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Outdoor Design Photos and Ideas

An energy-efficient TPO membrane covers the living room’s zigzag roof.
Bob and Goya walk atop the guesthouse, which nestles into a hill.
Bob sits in the entry courtyard with his dog, Goya.
The secluded location of the house at the edge of a retired shale bank allows the luxury of an open outdoor shower. Corrugated steel siding provides a durable, zero-maintenance exterior finish and captures the changing sun and woodland shadows.
Twenty-foot-wide doors from Solar Innovations offer easy access to the deck. “Solar Innovations was the only manufacturer at that time that had a pocket multi-slider with a good ADA threshold,” says architect Erick Mikiten. “They almost look like steel, but are thermally broken aluminum.”
The literal and figurative centerpiece of the house is the atrium, through which light filters into the rest of the house year-round.
"In this project, we got so much benefit out of this 'secret garden' for the master suite along with all of these environmental benefits that the residents were excited to embrace. It's one of the pieces we are happiest about," says architect Jonathan Feldman.
Sphinx, the family Carolina dog, scouts the perimeter of the Concrete Collaborative pavers in the backyard. The pavers were installed on a slight angle to channel water to the surrounding gravel, lawn, and planting beds. This substantially lowers the landscape's water demand. Perforated PVC pipes and a pump move excess rainfall (which would otherwise go to storm drains) into an underground basin where it can later drain off. Redwood fencing reflects the material palette of the interior and creates visual continuity around the backyard.
The expansive grassy lawns features several ponds, fountains, native greenery, and even a tea house.
Alloi's design solution for the exterior envelope included exterior rigid insulation to reduce solar heat gain, and recycled newspaper blown-in cellulose insulation at interior and exterior walls, creating an energy efficient and peacefully quiet home.
Eisler Landscapes provided plants for the yard.
Perforated steel screens provide shading and privacy to the interior living spaces. The garden extends from the inner courtyard to the rear yard with open, connected spaces.
The larch slats above the brick reference a history of agriculture buildings in the area.
A white gravel allée leads to Onur and Alix Kece’s weekend retreat an hour outside Paris. The couple, a pair of creatives, oversaw the renovation of the long-neglected 1892 structure themselves, with Onur designing the living spaces and built-ins and Alix responsible for everything else. “We were looking for something that was in bad shape, a place we could completely tear apart and renovate from scratch,” says Onur.
Another side of the home opens up onto a large lawn.
“Watching the sunrise and moonrise from the living room is gobsmacking,” says James.
The view from the uppermost level of the yard looks down to the slide and the sloped lawn, sandbox, and, beyond the gate, bioretention unit and mulch.
When Zuzana Kovar and Nicholas Skepper set to work updating an aging Queenslander cottage for a young family in Brisbane, the first challenge was the home’s orientation. “We wanted to connect the interior of the house with its garden—a vital space for the family and their children, and one that the cottage previously turned its back on,” says Kovar. Now, an updated layout sets the kitchen, dining, and living room adjacent to the verdant garden, and sight lines through the house connect the indoor and outdoor areas.
“The pool house was something I always wanted to build,” Robert says. The bar is the main attraction. And next to it, a lime tree is within reach to make fresh gin and tonics.
In the backyard, Umerani and Fashandi decided to limit the lawn to minimize water consumption.
Fabian plays with Morten in the yard, which features a spacious lawn and a greenhouse.
Garden terrace
Clayden is perfectly happy enjoying the subtropical sun on the balcony, though his much-beloved cat Ginger appears far more enthusiastic about lolling on the patio.
The exterior is constructed from cypress pine wood and lightweight polycarbonate.
The fire pit area displays a 48-inch concrete fire bowl, woven chairs, and upcycled tree stumps for kid-friendly-seating.
The multiple double-glazed apertures of the addition situates the kitchen in close connection to the backyard garden.
Furniture designer Tom Deacon teamed up with pal and architect Andrew Jones to renovate his Toronto townhouse. “Architects tend to think of the building first, the interiors second, and last, the furniture. Our approach was the opposite,” Jones says.
Weekend House, Schroeder, MN, 2009.
Guy (holding Pickles the cat) and Mark transformed the backyard, adding a pool and planting sycamore trees and native grasses. A custom dining table by Angel City Lumber is paired with vintage chairs from Amsterdam Modern.
A section of the facade—a cross between a shoji screen and a barn door—slides open. Planter boxes contain edible varieties that fuel Mary’s culinary explorations.
At the entrance, Bruce is joined by his son, Sozé, and dog, Izzy. The 1940s shingled cottage was renovated by architectural designer Randall Recinos, designer Brian Paquette, and contractor Dylan Conrad.
Their daughters, Annapurna, left, and Siddartha, play with their dog, Anouck, beneath the kangaroo paws in the entry garden courtyard.
The outdoor hearth is primed for cooking in the summer.
Oriented to absorb the afternoon sun, floor-to-ceiling doors comprise two-thirds of the home’s west-facing walls, which open to an elevated deck overlooking Island Bay. Combined with extra-thick building insulation, this passive element provides sufficient heating for the home, even during winter months—a true feat given the region’s cold seasonal winds.
Barragán designed Casa Gilardi, in Mexico City, around this single jacaranda tree.
In an industrial neighborhood in Brooklyn, a verdant green roof of native grasses, wildflowers, and fruits creates an oasis.
A second green roof is planted with sedum and plays host to one of the family’s favorite spots: a hammock. Bentheim suggested adding a trellis overhead to soften and balance the appearance of the facade.
The green roof is accessible via ladder. "This type of insertion on the plot demanded care and attention with the design of the rooftop, which is the fifth facade of the building," adds the architects.
Landscape architects Reed Hilderbrand helped fill out the completed prefab by planting sedge grass on one of the house’s two green roofs to reflect the texture of the surrounding meadow.
Green roofs are aesthetically pleasing and have multiple positive environmental benefits, even if they are small in terms of square footage. Here, a green roof blooms atop the detached garage of a home.
The backyard sports a sequence of raised flower and vegetable beds and two green roofs—one atop the workshop and other atop the back entrance.
At over 500 square feet, the house’s green roof may be its most powerful—and most expensive—environmental statement. It cost $8,000 to waterproof, and $7,000 to landscape. Water from the roof feeds the toilet and the garden’s watering system, and the garden itself insulates the house and keeps gas bills low in winter. Photo by Nic Granleese.
The deck, fashioned from ipe, was built around one of the property’s many granite outcroppings. An earthen roof was planted with the same varieties of sedum that were added to the front of the cottage.
"We didn't want to put a lot of furniture out there," says Terry of the east terrace, adding that they sometimes bring the dining table outside for meals. "You can make it work with whatever you want."
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