Styles | Classic Decor

Image by wanderingnome via Flickr

If you live in the Southwest part of the United States, you battle droughts regularly. This makes keeping a beautiful yard a challenge. There are ways to withstand hot, dry summers and still have a great yard.

Use Native Plants in Your Landscaping

Native plants are your best bet when it comes to having hardy flora in your yard. These plants would survive on a roadside with no gardening help. That’s what you want. Anything that needs watering more than once a week is a bad idea. There are plenty of beautiful, yet rugged choices for landscaping during a drought.

Mexican heather, various cactus plants, crepe myrtles, yaupon holly, native vines and wild flowers are good landscaping choices in any garden or yard in their natural habitat. Try to avoid grass that requires a lot of water. Instead, use native ground covers, well placed beds, and native stone to fill in your yard.

Add Sculptures and Yard Art to Introduce Color

Fill your yard with whimsical art and sculptures. This is becoming a very popular way to give homes some personality of their own. In a dry place, a well placed sculpture can take the place of a flower bed. You can also create sitting spaces in your yard with fun and durable lawn furniture.

Make the yard livable. It should be as little work as possible so that it looks great rain or shine. If you’re using native plants that require minimal water, chances are you’ll only have to landscape one time, and the rest will take care of itself from year to year.

3 Decorating Tips for Updating Furniture

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Before you spend all that money on new furniture, give your old pieces a second life. You’ll save some cash and fall in love with the new version of some old stuff.

Slip Covers

You can go cheap or you can go pricey on slip covers. There are certainly some great looking covers at the various discount stores, so you might find just what you’re looking for to revive that old furniture. If the couch is a super sturdy fixture in your home, you may want to invest in custom-made slip covers that fit like the original covering. Custom made covers are made of upholstery quality material that can take the wear and tear of furniture in family homes.

Pillows

Pillows are a super simple way to give furniture a new life. In fact, they can change the look of your whole living room. Pillows are very inexpensive, so you can switch them out and change the decorating theme as often as you want. Stock up on plenty of pillows. Keep them in the closet, and toss them on the couch whenever you’re ready for a sudden change.

Rearrange

Sometimes, just rearranging the furniture will make it look new. Have you ever gone into someone’s home and asked if they got a new chair only to be told they just moved the old one to a different place? It really works. In fact, it will change the feel of your home, and you will have done your decorating without spending a penny.

A Little Tip From Mom

Finally, most moms will tell you that home decorating 101 focuses on cleaning your house. If your house is cluttered and a little grimy. Just give it a good cleaning. It works every time.

Landscaping For a Drought