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455 Outdoor Hardscapes Shrubs Design Photos And Ideas

The courtyard off the kitchen is an extension of the living space and a popular spot for morning coffee.
Garden with mature landscaping growing fruit, vegetables and flowers
Garden
The front courtyard is filled with lush greenery, creating an inviting storefront for the business.
Three brightly colored balconies and an overhanging roof define the home’s front facade.
The residence, which features two corrugated metal roofs that create natural ventilation for the interior, is set toward the rear of the lot, providing courtyard space for the owners' drink stall business.
Now, an eight-foot sliding door brings light into the kitchen and enables fluid movement between inside and out. The wider steps can serve as seats during a party, and they make for a graceful transition to the yard.
“The pitched ceilings and ribbon of clerestory windows make the interior feel more spacious than it is,” notes Gooden.
The ceiling of the exterior patio and soffits is crafted from inexpensive sheets of plywood cut into smaller pieces, assembled in a custom pattern, and stained.
The expansive, covered patio that extends from the living space features an outdoor kitchen and adjoining pizza oven. “My favorite aspect of the project was that the clients embraced the idea that home can be more than just shelter,” says architect Cavin Costello. “It can be a place that incentivizes you to socialize, think, eat, work, create, and play differently.”
“The intention of the landscape design was to create a tranquil refuge in a vibrant neighborhood for the family to entertain, play, and spend quality time together outdoors,” says the team at The Green Room Landscape Architecture. “The architecture produced multiple lines of sight that penetrate through the home, connecting the front and back yards with similar plant materials, creating a feeling that the house was planted in a scenic Sonoran meadow.”
The pool and fire pit in the courtyard are at the heart of the home. The olive trees and native Ironwood trees planted around these spaces soften the rectilinear architecture.
Before the home was built, the lot was almost entirely grass—however now the landscape is composed of desert and native vegetation. It also includes productive gardens of numerous types, including herb and vegetable plantings and citrus and stone fruit groves. These, in combination with the chicken eggs, provide a healthy, local food source.
Photo: Willem-Dirk du Toit
In this home in Venice Beach, California, every interior space is accompanied by an outdoor room. The homeowners often dine on the patio adjacent to the kitchen. The rooms are intimately scaled but feel expansive due to their visual and physical connection to the environment.
The decorative screen casts playful shadows across the front terrace.
The new front door, offset by a stained wood surround, leads into an entry vestibule that connects the guest wing with the rest of the house.
Now, decorative screens "provide dappled western shade and frame the view of the monumental chimney from the street," says the firm.
New front steps lead up to a front terrace.
Ben and Luis sit by a fire in their side yard surrounded by a flourishing garden.
Before tackling the house, the couple converted the garage into a separate work space with a long, linear window that echoes that in the main house.
The couple planned out all of the exterior landscaping themselves. "[It was] painstaking, the time spent measuring," says Emily.
A small deck and a custom concrete planter complete the seating area off of the main bedroom.
The Hourglass Corral is a four-bedroom, 3000-square-foot home that derives its tessellated form from the architects’ application of the Voronoi diagram.
The entire property consists of 90,000 square meters, or about 22 acres, on the island of Milos in Greece. Each of the five corrals are defined in the landscape by a white border.
In a 4,000-person village known for epic windsurfing vacations, Atelier Branco builds a striking courtyard home.
The Pemberton Residence in Austin, Texas, was designed by local firm Alterstudio with inspiration from California modernist design.
The living room opens to the private, walled exterior courtyard at the front. “I really love the design of the courtyard and the fact that you can see it from everywhere in the house,” notes Fox. The ottoman is from Jardan and the outdoor chair is Hay.
Fox’s home design encompasses 2637 square feet across four levels, and includes a garage, an independent unit for guests, and two floors for her family of four.
“We took some pains to save the tree,” says Humble of the mature cherry tree that was preserved in the redevelopment. “We used it to focus all of our new openings.”
The rear patio was refreshed with new concrete pavers. A strip of grass accents the perimeter of the pool and hot tub. The boulders by the hedge are all that remain of a previous owner’s rock grotto, which Steve disassembled.
The Ebels enjoy their outdoor area.
The Ebels have outdoor living and dining rooms. The Span Small table is composed of stone composite and natural fibers and designed by Mermelada Estudio, available at CB2.
The wispy landscaping, also inspired by Hallová’s Florida roots, is by Lango Hansen.
"We wanted the pavilion to be freestanding and to have minimal columns, so using CLT, which can span a long distance without support, made sense,” explains resident Anyeley Hallová.
Tiered plantings embellish a courtyard that encloses a sunken portion of the front facade.
Inside the enclosed front courtyard, a deck extends off main entrance. The exterior is covered in dark gray stucco, which contrasts with the deck cladding.
An outdoor area extends off the rear of the home.
Transparent walls and Japanese design cues define this renovated home in an Austin suburb.
In its previous life, the courtyard was "an afterthought," sparsely outfitted with plastic furniture. "For us, it was an opportunity to do something special," says Rami Zeidan, CEO and founder of Life House.
The purple flowers of sage and succulents are part of a landscape that reflects seasonal changes. Blu Dot Hot Mesh Lounge Chairs are on the main bedroom deck.
Lush landscaping softens the concrete stair.
Just beyond the northern edge of the home is a small koi goldfish pond, extending the notion of a California oasis.
The home’s glass addition was conceived as a place to be both indoors and outdoors at the same time.
"The home centers around a vertical courtyard that connects all three volumes, along with adjacent terraced gardens," he says. This feature brings light into every room of the home, including the basement, while also keeping them cool.
“The whole building experience was tough, because of the financial strain and because we moved in before the house was completely finished. But now that we’re on the other side, everything was so worth it,” notes Clint.
A roof terrace with built-in seating and a large grill looks out to Table Mountain and the surrounding city. “I’m very much into braaiing,” says Clint, using the Afrikaans word for barbecue, “and wanted a place to grill. Michael took that to the next level and gave us a place where we could barbecue on the roof.”
Several doors provide an entrance through the private outdoors space.
Clara spent most of her renovation efforts on the backyard, transforming it into her vision of an English countryside.
The outdoor bench is covered with Maharam fabric. The surfboard coffee table was built by one of the client’s sons. 

A front garden creates a moment of pause. "The lower front window has a two-inch-thick box going around it," says Martin. "It was a solution to enhance the kitchen window, bypassing the corner of the facade and the column it contained." This would enlarge the second kitchen counter inside, where the stove is placed.
Michael D'Angelo Landscape Architecture provided a new master plan that includes grassy areas for lawn games, a fire pit, and new plantings.
A southern view shows the exposed concrete foundation and entrance bridge. “As you approach and enter, the front door is at the top,” explains Sokol. “It’s a three-story house with the entrance on the third story, and the master bedroom in the basement—it’s sort of upside down.”
One of the owners steps out on the new terrace with one of the many household animals. “We have moved the chicken coop so we can enjoy their busy, chooky lives,” they explain.
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Whether it's a backyard patio, an infinity pool, or a rooftop terrace, these modern outdoor spaces add to the richness of daily life. Escape into nature, or get lost in city views. Wherever you are, let these outdoor photos take you somewhere new with inspirational ideas for yards, gardens, outdoor tubs and showers, patios, porches, and decks.