Tired of coming home after work at 5 o’clock and seeing no sun? Tired of the lack of greenery and summertime spirit around your home? Enhance people’s first glance of your property with these 10 tips and tricks that’ll help compensate for winter’s gloominess.

1. Keep your yard illuminated

The Winter months that ensue summer can be quite sombre. In order to add light to your short days, install some lanterns, decorative wall lights, light path markers, etc. This is ideal in order to add some luminosity to your architectural features such as your patio, driveway, steps & walkways and perhaps turn that winter frown, upside down.

2. Add white lights to green shrubs for some pizzazz and second glances from passer-byers.

Artsy and pleasing to the eye, seeing tiny lights in snowy shrubs never fail to add elegance to the exterior of a home. Ever been so enchanted by a winter landscape that it’s hard to look away? This is what a few simple lights are capable of.
After all, as Van Gogh once put it, “Great things are done by a series of small things brought together.”

3. Cover your summer shrubs with tarps

This might not be the most aesthetically pleasing option for your backyard during the winter, but it’s essential in keeping the weaker summer plants you love alive and fresh for the summertime.
Tarps might be a plant lover’s biggest frenemy… But in all honesty, the ones below actually seem like quite the winners.

4. Invest in shrubs and trees that survive the winter

Of course, there are a variety of bright plants and shrubs that stay alive during the winter without tarp and immediately add some livelihood to your landscape design during a grey winter day. Check a local plant store for container planters that could really make a difference for your backyard winter curb-appeal.

Some of the most popular, fun winter plants are Camellia, Heather, and Corkscrew Hazel.

Camelia

Heather

Corkscrew Hazel

5. Your Holiday Décor

Everyone has different ways to light up their yard for the Holidays. Whether you’re a part of the festivities or not, it would be fun to add to the spirit of the neighborhood by adding some decorative lighting around your roofs and trees.

6. Use the same color scheme

For your mailbox, front door, window ledges etc. try to stay in the same color scheme. Make sure they contrast well with the white of the snow. Bonus points if they match well with your paver color in the summer as well.

7. Keep your windows clean

During the couple hours of day where there is sunlight; it may reflect on your windows. Windows tend to get stained during the winter time and in order to keep your backyard looking great, periodically scrub them for good measure.

8. If you live in a place with harsh winters, invest in de-icing salt resistant pavers

If you live in an area with particularly harsh winters, you can find a variety of beautiful pavers and slabs that are de-icing salt resistant, ready to tackle any season;  Industria, Tux, Para, Antika, Blu 80 mm and 60mm, Eva, Flagstone, Linea, Mista, San Marino, Victorien, Villagio, and Allegro.

9. Heated Driveways & Permeable Pavement are your Winter Best Friends

Essentially, a Snowmelt System uses an energy source to heat up driveways, patios etc. during the winter. This mechanism prevents the accumulation of snow and ice on these surfaces, negating the use of de-icing salt, maintenance labor and shoveling; potentially elongating the life of your concrete. Heated Driveways definitely take the pain out of snow removal.

Permeable Pavement is more resistant to frost than most pavement and requires less de-icing throughout the season. Since this porous pavement is built to drain; the snow will infiltrate through the paving system, reducing the amount of ice on the surface. Though you still need salt to melt the ice the first few times, once the ice does melt, the water infiltrates through the pavement quite easily, reducing the amount of salt needed for next time.

Techo-Bloc’s permeable pavement: Inflo, Pure, Antika, Mista, Victorien, Villagio.

10. Clear your driveways, walkways and steps from snow accumulation

If heated driveways aren’t in the budget – Manual snow removal is the way to go!

11. Invest in winter-related entertainment that grabs your guests’ attention

Build an ice rink for some ice skating or for some really playful games of hockey. Winter may mean freezing your head off for quite a few months, but it can also mean new sports to tackle and fun memories to create.

Make the best out of this frigid season with these tips and tricks that makes staying home during the winter not half as bad as it seems. Enjoy every snowfall as if it were the first – and don’t forget – under all that snow, is a beautiful Techo-Bloc backyard that is patiently awaiting the glorious return of the summer sun.