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Outdoor Back Yard Boulders Design Photos and Ideas

Moss-covered rocks and twisted tree trunks give the landscape a fairyland-like quality.
An outdoor shower built into the stone is located at the rear of the tiny house.
Ceramic artwork gazes onto Bridge House, and Bridge House shall gaze back!
Ridge Mountain Residence was designed to blend into the existing Palm Springs landscape. Cor-Ten steel cladding provides a naturally weathering material, while the concrete structure and flagstone terrace complement the light tones of the surrounding mountains.
The owners built the house as a place to gather with their three adult children on Loon Lake, where they had vacationed at the husband’s family home for years. The modern Adirondack chairs are by Loll Designs.
While the owners really liked the idea of shou sugi ban, they opted for a more cost-effective black stain. The random-width, reverse board-and-batten siding reflects the wabi-sabi concept. “The builder said the math for the random siding was torturous,” the wife said. “We didn’t know how hard it was to make things look simple.” DeNiord planted hay-scented fern and lowbush blueberry sod around the house. “We didn't want any side of the house to feel unconsidered,” he says. As for the local boulders he placed around the house and terrace, he says, “They give the feeling that the house grew up around the outcroppings.”
DiNiord collaborated with craftsman Ken Hood to design the concrete bench with firewood storage and detachable wood back. Douglas fir columns along the walkway creates a colonnade. The mono-sloped roof is a nod to the long roofline of the original house that stood on the property. “Reducing the angles also reflects the strictness to budget,” the wife says.
“For the owner, it was important that the exterior require as minimal maintenance as possible,” says architect Hunter Gundersen. “We clad the exterior in metal accordion-panel siding, as it will require little maintenance over many decades. The shadows cast by the panels’ W shape change dramatically with the position of the sun, indicating the time and season by the play of shadow and light.”
A couple transform their backyard into a botanical children’s playland and an ideal entertaining spot.
“The project was about peeling back layers. From there, we had to be creative and utilize what the house was giving to us,” adds Levitt Halsey.
The modern structure is in striking contrast to the area’s predominantly traditional homes, including the Kellys’ own Dutch Colonial.
"Since we're completely off grid we operate off of hauled water, so we have three 1,800 gallon tanks that get filled up every other week. But for those same reasons, people off the grid don't really have pools because they're hard to maintain, but we did it anyway."
Built in 1962, Steel House #4 is one of the seven steel-and-glass prefab homes designed by Wexler and Richard Harrison.
Joel Loblaw, a landscape designer, created "a series of outdoor rooms," including an alfresco kitchen that is sheltered beneath a cedar trellis. The Butterfly chairs are from Fresh Home and Garden in Toronto.
Elysian Landscapes designed the graphic landscape for French fashion house Balenciaga, creating sculptural forms in sharp contrast to the black lava hardscape and green leafy foliage that envelops the building.
The oceanfront deck provides an idyllic spot for enjoying the ocean waves and watching the sunset.
The Pool House seen at night.
The decks span an area of 2,000 square feet.
The master bedroom was raised and cantilevered so as not to disturb the mature oak tree roots. Boulders are used as steps to the lawn.
Each level opens up to green space, creating a breezy, indoor/outdoor connection. Furniture by OKHA—the Hunt Sofa, the Nate, Nicci Nouveau, and Vince and Miles Armchairs—outfit the living spaces.
“The teepee is 26’ canvas with pine lodge poles. It’s simple in construction as it was originally intended to be a nomadic dwelling. It is extremely reliable in the high desert winds and even great in the rain. We have a small fire pit in there to keep it toasty on cool winter evenings. It’s one my favorite places on the property.”
Despite the home's stylish interiors, Young is most drawn to what lies outdoors—a lounge for quiet moments and al fresco dining, a pool, an outdoor shower, the views, a 1972 VW Meyers Manx dune buggy, and a raised adobe platform with a teepee on the back veranda.
Outside, Young incorporated decomposed granite, native plant species, and large date palms. She moved a lot of rocks around to add to the natural desert feel she wanted for the property.
Large boulders are given pride of place in the central courtyard.
The house is oriented to utilize passive heating and cooling strategies. “Deep overhangs and large glazed areas on the south and west were modeled to protect from solar build up in summer and allow for heating gains in winter,” said the architects.
The rear courtyard appears to float over the site. On the right is a large screened porch with three walls of retractable insect screens from Phantom Screens, which make it easy to use the space whether it's bug season or not.
Nestled at the base of a dramatic rocky butte, a tiny cabin in the woods of Washington blurs the distinction between indoors and out.
Cedar slats mark the facade of the Worple's lakefront vacation home in Ontario.
When you stay in Manshausen, you’ll be suprised to find a hot tub and dam that you can enjoy at your leisure. It holds up to 14 people and leads down to a dam that holds salt water that’s pumped into the contained area to keep it fresh.
The contemporary Isokari is composed of two buildings that share a roof. The shared roof creates an efficient terrace between the two structures.
According to the architects, the house's "thinner dimensions not only display refinement of technique, but also remove visual weight from materials—the position being that lightness is good for the human spirit and visual heaviness is not."
The large overhangs protect the interior spaces from direct sunlight, while also providing a layer of privacy.
Inspired by Japanese pocket gardens, the gardens are flanked on three sides by concrete and one wall of full glass that lights sitting areas adjacent to the lower level bedrooms.
In addition to spacious flagstone patios, the landscaping includes a running creek, rear pond, as well as a rocky wet and dry creek on site.
view to new addition from rear lawn
The L-shaped layout embraces a patch of a private garden where the owners can lounge in the sunshine, picnic on the property, and take in views of the nearby lake.
View from courtyard toward the house
Studio Otto Felix opted for a Light Steel Frame system to minimize site impact and eliminate the need for concrete or bricks.
The home appears to float above the natural pool, adding an element of whimsy.
Beyond the living room and deck, a natural pool filled with koi fish serves as a unique focal point of the tropical garden.
The wood-slatted louvers to provide shade from the setting sun and a breathtaking view.
Outdoor Living
"Below the horizontal plane, it was decided to reorganize the site in order to design a plateau that would become the outdoor living plane," says the firm. "The blasting residues were compacted and refused on the site to create the project’s new ground: a disturbed surface rather than one extracted from the territory."
Damon Fuhrer Landscapes created a Japanese-inspired garden that incorporated bamboo, moss-covered boulders, and a water feature.
The bocce court sits between the master bedroom patio and an outdoor dining area featuring Jean-Marie Massaud’s Seashell chairs from Dedon. To bring in natural light while limiting direct exposure, the couple designed a horizontal window for the music room.
The Blue Sky prototype house leads a second life as desert getaway for David McAdam and his partner Scott Smith.
In the back, ivy climbs across the garage’s raw cedar cladding next to a gate that allows access to the laneway—but the boys prefer to climb the fence.
At dusk, the light-colored home glows like a lantern in the desert sky.
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