Collection by Zach Edelson
Homes with Private Enclosed Courtyards
An interior courtyard can be a tricky affair: carving an opening to the elements means extra care waterproofing and ensuring proper drainage. Once accomplished, however, there's nothing quite like a room with private access to the outdoors.
In this family-friendly household, even the dogs have been given a space of their own. Enclosed courtyards offer the family and their two dogs outdoor living areas that feel like extensions of the interior spaces.
![Separating the living room from a smaller seating area is a polished concrete courtyard that can be used for quiet reading or shaded play on hot days. “[It] has become the focus of family life,” Trimble says.](https://images2.dwell.com/photos/6063391372700811264/6133535891563307008/original.jpg?auto=format&q=35&w=160)
Separating the living room from a smaller seating area is a polished concrete courtyard that can be used for quiet reading or shaded play on hot days. “[It] has become the focus of family life,” Trimble says.
The guest room occupies the least favorable corner of the house, so Paredes designed an interior garden featuring driftwood combed from the beach to give the space something special. An American Standard sink and Hansgrohe faucet rest atop a custom vanity.
Next to the bathroom and above the living room, the terrace is open to sky, street, and the house itself. It has no roof, so daylight floods the entire wall-less building from the top down. The willow-green metal chairs are by Fermob.
A single crepe myrtle, which sports red blossoms in summer, defines the courtyard.