa or a decorative water feature? How you plan to use your landscape will shape what features comprise the space, and with thoughtful design you can add more features. Know what your focal or main decorative points will be, and then you can design other things around those features.

 

It’s important to have things planned out so that every portion of the space is utilized to get the most function from the area. Although you may have less ground space, you can create more vertical space for gardens and additional storage. 

Our Tulsa landscape designers can assist you with planning and designing the most practical design for your outdoor space. 

Create Specific Outdoor Living ‘Rooms’

Make the most of your small outdoor space by creating different outdoor living areas in the same space by artfully dividing the space depending on its intended use. 

For instance, you may have a dining area on a small patio and cover it with an arbor or small pergola that will separate the space visually. Create a ‘living room’ area with an L-shaped sectional sofa made of indoor-outdoor materials, an area rug and even a coffee table that will divide the space. A fire pit can also be a focal point for a seating area and can form a comfy atmosphere for entertaining. 

You can use raised flowerbeds as edging, foliage such as vines or bamboo to separate and add privacy, or use different pavers and hardscape materials to differentiate the spaces. Although you want these areas to be visually divided, you will also want them to connect or seamlessly flow from one to another so that it does have the feel of one complete outdoor environment. Walkways or stone paths can help accomplish this. 

Enlarge the Space with Texture and Color

Color makes the world seem brighter and livelier. Texture can add dimension and personality to a space. Adding these to your outdoor living space will create more depth and interest in your yard. Colorful container gardens filled with plants of varying textures are very practical. 

Pavers and other hardscape materials come in an array of colors, sizes, shapes, and textures. These can often add more charm and are easier to replace or repair than concrete. 

Bright, coordinated colors and attention-grabbing fabrics for rugs, throw pillows, and seating areas can make the space more inviting. Using reclaimed, distressed, or antique pieces can tastefully be used in your outdoor space to add character and sometimes even a pop of color. 

With a little planning and creativity, any size outdoor space can be the setting for a gorgeous Tulsa outdoor environment. As your premier Tulsa landscaping company, Oklahoma Landscape can help you design the most practical and most engaging outdoor living space.