• Home Tours
    • Dwell Exclusives
    • Before & After
    • Budget Breakdown
    • Renovations
    • Prefab
    • Video Tours
    • Travel
    • Real Estate
    • Vacation Rentals
  • Photos
    • Editor’s Picks
    • Bathrooms
    • Kitchens
    • Staircases
    • Outdoor
  • Magazine
    • Current Issue
    • All Issues
  • Shop
    • Shopping Guides
    • Furniture
    • Lighting & Fans
    • Decor & More
    • Kitchen & Dining
    • Bath & Bed
  • Projects
    • Editor’s Picks
    • Modern
    • Midcentury
    • Industrial
    • Farmhouses
    • Scandinavian
    • Find a Pro
    • Sourcebook
    • Post a Project
  • Collections
    • Editor’s Picks
    • Shopping
    • Recently Saved
    • Planning
SubscribeSign In
  • FILTER

    • All Photos
    • Editor’s Picks
    • outdoor
  • Locations

    • Back Yard(56)
    • Front Yard(27)
    • Rooftop(14)
    • Side Yard(16)
    • Garden(20)
    • Slope(4)
    • Field(1)
    • Woodland(1)
    • Desert(3)
  • Landscapes

    • Trees(68)
    • Shrubs(68)
    • Grass(35)
    • Hardscapes(117)
    • Gardens(46)
    • Flowers(15)
    • Vegetables(7)
    • Boulders(5)
    • Raised Planters(117)
    • Walkways(63)
  • Pools, Tubs, Showers

    • Large(11)
    • Small(5)
    • Plunge
    • Swimming(11)
    • Lap
    • Infinity(2)
    • Salt Water(1)
    • Concrete(2)
    • Prefab Container
    • Standard Construction(4)
    • Hot Tub(2)
    • Shower(1)
  • Patio, Porch, Deck

    • Large(42)
    • Small(34)
    • Wood(29)
    • Concrete(35)
    • Metal(7)
    • Stone(20)
    • Decomposed Granite(8)
    • Pavers(22)
    • Tile(6)
    • Decking(27)
    • Planters(10)
  • Fences, Walls

    • Horizontal(34)
    • Vertical(9)
    • Wood(29)
    • Metal(10)
    • Wire(2)
    • Concrete(20)
    • Stone(8)
    • Retaining(7)
  • Lighting

    • Hanging(18)
    • Landscape(18)
    • Post(7)
All Photos/outdoor/landscapes : raised planters/landscapes : hardscapes

Outdoor Raised Planters Hardscapes Design Photos and Ideas

A simple, hardscaped back patio is the site of many summer parties. The steps lead down to the firepit, where one feels increasingly embraced by the forest.
Casa Rumeu was designed by Correa Milá Arquitectes in 1963 for the Rumeu family. While it is within walking distance of the center of Cadaqués, it feels separate, surrounded by olive groves. Part of the remodel entailed creating more garden spaces, "especially within the olive tree plantations, which are an important component of the estate’s overall charm,
Orlando designed a custom semi-circular eave to protect the aluminum door frames from sun and rain. It is fabricated from a metal frame covered with cementitious panels.
"I like that my daughter can come down here to play, and we can also entertain easily,
According to the homeowners, one concession they made to save money was downgrading the exterior retaining wall from a gabion retaining wall to native limestone blocks.
“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.
The Smiths’ new cabin, designed by Risa Boyer Architecture and completed in 2020, sits in the same spot as their previous home, on five acres on Mount Veeder, in Northern California. Somehow, the red chicken coop, which is constructed of wood, survived the fire with the chickens still alive inside.
The atrium is a lovely place to sit outside while still being somewhat protected.
The communal courtyard at the front of the complex is a favorite meeting place for the couples’ kids. Underneath a six-foot overhang, concrete planters alternate with custom entryways fabricated on-site from lenga wood.
Requirements for licensed contractors depend on the scope of work and the location of the project.
A concrete walkway connects the living and dining rooms to the exterior, and concrete forms a built-in bench for lounging by the Solo Stove fire pit.
The courtyard off the kitchen is an extension of the living space and a popular spot for morning coffee.
Garden
Garden with mature landscaping growing fruit, vegetables and flowers
Fittingly named the Courtyard House, the residence features a large outdoor space tucked underneath the cantilevered upper level, providing a quiet and shaded area for Lalita to enjoy her coffee breaks. Rotated masonry blocks extend from the courtyard wall to create succulent planters.
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.
A small deck and a custom concrete planter complete the seating area off of the main bedroom.
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.
The outdoor living room can accommodate anything from movie night to a morning work session.
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.
In accordance with the urban plan by studio Space&Matter, all five piers of the community are interconnected, and neighbors get together to make plans for the plantings.
Transparent walls and Japanese design cues define this renovated home in an Austin suburb.
The rooftop terrace can be used for social gatherings or events.
“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.”
The family’s backyard features a grape arbor and a vegetable garden. “I began gardening so our son could understand where his food comes from,” says Onna.
Clara spent most of her renovation efforts on the backyard, transforming it into her vision of an English countryside.
The roof deck, accessed by the ship’s ladder, provides a private spot to relax.
One half of the ruin was enclosed and is now part of the kitchen and dining area. The other half of the ruin encloses a new patio, which is accessible from the former factory entrance.
The entryway opens into a courtyard overlooking the main living pavilion. Throughout the home, interior spaces flow into outdoor areas via folding and sliding glass doors.
A protected outdoor space is tucked beneath the new addition. "When you have an opportunity to breathe new life into a typology, which is indicative of a period, that's a good job to have," says Cuddington.
A vintage Malm fireplace is paired with Pebble seats "K" by Atelier Vierkant.
A new metal roof syncs with the addition’s metal siding and knits the changes together.
Containers not only look beautiful, but also, they provide flexibility for bringing plants indoors in areas prone to overnight frost.
The stone-edged fire pit is a family favorite. "We do s'mores around the fire every time we go, walk the golf course at night, and love watching the sunsets against the pink mountains," she says.
A roof terrace provides ocean views. The Spectra umbrella is by Umbrosa.
A balcony adjoins one of the secondary bedrooms.
Taula House by M Gooden Design  |  Side Yard
A view of the restored waterfall from a walkway in front of the main entrance. The water feature isn’t just for looks—it also functions as a cistern that collects rainwater from drains in the flat roof.
Carlos Somoza “really brought the project home,” says Brillhart. “With our hope of the architecture being connected to landscape, you need a great landscape architect on-board, and we had that in Carlos.”
The couple tapped landscape designer Carlos Somoza to capture the wildness of the site throughout the landscape plan. This grove of old-growth trees was saved, with new Ipe hardscaping wrapping around them.
An outdoor lounge area is tucked into the juncture made where the new kitchen wing joins with the renovated Trip Russell house.
A view of the new kitchen wing. “We weren’t trying to mimic Russell’s architecture, but we were trying to be sympathetic to the structure and the materiality in our additions and renovations,” says Brillhart.
The pool was relocated and the couple redid its finishes with the Tuttle Pool Company, installing Pebble Tec, a waterfall feature, and surrounding it with modern, large-format pavers.
The kitchen wing now sits in roughly the same area as the pool used to. Says Brillhart: “The one-story wing is CMU block with exposed wood rafters – a similar system to Russell’s but a little more 21st Century.”
The façade received fresh paint, as well as new impact resistant windows. The two-story addition rises behind it. “Given that the two-story wing was larger than the existing structure, it was critical for the new building to appear as lightweight as possible,” says the firm. “The reading of concrete, which is an almost universal residential structural system in South Florida, would have been too heavy against the reading of the low-slung wood roof of the original house.”
The bedroom opens out onto a small rear deck with potted plants and an outdoor shower.
The indoor/outdoor connection was important for entertaining as well. The windows and doors can be thrown open, and people can sit close to the kitchen, inside or out, with the raised platform doubling as informal seating.
A cozy reading nook on the rooftop.
Beyond the large pedestrian gate, “which is really the home’s front door,” says Gottschalk, “the house begins to reveal its strong indoor and outdoor relationship. Blurring the boundary between the two is a key design element.”
12Next

The Dwell House Is a Modern Prefab ADU Delivered to Your Backyard

Learn More

About

  • About
  • Contact Us
  • FAQ
  • Editorial Standards
  • Careers
  • Advertise
  • Media Kit

Subscriptions

  • Subscribe to Dwell
  • Gift Dwell Magazine
  • Dwell+ Subscription Help
  • Magazine Subscription Help

Professionals

  • Post a Project
  • Sell Your Products
  • Contribute to Dwell
  • Promote Your Work

Follow

  • @dwellmagazine on Instagram
  • @dwellmagazine on Pinterest
  • @dwell on Facebook
  • @dwell on Twitter
  • @dwell on Flipboard
  • Dwell RSS

© 2025 Recurrent Ventures Inc. All rights reserved.

  • Privacy
  • Terms
  • DMCA
  • Sitemap