#BackyardDesigns | Valentina Expressions

Backyard Paradise | Valentina Cirasola | Interior Designer

It’s time to invite in beautiful garden views and say goodbye to any fence, walls or dividers that are plain unattractive. Would you like to sit in your garden without seeing the fence or the retaining wall between your home and your neighbor? Look at this photograph carefully. The fire pit, the seating and the steps are all real, all the greenery and the flowers are not. That is an image printed on a stone wall between two homes.
(Click on each images to view it larger).

Do you have a favorite vacation image you want to look at all the time?
Do you have a picture of the place you got married?
Do you have your favorite zoo images?
Would you like to reproduce in your entry an image from the Versailles Palace?

You can. Anything is possible with this printing technique. What are the advantages and why is it better than murals or trompe-l’oeil? You might ask.

1. If you have a garden view with flowers and vegetation, it helps conserving water, because there are no flower and plants to water. If you have a water scene, you don’t have to change the water to keep it clean.
2. The images are printed on panels easy to roll away with a change of season and mood. If you are handy, it’s a super easy to do it even by yourself.
3. The product is fire-retardant, anti-mold, washable with water, weather resistant and hard to destroy.

In the Before and After photo of the pool area, you can see an empty wall turned to a water view. Once the real water filled the pool, the vignette looks cohesive, as if that pool is looking over a lake. Pretty impressive!

In this next photo the cacti, the lawn and the chairs are real, but the view of the Canyon is not.

(Photo courtesy of Wall Sensations. Permission granted)

I took many pictures of flamingos at San Diego zoo. I want this image on my garden fence, so I can enjoy every day the memories of these colorful and elegant creatures, they impressed me so much.

I invited the company Wall Sensations to my TV show, two handsome lads came to explain to the audience their innovative idea and product. if you want to watch the show, click here – https://youtu.be/uUM10Rw6p0s
Ciao,
Valentina
http://www.valentinadesigns.com

As an Italian designer and true to my origins, I am well-known to bring originality to people’s homes, but that’s not where I stop. Being a curious person, any situation is a perfect opportunity to design something out of the ordinary.
I draw my inspiration from anywhere. Check out my three books on
Barnes&Nobles: http://goo.gl/q7dQ3w

Garden Inspiration | Valentina Cirasola | Interior Designer

In this part of the world, California, we are having a mild summer, very pleasant and conducive for work in the office, or work in the garden and a day at the beach is never scorching.
For a couple of months, we can still make improvements to the garden, before we need to prepare it for the coming winter. The garden should follow the architectural style of the house, at least at the front street side, the curb appeal should reflect it. The interior part of the garden, or otherwise called backyard, might be extravagant, whimsical, dreamy, or it might be kept in the same style of the house.

If I am designing the interior colors, I keep them communicating with the exterior and the garden colors. This will avoid the choppy or disconnected feeling and will keep everything in harmony. A Mediterranean style home with a Japanese style garden is out-of-place. The best way to design an interesting garden, large or small, is to divide the ground in many vignettes and create a certain rhythm that will invite you in. My Pinterest board has been an inspiration; so many good ideas and tips are showing up and I am taking full advantage of all of them. Here there are some solutions I find very intriguing:

Strawberry rocks – No longer need to worry about birds eating your baby strawberries. Place these rocks around the strawberry patch, the birds will bite on the rocks thinking they are biting on the strawberries and will soon learn never to come closer to your patch.

(Click on each photo to view it larger).

(Photo above: Spaaz.de)

Broken clay pot – Do not discard, use them to create a view in your fantasy.

Create islands – Place an island here and there, with loose bricks and rocks, the pot in the center will carry the plants arrangements of your liking and will become the centerpiece.

(PHOTO BY MARK LOHMAN – This Old House)

Simple fountains – Very inexpensive to do, made of simple rocks or leftover construction material, a small lining to collect the recirculating water and a pump; place them anywhere between plants.

(Photo above: http://ahigo.net/4442-garden-water-fountains/water-fountains-with-small-pond)

Pathways – I love to see pathways not designed in the same style. Pathways should change according to the vignette design. Keep them interesting.

(Photo above: http://www.woohome.com/ideas/25-lovely-diy-garden-pathway-ideas)

(Photo above: Tom Mitchell’s display in Plantasia Garden Show)

Playing games – Don’t you love this checkered game area with tall chess pieces?

(Photo above: DIY Network)

Vertical orchard – This is possible to create even if you don’t have a garden, on a balcony or on a terrace. If you can, plant food, it will be better than food sold in stores, guaranteed!

(Photo above found on: http://www.finecraftguild.com/5-vertical-vegetable-garden-ideas)

Paint a color door – Allow only one door leading in the garden to be of a different color, I painted red my garage door leading to the garden. A bit of splash of color among the greenery is intriguing.

(Photo above found on: http://loveliegreenie.tumblr.com/post/6354519618)

Do you like vintage? – Look what is possible to do with old china sets, or with an old musical instrument. One becomes bird’s bath with a few modifications and the other one becomes a flower display bed. Actually, a speaker hidden inside the flower display, would a stylish solution, from which the music of a violin diffuses in the air. I often hide speakers under resin rocks. How sweet!

(Photo above – http://www.architectureartdesigns.com/40-ideas-of-how-to-reuse-tea-cup-artistically)

A relaxation area – Unused trampoline can change into a cozy daytime bed where to nap on a Sunday afternoon, or anytime rest is needed.

Many different ideas, funky, whimsical, elegant and original will be available. If in doubt call the expert, I love to design gardens that speak of you.
I do offer design consultations on-line through Skype line. Visit my Pinterest boards, when you have some free time: http://pinterest.com/vcvalentina/. Ciao,
Valentina
http://www.Valentinadesigns.com

Valentina Cirasola has been in business as a designer since 1990.  She has helped a variegated group of fun people realizing their dreams with homes, offices, interiors and exteriors.
She designs landscape concepts as a complement to the residential design concept as a unity. Check out her books on