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All Photos/outdoor/landscapes : shrubs/patio, porch, deck : small

317 Outdoor Shrubs Small Patio, Porch, Deck Design Photos And Ideas

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.
Verandas at both the front and back of the home create spaces to engage with the landscape and for "outside contemplation."
Stone steps hug the side of the home and lead from the street level to the entry courtyard adjacent to the dining room. “We loved the use of the Ceppo Di Gre stone for the two main stairs,” says architect Bronwyn Litera. “Visitors are drawn to its detail when climbing the stairs, and so they watch their feet!”
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.
A terrace covered by a pergola runs past the private volume (which contains three bedrooms of equal size and a bathroom on the ground floor) to the covered patio, and down the stairs to the pool.
To protect the home from the sun in the summer, the south facade has less windows and a pergola over the terrace.
“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.”
Windows open directly from the kitchen to the breezeway between the main building and the screened porch, making alfresco dining easy. When the sun shines on the breezeway, the family simply moves the table and chairs to the north patio.
Diane chose a metal cladding due to the risk of fire in the Ponderosa forest. As a result, the insurance costs for the cabin are very low compared to the neighboring cabins.
The downstairs patio is framed in bougainvillea and has two Boomerang Lounge rattan chairs with a mosaic-topped table, both from CB2.
“I designed the pool as a form related to the house, but almost stepping down in scale,” says architect Kirsten Johnstone. “Australia’s strict regulations around pools create challenges to achieve compliance. Here, we have used some timber battens and continuous bluestone paving to connect the pool to the entertaining area.” The garden is planted with drought-tolerant indigenous plants to support local wildlife.
The unit’s open-air terrace provides views of the television tower at Alexanderplatz soaring high above the Berlin skyline.
The “sit-out” is located in a grassed courtyard area. The concrete structure is softened by a warm timber balustrade, rattan furniture, and glass pendant lighting.
Creeping greenery will eventually overtake some sections of the exterior. The Danish sideboard in the living room inside is vintage from Space for Life.
A heated Helios Lounge bench by Galanter & Jones beckons the owners and visitors out to the more streamlined deck.
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.
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.
The views are spectacular, but drapes can wrap the upstairs for privacy.
Using exclusively native plants, landscape designer Karin Ursula Edmondson created a layered garden of creeping sedges, ornamental grasses, bee balm, mountain mint, shrubby St. John’s wort, fragrant sumac, and more. “The eco-system of the site was so spectacular, it was all I needed for inspiration,” she says.
"Passive cooling became another key sustainable strategy—an evaporative cooler was used in lieu of air conditioning, which works well with the open plan and desire to keep doors open," says the firm. "This uses significantly less energy than air conditioning and works well in the dry climate of Colorado."
One of the Living Vehicle’s most popular features is its self-supporting deck, which serves as an extension of the indoor living space and can be easily lowered or raised with a garage door–style support spring. The updated deck is now rated for 1,500 pounds.
The spiral staircase connects both units to the backyard space. "The vertical stair provides an efficient path for her two young nephews to slip directly down from their kitchen to the back yard to play or for group barbecues with the extended family," says the firm.
Carstensen landscaped the backyard and added a simple fire pit circle with chairs. He updated the deck, replacing the vertical posts with screens to create a more open feeling.
Viewed from above, the house shows off its multiple outdoor entertaining areas and lush vegetation
Tucked behind the living room near the back parking area (screened by a hedge), the pool and small deck become an extension of the great room.
Although the exterior material connects the new addition back to the house, it distinguishes itself in form with an arched, load-bearing roof. The high ceilings allow light into the new kitchen, dining, and work spaces.
007 House by Dick Clark + Associates
A maple tree grows through an ipe deck in this garden that Mary Barensfeld designed for a family in Berkeley, California. A reflecting pool separates it from a granite patio, which is furnished with a Petal dining table by Richard Schultz and chairs by Mario Bellini. The 1,150-square-foot garden serves as an elegant transition from the couple’s 1964 Japanese-style town house to a small, elevated terrace with views of San Francisco Bay. Filigreed Cor-Ten steel fence screens—perforated with a water-jet cutter to cast dappled shadows on a bench and the ground below—and zigzagging board-formed concrete retaining walls are examples.
Lingering on terraces is one way to while away the day at Es Bec D'Aguila.
The landscaped property features several lush gardens and paved dining areas. Hidden behind mature beech hedging, this outdoor area offers a sheltered loggia for al-fresco dining.
A modern stone fence made of galvanized steel mesh filled with stones surrounds the house. “We got the stones from the local stonecutter—they use the stones washed up on the beach, not the stones from the fields,” Lassen explains.
Even the bathroom opens up to the internal courtyard. This courtyard also enabled the rear extension to be completed without blocking natural light to the second bedroom on the ground floor.
Per the client’s request, the new glass-walled "floating deck" features a gray artificial grass floor covering.
The 100-acre site is former farmland. The clients plan to remove the weeds that have proliferated in the generations since colonial farming and replace them with indigenous flora.
The home sits on a ridgeline with panoramic views in all directions. To the east, about four miles away, is a peak called Mount Piper.
The home has two decks—to the north and to the south—one of which will always be protected from the wind. The doors can be opened to provide effective cross ventilation.
The elongated walkway and porch creates outdoor circulation during the summer months
The garden is by landscape designer Tom Massey. The paving is similar to the bricks used in the extension.
On a recent phone call, the firm caught up with the homeowner while she was opening a bottle of champagne. “What are you celebrating?” Campos remembers asking her. “She said, ‘Every few months I buy a bottle of champagne, and I open it up, and I celebrate that I live in this house.’”
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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.