Steal This Landscape View: Borrowed Scenery Techniques

Most homeowners want more land. If you can't purchase or maintain more, the next best thing: steal a view.

If blessed with beautiful surroundings — a neighbor's garden, mountain range, or ocean peek — play it for all it's worth. Plan hardscaping to maximize views, plant to enhance surrounding countryside lines, and visually expand your living space by treating vast expanses as backyard extensions.

1. Don't Block the View

First rule: don't block it. Forested mountain view off the back porch? Use see-through railings instead of solid walls. Open spaces create oneness with surroundings.

Clemente Design Studio, LLC: Open latticework provides enclosure while capturing greenery and sky views beyond.

2. Blur the Boundaries

Stephen Cox-Cox Landscape & Garden Design: Plantings and a pathway march toward the pond, gaining height. Taller plantings visually bridge short lawn grass and pond view, creating connection. Property lines don't matter; sight lines have no boundaries.

For another boundary-blurring example, see this new home set within a reclaimed Maine meadow.

3. Mimic the Scenery

Jeffrey Gordon Smith Landscape Architecture: Overlook commercial farming? Note color blocking and mimic designs with your plantings. Your garden flows visually into the farm, expanding your property visually.

Woodburn & Company Landscape Architecture, LLC: Don't own the lake or wooded property next door? Take visual cues. Follow the lake's curve with curved planting beds; plant trees reflecting wild forests beyond.

Amy Renea

4. Open Windows

Feldman Architecture, Inc.: Create garden windows by opening views to surrounding countryside. Intentionally crafted view of the farm next door makes the hillside integral to your design. Zero work to keep fields beautiful, yet you benefit from visual impact.

Live in a wildflower field with wide open skies? Take advantage with windows all around. Just don't throw stones.

Whether countryside, wooded lake, or apartment overlooking skyline — maximize your fantastic view by blurring boundaries, opening windows, and mimicking scenery.