The new year brings exciting new possibilities for enhancing your home’s exterior through on-trend hardscaping projects. As we look ahead to 2024, here are some of the most popular hardscape upgrades expected to increase curb appeal and homeowners’ enjoyment of their yards.
Integrated Fire Features
Outdoor fire pits, fireplaces, and fire bowls continue gaining popularity for creating an inviting ambiance. New designs seamlessly integrate flames into patios, retaining walls, bench seating, and other hardscapes as a chic focal point. Linear fire pits allow for visibility from multiple viewpoints.
Mood Lighting
Strategic lighting transforms outdoor spaces after dark. Ground and post pathway illumination, step lights, and LED strips installed under seating, benches, and retaining walls create a magical ambiance. Uplighting in trees and architectural façade illumination add dramatic evening allure.
Polished Concrete
Once relegated to industrial spaces, polished concrete emerges as a sleek and modern paving choice. Advances create stunning finer finishes in grey and coloured concrete, mimicking stone, slate, and terrazzo patterns. Paired with heating systems, this hardscape extends living space year-round.
Natural Pools
In-ground swimming pools trading harsh chemicals for natural filtration are a rising green alternative. Aquatic plants, rocks, gravel filtration beds, and circulating water systems eliminate chlorine for crystal clear swimming with ecological benefits.
Elevated Planting
Beds Raising in-ground planting beds to waist height eases access for gardeners of all abilities. Hardscape frames built of stone, brick, or timber allow for improved drainage, richer soil composition, and an orderly, decorated focal point.
Integrated Seating
Patios and retaining walls now incorporate bespoke seating for additional enjoyment. Smooth concrete benches, granite ledges, and wooden platforms create comfortable, built-in seating options that blend seamlessly into the design aesthetic.
Standout Driveways
Driveways evolve as an opportunity to impress, with decorative concrete, etched finishes, aggregate designs, and contrasting borders. Curves, widening at the entrance, and stamped patterns upgrade traditional paving for memorable curb appeal.