9 Design Tips to Enhance Views of Your Garden from Indoors
Foster a stronger connection between home and garden by designing your landscape with window views in mind
Lauren Dunec Hoang
13 April 2021
Houzz Editor; landscape designer and former garden editor for Sunset Magazine and in-house designer for Sunset's Editorial Test Garden. Her garden designs have been featured in the Sunset Western Garden Book of Landscaping, Sunset Western Garden Book of Easy-Care Plantings (cover), Inhabitat, and POPSUGAR.
Houzz Editor; landscape designer and former garden editor for Sunset Magazine and... More
Having a gorgeous view from indoors can entirely change the feeling of a room. While we might dream of gazing out to a grand vista or a long sweep of garden, in reality, most of us are trying to do the best we can within the constraints of our existing plots. Some views in your home may be favourites and others less so.
Whether you’re starting to plan a garden layout from scratch or working to improve an existing scheme, consider the following nine design moves that aim to make the most of views from inside the house.
Whether you’re starting to plan a garden layout from scratch or working to improve an existing scheme, consider the following nine design moves that aim to make the most of views from inside the house.
Take stock of existing views
Start by noting current sightlines from windows and glazed doors. What do you look out onto from your most-used rooms of the property? Are there areas that could benefit from more privacy, or are any views obscured by overgrown plants that could use pruning? Could any windows be enlarged (if it’s in your budget) to open up views? Or is it possible to install glazed bifold doors or French windows?
Start by noting current sightlines from windows and glazed doors. What do you look out onto from your most-used rooms of the property? Are there areas that could benefit from more privacy, or are any views obscured by overgrown plants that could use pruning? Could any windows be enlarged (if it’s in your budget) to open up views? Or is it possible to install glazed bifold doors or French windows?
Think of windows as picture frames
What would you like to see inside each frame versus what you currently see? Look out of one of your home’s windows and take note of where your eye falls.
Does it land on something you find attractive, such as a well-placed pot or an eye-catching plant, or does it go straight to a rubbish bin that could use some screening? Note which views could be improved, and how, to create an action plan.
What would you like to see inside each frame versus what you currently see? Look out of one of your home’s windows and take note of where your eye falls.
Does it land on something you find attractive, such as a well-placed pot or an eye-catching plant, or does it go straight to a rubbish bin that could use some screening? Note which views could be improved, and how, to create an action plan.
Consider the foreground and background
Similar to how an artist might think about the composition of a painting, consider the overall composition of your window view. Separate the elements close to the viewer from those further back in the space.
For close elements, it’s all about the details. You could group a cluster of small pots or a small fountain just outside a window, or frame the foreground of a garden view with a flowering vine planted nearby.
Find a landscape contractor near you to create a picture-perfect outdoor space.
Similar to how an artist might think about the composition of a painting, consider the overall composition of your window view. Separate the elements close to the viewer from those further back in the space.
For close elements, it’s all about the details. You could group a cluster of small pots or a small fountain just outside a window, or frame the foreground of a garden view with a flowering vine planted nearby.
Find a landscape contractor near you to create a picture-perfect outdoor space.
Larger pieces – such as an outdoor table and chairs, a fountain, a firepit or a specimen tree – work well set at a greater distance from the viewer. These types of elements seen from indoors draw one’s gaze deeper into the garden.
Mass colours for impact at a distance
For larger gardens that you’re looking at from some distance, broader planting strokes will make a bigger impact. Think of the visual difference between a few large swathes or clumps of a single type of plant, such as a white flowering perennial, compared with a scattering of the same perennial planted in mixed borders. The clumps and swathes of a single colour will draw the eye from afar.
For larger gardens that you’re looking at from some distance, broader planting strokes will make a bigger impact. Think of the visual difference between a few large swathes or clumps of a single type of plant, such as a white flowering perennial, compared with a scattering of the same perennial planted in mixed borders. The clumps and swathes of a single colour will draw the eye from afar.
Consider the viewing angle
Looking out onto a garden from the ground floor is a different experience than looking from upstairs windows. For example, you may appreciate the layout of pathways and beds more when you view them from above than when you’re in the garden at ground level.
For her Massachusetts garden (seen here), US-based landscape designer Hilarie Holdsworth chose a symmetrical bed layout for the edible garden and aligned the beds along sightlines from the upstairs windows of her farmhouse.
The result of the strong geometry and formal bed layout is a garden that looks visually striking from above – even in winter, when the beds are quiet.
Looking out onto a garden from the ground floor is a different experience than looking from upstairs windows. For example, you may appreciate the layout of pathways and beds more when you view them from above than when you’re in the garden at ground level.
For her Massachusetts garden (seen here), US-based landscape designer Hilarie Holdsworth chose a symmetrical bed layout for the edible garden and aligned the beds along sightlines from the upstairs windows of her farmhouse.
The result of the strong geometry and formal bed layout is a garden that looks visually striking from above – even in winter, when the beds are quiet.
You don’t have to adopt a formal layout for the same effect. Having a strong and angular linearity, a curved and meandering garden path, a balcony or patio with an intricate paving pattern, or a small-scale tree with attractive foliage can be other ways to take advantage of a bird’s-eye view.
Boost privacy
Chances are that at least some of your windows offer less-than-ideal views, perhaps of a busy street or a neighbour’s living room. In these cases, you’ll probably want to selectively screen and redirect the eye.
Adding a hedge or placing potted plants around a deck can help screen views where needed. Consider varying the heights of hedges to open or block different views.
Chances are that at least some of your windows offer less-than-ideal views, perhaps of a busy street or a neighbour’s living room. In these cases, you’ll probably want to selectively screen and redirect the eye.
Adding a hedge or placing potted plants around a deck can help screen views where needed. Consider varying the heights of hedges to open or block different views.
Put something on plain walls
Add interest to a blank fence or a side garden that’s seen from inside the home. Doing this can be as simple as planting a vine to cover the fence with foliage or flowers, or as creative as installing a vertical garden.
If you have an unattractive view and are limited as to what you can do in an outdoor space, you may want to consider frosting the glass for (or adding a removable film to) certain windows.
Add interest to a blank fence or a side garden that’s seen from inside the home. Doing this can be as simple as planting a vine to cover the fence with foliage or flowers, or as creative as installing a vertical garden.
If you have an unattractive view and are limited as to what you can do in an outdoor space, you may want to consider frosting the glass for (or adding a removable film to) certain windows.
Add focal points
When you’re gazing out of a window, a focal point gives your eye somewhere to land within the landscape. Focal points can be anything from an eye-catching plant to a birdbath, fire pit or seating area.
There are two design strategies for making sure a feature is a focal point instead of just another garden element.
When you’re gazing out of a window, a focal point gives your eye somewhere to land within the landscape. Focal points can be anything from an eye-catching plant to a birdbath, fire pit or seating area.
There are two design strategies for making sure a feature is a focal point instead of just another garden element.
- Find the right placement Align the focal point along a sightline, either within the garden or – as for the purposes of this story – with a view from a window.
- Make sure the element stands out Usually this means creating contrast between the feature and its surroundings by using different forms or colours.
Here you can see how a potted container set on a plinth acts as a focal point in the larger landscape. If you’re working with a landscape architect or designer, he or she can help you add focal points centred on window views when drawing up the plans for your garden design.
You can also determine the placement on your own. While you stand at a window, have someone walk into the garden and place an upturned pot where you would like a focal point to be aligned with the view. Have the person move it around until you find the most pleasing placement.
You can also determine the placement on your own. While you stand at a window, have someone walk into the garden and place an upturned pot where you would like a focal point to be aligned with the view. Have the person move it around until you find the most pleasing placement.
When in doubt, centre your focal point within the frame of your window view. In this city garden, notice how the clock mounted on an outdoor wall acts as the focal point for the courtyard garden and jazzes up that otherwise bare wall.
The clock and the symmetrical vines growing up either side are perfectly aligned with the opening to the patio. This simple but savvy design helps the indoor and outdoor spaces work together beautifully.
Plan for winter interest
Most of us spend more time indoors looking out to the garden in winter than in summer, so make those winter views count. First add structure. Then think about including plants – such as those with bright branches, berries or winter flowers – specifically for winter interest.
Evergreens and hardy shrubs add interest and structure year round. But they are perhaps especially appreciated when deciduous plants in the garden are sleeping.
Most of us spend more time indoors looking out to the garden in winter than in summer, so make those winter views count. First add structure. Then think about including plants – such as those with bright branches, berries or winter flowers – specifically for winter interest.
Evergreens and hardy shrubs add interest and structure year round. But they are perhaps especially appreciated when deciduous plants in the garden are sleeping.
Tell us…
How have you made the most of views from inside your house to your garden? Share your ideas in the Comments.
How have you made the most of views from inside your house to your garden? Share your ideas in the Comments.
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Love the insights! This is one of my favorite views in my home.
Windows are frames indeed. l remember being mesmerized in a botanical garden where the designer had put large round windows in a brick folly. No matter where you looked through them, the view was enhanced.
Another nice idea is to use red- and yellow-twigged dogwoods in a winter landscape.
I'm wanting to make a 4-season sunroom out of my long narrow 2nd floor balcony (it's 30'X5.5"). It looks over my back garden. Any ideas for this renovation for a 1900's Craftsman home? Wish Houzz would do a feature on such renovations.