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2,111 Outdoor Back Yard Design Photos And Ideas

Studio Bracket Architects amplified the home’s International Style by adding more glass paneling, extending the flat room, and refining the connection between indoor and outdoor spaces.
Overhangs blur the line between indoor and outdoor spaces at the Malibu Crest residence.
The Malibu Crest residence has the most desirable spot on the hill because it was the first house built there in 1949.
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.
Project lead Elise Snyder and another Solares staff member did a road trip and stayed overnight to get a sense of the landscape and find the right siting. The team wasn’t able to come back out to the site after that, but luckily, builder Quantum Builders was a little closer to the action and stayed on the property regularly to get the project home. “It was like an old-fashioned logging camp feel to it,” laughs Lolley.
It goes without saying that one of the greatest masters of color was famed Mexican architect Luis Barragán, who used pink to dazzling effect in several projects, including Cuadra San Cristóbal.
There are plenty of opportunities for guests to engage with the surrounding landscape, from cosy fire pits to hammocks strung between trees.
The House features a seating area and fire pit by the main entrance. "It’s a great way to experience the peace and serenity of the outdoors," says Tarah.
Set in a garden, the prefab structure is the perfect mix of good design and convenience.
Creede Fitch and his wife look out on the courtyard of their Austin home, where a heritage pecan tree has pride of place.
“The idea was not to make a total break between the existing building and the new work, but to allow a sort of deliberate overlap,” explains Brian.
“The approval process wasn’t easy. It’s just a guesthouse, but we may as well have been trying to build an apartment complex in the backyard,” says Marks. Walls of board-formed concrete are warmed by the cumaru wood ceilings and decks.
“The pitched ceilings and ribbon of clerestory windows make the interior feel more spacious than it is,” notes Gooden.
Lush plantings surround one of the two bungalows on the property that the couple converted into art studios.
The two-bedroom, one-and-a-half bath cabin in Nova Scotia serves as a vacation getaway for a couple.
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.”
Native Sonoran flora—such as salvaged soap tree yuccas, ocotillos, and saguaros—are planted at strategic locations. Low-water hybrid grasses and shrubs complement the larger plants, creating a very serene experience while keeping maintenance to a minimum.
“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.
“Where most would use chicken wire and a box design, the clients wanted the chicken coop to complement the architecture of the house,” says architect Cavin Costello. “So, the coop uses some elements of the main house, with the rusted, corrugated metal shed roof and vertical brise-soleil. It’s a chicken coop design that can stand up to the elements of living in the desert.”
Photo: Willem-Dirk du Toit
Photo: Willem-Dirk du Toit
Photo: Willem-Dirk du Toit
The new volume extends into the backyard but increases the house’s footprint by only 225 square feet. It is slightly taller than the existing structure, minimizing overlap between roofs. The cladding is composed of marine-grade plywood panels, colored black with Benjamin Moore’s Arborcoat exterior stain, to create an affordable facsimile of cement fiberboard panels. The patio is paved in black decomposed granite.
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.
A koi moat surround this thatched-roof home—a collaboration between AmDesign Studio and Creative Architects—near Ho Chi Minh City.
The monolithic brick home in Mexico City by Esrawe Studio looks imposing from the street, but its enormous pivoting door opens to a courtyard that feels like a lush oasis.
Work-at-home architect Oliver Dang, founder of Six Four Five A, built a cozy backyard studio with cedar panels and a vast storage system. Sunlight streams through the angled skylight, warming the birch plywood interior.
A new second-floor deck was wrapped in 2020, and at $25,000, a sizeable chunk of the budget. But worth it, considering it makes for a serene spot to sit and soak up the river and forest views. “The sound of the river rushing can’t be beat,” says Devlin.
The decked patio and pool area is shaded by olive and pomegranate trees.
"The site itself has a generous slope, and the access from the street happens at the lower part," says Manzi. "This was the major challenge—to make the house accessible without disfiguring the site with a road."
The living and dining areas open to a concrete deck overlooking the garden through minimalistic openings in the corrugated-sheet cladding. The expansive decks and verandas at both the front and rear of the home essentially double the living space.
Generous walkways and verandas around the open garage expand the living space outside and connect the two living volumes.
The carport-style garage is situated at the center of the home with the living spaces arranged around it in two volumes. Concrete stairs lead from the lower level to the main living level on the upper floor.
The site has uninterrupted views over Rushcutters Bay—even from the lowest level. “The infinity edge on the pool really makes it appear to vanish into the view,” says architect Bronwyn Litera. “We also love how the huge gum tree in the neighbors’ property branches over the site. The main bedroom feels like it’s cocooned up in the canopy, and it provides beautiful shading and dappled light over the pool and windows to the west.”
Full-height sliding doors stack back, allowing the living spaces to flow seamlessly from inside to outside. A large deck celebrates the view over Rushcutters Bay and provides an additional dining space for sunny days. A retractable awning can also be extended to protect the space from the elements.
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.
The rear of the garage and studio is fitted with a slatted screen, which creates unique shadows on the stairwell and inside the unit. The outdoor room also benefits from views of the lake and is anchored by a two-sided, white brick fireplace.
Top 9 Gardens of 2020: The verdant spaces nominated for the Dwell Design Awards help enliven their biophilic homes.
The pool’s infinity edge creates the illusion that the home floats above the San Fernando Valley.
Wonderous views can be enjoyed from the lounge chairs that line the infinity edge pool.
An aperture in the roof draws the eye skyward upon entering the backyard.
Upon entering the home, the eye is immediately drawn to the full panel of windows and the views beyond.
The Lew House offers a wealth of outdoor spaces to enjoy, including a patio with a pool.
While brick is what was expected for the neighborhood, Mandel used a brick shingle for the extruded extension that occupies what was originally the side yard.
Emily and Mike created a small courtyard behind the office with custom concrete seating, a stone patio, and a mature tree as the focal point.
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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.