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THE WARREN-WATCHUNG CONNECTION
FEB/MARCH 2017
It's your home . It's your life . Make it better with Jaeger Kitchens ! Madison 133 Main Street (973) 377-1000 Middlesex 500 Bound Brook Road (732) 968-3555 Stirling 1238 Valley Road (908) 647-1239 Union 2322 Morris Avenue (908) 686-0070 www.JaegerKitchens.com 2017 will be a very exciting year for home- owners that will be looking to increase the curb appeal of their homes and design and install outdoor living spaces. The landscape and hardscape markets are flush with many new and innovative products that will pro- vide for more options to make your exterior beautiful and make you excited to spend time at home. Below are a few trends and developments that will start to be noticed when the weather breaks this upcoming Spring season. • Landscape Lighting - New LED lights use less energy and create softer lighting with minimal maintenance – no light bulb replacement needed. Add beauty, functionality and safety and come home to a much warmer, inviting exterior! • Outdoor Bars, Kitchens and Outdoor Living Spaces - More people are creat- ing beautiful outdoor living spaces with custom outdoor kitchens and bars. Spend more time entertaining outdoors and create memories that will last a life- time by having counter top space to cook, along with your grill, refrigerator, storage center, side burner and bar top seating all conveniently located in your backyard. Another hot trend in outdoor living spaces is television areas too! • Greater Patio & Fire Pit Selection - Due to the ever-changing demand from customers around the country, patio and fire pit manufacturers have continued to diversify into new patio colors and tex- tures that cater to any homeowner’s pre- ferred style. There is now manufactured stone that looks just like natural stone and other styles that look just like wood. Add-ons have been developed for fire pits such as patented insert trays that will allow a wood burning fire pit to burn more uniformly like a gas fire pit. Anoth- er improved feature is an add-on that allows you to cook safely over your fire pit without getting grease or food on the fire pit unit itself. • Hardier Landscapes - Landscapes that can withstand the abuse of ever chang- ing weather patterns including heavy winter snow, hurricanes and other bad storms are growing in popularity. Also, due to the evolving eating habits of deer, there is a greater need for deer resistant landscape varieties. • New Plants to Hit the Market - Grow- ers have continued to try and provide the public with plantings and trees that will be popular and successful. There have been some amazing new plantings that are brand new and offer brilliant color, longer bloom times and are more resist- ant to common diseases that strike many varieties in the Northeast. • Automation - Don’t be surprised if you pass a neighbor’s home in 2017 and see a lawn mower without an operator. Yes, you heard this correctly. Robotic lawn mowers have not only hit the market, but are starting to be seen all over New Jer- sey. Stay tuned to see if this will be a dud or a success! • 3-D Design Plans - Help visualize what your project will look like with computer generated 3-D landscape plans that make the project come to life on paper! Scott Parker is the owner of Parker Homescape, a design/build landscape firm that has been rec- ognized as one of the Top Landscape Design/ Build Firms in the United States, and has been recognized locally by Design NJ Magazine, New York Spaces Magazine, The Suburban News and many other prestigious publications. In 2012, Parker Homescape’s award winning work was chosen to be published in a book that is currently being distributed worldwide. For more information on Parker Homescape, visit their website and design portfolio at: www.parkerhomescape.com or call (908) 626-1100. TOP TRENDS FOR 2017 By: Scott Parker Parker Homescape, LLC www.theconnectionsnj.com