Archive for September, 2011

September 14th, 2011  Posted at   Modern House
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Water Gardening – How To Design Your Own Water Garden

Water gardens have become a fashionable must have for many homeowners. They are building elaborate waterfalls and other formations in their yards to get a sense of charm and calm of a beatific country creek or a Japanese Koi haven. You too can have the joy of discovering the warmth and serenity that water landscaping has to offer. Read on to find interesting ways you can get the same effects without having to hire a team of designers and builders.

The first thing you have to decide is what type of fish you are going to have living in this new area. You will want to have brightly colored fish and nothing that could possibly eat a small child. Koi ponds are very popular since the fish are deemed to bring about peace, harmony, love, friendship and good fortune. Then again you could decide to build a waterfall with no living occupants. Once the decision is made then you will know how best to proceed.

The number of fish or other occupants will dictate the size of the pond.

Koi Ponds Are Great

If you are set on having a Koi pond, there are a few rules to know. Ponds can be purchased as Kits that require only that you dig the Hole and assemble the rest of the parts. Koi grow to be very large and you must account for these growths even though the fish you purchase will be quite small at the beginning. The pond kit should be for at least a thousand gallons on total volume. The depth should easily be around 4-5 feet to give them adequate water coverage.

Standard Water Garden

This is your typical goldfish pond that has the room for all the plants that you may want to decorate the habitat with. These ponds do not need to be as deep as the Koi pond.

If you live in an area that experiences freezing temperatures the water level must be deep enough to allow a the top layer to freeze and a bottom layer to remain fluid for the fish to survive the winter. Kits can be found for this type of Pond as well.

The Waterfall Or Fountain

Waterfalls and fountains add their own brand of serenity to any setting. Garden fountains that have a trickling waterfall or the sounds of rushing water are ideal for outdoor setup. You can combine the waterfall effect with a fountain that use light and color to make a paradise in your yard. Water fall and fountain kits can be purchased and installed very easily. This can include vegetation and fish or can be set up without them. Add a nice garden bench next to your garden fountain to enjoy the charm of your garden water feature.

Ponds, waterfalls and fountains allow you to harness the beauty of the natural and make it a part of your home and life. You can have this done professionally or as a DIY project. Either way if done well the value of the property not only increases monetarily but aesthetically as well.

Amy C. enjoys writing about gardening and landscaping. She works closely with Landscaping Phoenix service providers to learn about the latest trends and techniques in landscaping and gardening. To learn about landscaping Ideas, please visit Amy’s Landscaping Scottsdale blog.

September 13th, 2011  Posted at   Modern House
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Garden Bed

Garden Bed is a truly stimulating visual experience! This piece incorporates many contrasting shapes and diverse sets of lines that make it very visually appealing. It uses bold, rounded lines that keep the mind moving across the canvas as well as straight lines and geometric, square-ish shapes that provide a dynamic, modern background. These different styles contrast one another in manner that is both fascinating and beautiful rather than strange and out of touch. The opposing lines and shapes create a balance that make the painting a soothing and elegant addition to any room helping to strike a balance between the busy world outside and the sanctuary of your home. The subject of the piece is a simple but graceful series of flowers, their petals slowly shifting to reveal the beautiful bud within. It is a subject that is delicate and soothing to view, but its unique, whimsical presentation in this piece makes it more fun to engage with and adds a buoyancy to the wall that it graces.

Its colors of red, pink, yellow, and black with highlights of white are vibrant and its lines are made bold with heavy black lining that make the soft subject matter really pop. The presentation of the piece is also tasteful and interesting, giving the subject a more luminous glow.

The four flowers depicted in this piece are spread out over four separate canvases, each houseing one flower that, while they are  homogeneous in shape, vary in color and depict the movement of the subject in a way that is unusual and moving. The four canvases are distinct enough to stand on their own as pieces of art, but together they create an elegant, moving and organic series. The multiple canvas design allows for  a great many possibilities to display this unique piece- the separate pieces can be reorganized,  and hung in a variety of shapes, a horizontal line or a triangular clusters. The pieces can even be separated and hung throughout a home or office. To view a great many more original canvas paintings that share some of the bold and distinct qualities of this one, try exploring our Landscape Canvas gallery.  One piece that in particular that might appeal to you if you enjoy the organic and diverse shapes and bold colors of Garden Bed is Rose Buds, a beautiful painting that will strike similar chords in any art lover.