Combine Two Folders with Smart Folder

Okay, so one thing I've wanted to be able to do for ages now in OS X is to create or view a combined Applications folder that displays the contents of both /Applications and ~/Applications (assume it exists).

Now, I know LaunchPad can do this, but I'd still like to be able to do this in a regular Finder window, for example using a Smart Folder.

Is this possible, and if so, what are the steps for doing this (either in the Finder itself, or via command line)?

I've experimented for searches of my entire computer for all Applications, however this only returns the application bundles themselves, ignoring any enclosing folders. Really I just want top level items for each of the applications folders; for example, I'd like to see the /Applications/Utilities folder, not its contents.