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All Photos/outdoor/patio, porch, deck : decomposed granite/landscapes : hardscapes

Outdoor Decomposed Granite Patio, Porch, Deck Hardscapes Design Photos and Ideas

The fire pit area displays a 48-inch concrete fire bowl, woven chairs, and upcycled tree stumps for kid-friendly-seating.
The backyard is a protected retreat out of the wind. The team added a balcony off the kitchen at the third floor. It has a ship’s ladder to access the roof deck, in order to service solar panels installed there. The balcony also has a grill for cooking al-fresco. “You gotta be able to go out back and barbecue – this is the beach after all,” says Levy.
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.
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.
Landscape company The Backyard was hired to enhance the outdoor spaces. Voids in the overhanging roof partially frame the mountain in the distance.
Chen and Guang worked with Shenshan Landscape Design on the courtyard. "Material is the key point in landscape design," says Liu.
“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.”
Clara spent most of her renovation efforts on the backyard, transforming it into her vision of an English countryside.
“The height of the new extension has been kept low, while still keeping all interior spaces on one level,” says the firm. “This approach led us to establish the project’s design identity in detail and materiality rather than in a ‘grand architectural gesture.’"
The new brick-and-wood pavilion faces north for optimal sun exposure.
Whitney designed a living wall with a large round mirror for the side garden, where the rescue beagles nap in the sunlight.
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.
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.
The house is broken up so that the natural site flows through the courtyard, which has a fire pit and a hot tub.
In the rear courtyard, Steve spent three days demolishing a rock grotto, which had been installed in the 1970s, with a jackhammer. Its boulders found new life as hardscaping near the pool. “I’m glad we could repurpose those boulders,” Jessy says, “I hate adding to landfill.”
The walls are painted Behr’s "Polar Bear," and the artwork is by Arnold Réthy. The firm painted the ceiling beams running throughout "Space Black" by Behr. "Painting the beams in a darker color emphasized that they run from front to back," says the firm. "This came back to celebrating the timeless, indoor/outdoor experience that continues to drive demand for renovated Eichlers."
“We had these incredible live oak trees, and so we built the house around the trees and the view,” says Raike.
The Olmos Park Residence sits in an established neighborhood in San Antonio. Heavy limestone walls screen neighbors on both sides, while the fourth side opens up to a verdant flood basin.
The enclosed garden features lovely landscaping and has the feeling of a serene escape.
A border hedge provides privacy for the backyard, where distant views of the San Jacinto mountains can be appreciated.
"This home is intended as both a place of refuge and of play," says Emily Summers Design Associates.
Glass walls surround a courtyard, sunken so as to provide respite from the wind. Landscape elements encourage interplay with the outdoors.
The interior courtyard is one of the best rooms in the house, embracing daylight and shadows. Originally designed to hold a tree at the center, the courtyard now includes a fire pit.
A striped hammock is perfectly placed for relaxing and taking in the sunset.
In Sonoma, California, a historic farmhouse receives a contemporary makeover. Large sliding doors allow for seamless indoor-outdoor connection.
For the landscape and redesigned pool area, Terremoto kept “their movies simple and elemental,” matching the subtractive approach taken in the house. The firm collaborated with Farnham on the design of the long-span pergola, which is cleverly engineered to only need four support posts.
Entry walkway leading to the front door and eventually to the grill and down to the pool
Entry Court
Carstensen updated the deck, replacing the vertical posts with screen to create a more open feeling.
Carstensen landscaped the backyard and added a simple firepit circle with chairs. This seating area merges easily with the new screened porch.
The three structures are linked by a covered walkway and surround a north-facing courtyard protected from coastal winds. There is no fence to encourage interaction with neighbors.
Garden and greenhouse
View over the Canal
Street view of the double gable
Shadows of the pergola at rear yard patio
Front deck and facade
Patio with gas firepit
Swimming pool at rear yard
Wire fox terrier on guard at the raised wood deck and bedroom beyond
An asymmetrical mailbox incorporates mid-century geometry and new building materials into the front approach.
A 10 foot deep cantilevered roof provides consistent shade pool side in the courtyard
Firepit and wire fox terrier with hardscape and landscape to exterior dining terrace at raised deck beyond
A quiet, sheltered outdoor dining area

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