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Outdoor Back Yard Gardens Design Photos and Ideas

The kitchen opens to the dining area, with a table and benches from Facebook Marketplace. The firepit chairs are from Polywood. The circular window has a custom exterior copper trim by Mission Iron Works.
Kevin and Katie enjoy happy hour on their new covered patio. The plantings were inspired by the garden in Mexico where they got married. During the pandemic, "We were like, I want to go on vacation, but we can't, so let's just make our backyard a vacation,
The retouched meadow between the house and its detached garage/guest room was given a stone walking path.
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,
A firepit and an inflatable hot tub with a wicker surround add a bit of luxury to Joe and Rachel’s Venice Beach rental.
Another move that reduces the house's environmental impact is the inclusion of photovoltaic panels on the roof. The panels generate enough energy to offset 95% of the house’s consumption.
Filled with predominately Australian plants, the garden is easy to look after.
Natalie and Lauren wanted to replicate the feel of a Zen garden with their home’s central courtyard. The garden features a Japanese maple that pops against the charred timber cladding, while structurally, the U-shape design ushers light right through to the back of the house.
Red- and blue-pigmented cement augments the color palette of the courtyard.
In the backyard, the couple added a pergola, greenhouse, and outdoor dining space for $6,000.
The courtyard brings natural light into the lower level of the home, which has a den/media room, guest suite/workout area, and storage and mechanical.
The expansive grassy lawns features several ponds, fountains, native greenery, and even a tea house.
The fire pit area displays a 48-inch concrete fire bowl, woven chairs, and upcycled tree stumps for kid-friendly-seating.
A section of the facade—a cross between a shoji screen and a barn door—slides open. Planter boxes contain edible varieties that fuel Mary’s culinary explorations.
“The roof overhang extends the living space,” says Boyer, so the deck becomes a spot to entertain visiting friends and family. The couple have been working to restore the surrounding land, as well.
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.
Two new structures were also built in the backyard, and connected to the main house via the landscape plan by Lilyvilla Gardens. One is a 485-square-foot guest house, and the other is a 375-square-foot workshop for the owner, who’s a bike builder. They have the same exterior siding as the main house: rough-sawn tongue and groove cedar.
Jari and Anna furnished their patio and backyard with pieces from their furniture line, Skargaarden.
The beanbag chairs and outdoor sofa and chairs are from West Elm and the Case Study Museum Bench is from Modernica.
Ceramic artwork gazes onto Bridge House, and Bridge House shall gaze back!
This tiny one-bedroom rental was designed by Cornwall-based architecture firm Studio Arc, with interiors by Jess Clark. Originally a thatched cottage, the space was updated with aged concrete for a modern feel, while wood shingle walls add a sense of nostalgia.
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.”
Extension & Courtyard Facing Study
Beach days, park picnics, and backyard barbecues—wherever your Fourth of July weekend takes you, these products will elevate your event with ease.
“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.”
Cultivating a garden not only helps you and your family live a greener lifestyle, but also saves on grocery bills, too. Start a fruit and vegetable patch in your backyard or roof terrace; and if you live in an apartment with limited outdoor space, try growing herbs and even vegetables inside.
You don’t need to have a complicated harvesting tank built if you want to conserve water. A simpler way is to place a rain barrel—found at your local home and garden supply store—under the downspout on your roof to collect rainwater for gardening. Invest in a good water filtration or treatment system, and you can even use your rainwater for bathing, laundry, cooking, and drinking.
Day, Hachigian, and Sosi congregate on the back terrace at a dining table designed by Day and his brother-in-law, Garo Hachigian.
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.
A koi moat surround this thatched-roof home—a collaboration between AmDesign Studio and Creative Architects—near Ho Chi Minh City.
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.
Design, Bitches turns a typical Atwater Village home into a lush hideaway with a new, cedar-clad guesthouse.
The intimate back patio features an antique wicker chair from Maine along with a zinc table from Arteriors and outdoor dining chairs from David Sutherland.
After a years-long search for viable land, Eugene and his wife, Claire Ko, bought an old dairy farm with good soil that could be rehabbed into an organic fruit and vegetable operation.
Tzalam wood, chosen for its resilience to Valle de Bravo's rainy climate, is used throughout the home to open each room to the outdoors.
Castaños House by Arch. Ekaterina Kunzel & Arch. María Belén García Bottazzini
Castaños House by Arch. Ekaterina Kunzel & Arch. María Belén García Bottazzini
Although the two-story atrium is smaller than the courtyard, it is no less important to the design. The glazed pocket doors are opened daily, connecting the family room to the rear yard, and framing the sculptural form of the 30-year-old Japanese black pine garden bonsai.
Michael D'Angelo Landscape Architecture provided a new master plan that includes grassy areas for lawn games, a fire pit, and new plantings.
The Eames Lounge Chair and sunken garden make for a serene combination.
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.”
West plays on the steps that carry the family members from the bedroom to the rear garden.
If you already have a projector, white sheets and some popcorn are all you need to create your own outdoor cinema. Alternatively, you can set up a backyard screening with a monitor, TV stand, and an extension cord.
A new metal roof syncs with the addition’s metal siding and knits the changes together.
“The multilayered approach to this house—the use of healthy materials, the prefab, the relation to nature—has definitely changed our practice,” says Laura Briggs, architectural designer.
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