Finally, a landscape design app for the iPhone from a top designer that allows you, phone in hand, to walk around your garden space and at the same time add, delete, and move around design elements like garden sheds, decks, paths, planting beds and much more.
Developed by designer Julie Moir Messervy, the app, officially called the Home Outside Design iPhone App, allows homeowners with relatively small properties to locate their house and other main landscape features on the main design plan, then select from about 280 hand-drawn elements to add to the design. I can't tell exactly how this would work with the scale of the property, but it might be a good basic design tool for homeowners who want to get started with a master plan, think about possibilities, and narrow down their desires before a real designer is called in to refine the plan. At $2.99 for the app, you can hardly go wrong.
The app is based on Messervy's acclaimed book Home Outside: Creating the Landscape You Love
(Taunton Press, 2009), which focuses on extending the home out into the garden. "More people are realizing that home begins when you set foot on your property, not just when you enter your front door," says Messervy.
For those who want affordable design, Messervy's design studio is also offering an online design service. She sends you a design kit and a workbook that includes directions for measuring your property and a detailed questionnaire. Once you send it back, she develops two designs for you ... you can then continue working with her on a finished design, hire a local designer to complete the work for you, or do it yourself. Online design services start at $500 for a front or back yard design of up to 5000 square feet.
