NRV Blueprint March 2025

lack of exits or poorly placed exits impede good traffic patterns. Talk with a contractor to see if you can get doors installed to create easy access. You can even explore using larger folding doors to open up an indoor room to the outside to create a more seamless indoor/outdoor space. On a smaller scale, a pass-through window from kitchen to outdoor dining space can make using that space easier. Your outdoor “rooms” don’t need to be adjacent to your house. Spaces farther out from your home can be excellent for activities where you need more room, like a volleyball court. This distance from the house can be a beneficial separation. A small garden house installed in an area away from the home can give you a remote office with privacy from activities in your home. You could also use distant spots for quiet occupations - a small pavilion for meditation or quiet conversation, or simply a space to hang a hammock and rest. In order to make these more distant spaces truly useful, remember traffic patterns and pathways. An attractive path, whether paved or planted, can encourage people to actually go to those areas and enjoy them. You’ve paid for that property - take full advantage of it!

To facilitate the planning and decision making involved in utilizing your yard, you may want to work with a designer or landscape architect. They can help integrate your goals with the site conditions, plan appropriately-sized spaces

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connected by efficient traffic patterns, and maximize your budget. An independent designer/architect will work closely with you, focusing on the design first. They can offer more flexibility and options, and create a plan that can be implemented by contractors of your choosing. Working with a design/build firm provides you with a designer who can be involved from the design phase into installation through to completion, streamlining communication and working to keep the final project consistent with the original vision. Whether you choose an independent designer or one associated with a design/build firm, either can help you develop a plan that can be implemented in financially sustainable stages so that at the end of the process you have a cohesive design. after

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