Article Written By: Jordan E Raley

The farmhouse may remind you of swinging screened doors, kids running through fields to feed livestock out of sweaty, sticky palms. It may bring memories of porch rockers and warm cornbread, of family rooms, or of older relatives living with modest means. For many Southerners, a farmhouse holds a certain nostalgia for yesteryears. However, farmhouses have been brought back into the mainstream often as spacious, rustic, and sentimental homes that still evoke whimsy, while applying modern updates to make them work in today’s world.

Below, you’ll see five tips to help the outside of your farmhouse thrive as much as it does on the inside.

1. Go Native

   Nothing says downhome & locally sourced like using native plants, trees, and shrubs to liven up your outdoor spaces. Some native options could be Sweetferns, Wild Rhododendron, Yarrow and Milkweed. No Southern home is complete without a Dogwood tree or two populating the yard or surrounding areas with those beautiful white blooms. A farmhouse reminds us of a specific aesthetic and using local plants to surround your porch, trail to the barn, or to elevate your garden will still give that familiar, laid-back feel.

2. Think Upcycle

   To upcycle means to turn something previously used & discarded into a product of higher quality or value than the original. Farmhouses (modern or rustic) regularly inspire us to think simply and use what we have. Old tractor wheels and busted ladders or chairs work wonders as planters or country eye candy in outdoor spaces. Old slats can work well in building a garden gate or ornamental trellis and loose rocks from the creek can create a rock path from your door to a favorite outdoor sitting space. Should your farmhouse have a porch, repurposed planters and mason jars can be painted lovely colors (or even themed for holidays) and hold gorgeous shady plants throughout the warm Southern months.

3. What a View!

   Maybe your modern home is situated in a cul-de-sac or maybe it sits on loads of acreage. Regardless of where your farmhouse sits, make the most of the surrounding views by planning your landscaping and outdoor seating to enhance or draw the eye towards any beautiful nature like waterways, mountains or hills, woodlands, or pastures. Make the most of surrounding natural elements or bring in your own such as boulders, shrubs, or water to help heighten the rustic look, creating top notch scenery for you and guests.

4. Bigger is Better

    Using large varieties in naturally occurring colors (those surrounding your farmhouse area are a great color pallet in which to draw inspiration but when in doubt, go neutral or green) will provide less maintenance year-round. Also, these larger sizes will give your plants a messier, more wild-and-free look and feel that helps create that homey and slightly overgrown feel usually associated with a farmhouse. Let them grow tall and spread a bit. This height also helps to even out the height of wooden beams, porch columns, and other soaring features that may be present in your modern home.

5. Create a Space to Enjoy Outside

   Maybe your home already has a well-established and probably well-loved porch that gets a lot of traffic on warm Southern summer nights. However, if your porch is no more or you’d like to create a unique area to use outdoors, Full Circle Land Design has many options to make your visions come to life in creating the ultimate outdoor living space. It could be something as simple as a paver patio perfect for your rockers to a space involving water features, ample seating space and a large firepit. However you decide to upscale your modern farmhouse to get the most use of your outdoor space, Full Circle Land Design can help make it all come together.