my climate is similar to southern cali so definitely our covered pergola for shade in summer with a hard surface for outdoor furniture underneath. We would barely use our yard in summer without it. I think an outdoor kitchen is nice and are becoming more popular here but I still think you can do prep inside and then bring food out for a barbeque for example so I think it's a great idea if there is plenty of money to spend but not essential for outdoor dining.

Flowering trees and shrubs! No question that they are the best elements in our yard!

Our favorite thing is probably our pond and the mature trees that surround us, if i had to pick one. But I also love our multiple stone patios, pergola, trellis, stone koi pond, raised bed garden, etc etc

But if i were in CA on a small lot, my number one priority would be to create an outdoor living/dining space, because in your climate you can use it a lot. If bugs are an issue, Id also screen it. Since you mention a small lot, I might also have a gurgling fountain to drown out any neighborhood noise.

PS I am anti outdoor kitchens in most cases. I guess it depends on how convenient your indoor kitchen is. But aesthetically, IMHO, there is nothing pretty about looking at an outdoor kitchen. Id rather have vista and or plant material than a big visual intrusion of that sort.

About outdoor kitchens.......we had a very nice one in Florida and I hated it. It was just a few steps away from our real kitchen so it felt redundant. If you wanted to use it it had to be cleaned thoroughly every single time ...bugs....grit, sand, dust. It was under a lanai (covered patio) and not directly exposed to the elements but the weather was still very hard on it. I love the way they look but would never want another one. In fact, we passed on a house when we moved here because of an outdoor kitchen that would have been a complete patio remodel to get rid of.

Usable, covered, patio or deck space will add enjoyment and value to your home. Well constructed pergolas are beautiful additions; cheap prefab ones from Sam's Club, not so much. An outdoor gas or charcoal grill IF you use one is a great addition. Assess the amount of space you have and choose your elements carefully; if you try to crowd too much in your outdoor space it will not feel relaxing or inviting.

I would say the best element in our yard is green. Although it's not what I would usually recommend, artificial grass may be a consideration for your yard in California right now. I have a friend in Orange County who used it when they completely redid their backyard pool and added a fireplace and other hardscaping, and it looks surprisingly good.

My favorite corner is

a dining patio under a large shady tree, so a shade pergola would be a must for me if mature trees did not already exist. This corner does have a makeshift outdoor kitchen consisting of a large counter height table made from an antique door, a small fridge and gas grill. I love it for it is by the pool which is about 75ft away from the house and it makes kids snacks, drinks and lunch super easy to get and keeps the kitchen floors from getting wet all summer.

Thank you all! I appreciate all the feedback.

The artificial lawns have gotten better looking, but unfortunately are still not a very eco-friendly choice as they are not permeable nor recyclable so they end up in a landfill at the end of their lifespan.

Several nos on the outdoor kitchen, which is interesting. I doubt we will do one due to budget constraints. I started thinking about it mostly because with our kitchen under remodel we are grilling more and the lack of water is inconvenient so I was thinking just a bit about whether it would be worthwhile to see how much it would cost to put in a sink and bit of countertop. Our kitchen is not adjacent to our backyard so it might seem a little less redundant. But the cleaning aspect is an excellent point I had not even considered. I definitely don't need an extra kitchen to clean.

I will have to give a water feature a bit more thought. I do love them. But they are currently banned unless they reuse the water. I'm not sure how much evaporation there is with those and how much water they end up using.

Any thoughts on fire pits?

Thank you so much!

We just put in an outdoor kitchen with out recent remodel (grill, pizza oven, fridge and counter space- no sink. It may be the novelty (?) but we are using it ALL the time. We had a bunch of people over for a picnic and set up a big buffet on the counter. We have herbs growing on the counter so we can cut them off and put them on the stuff we're grilling. I don't find it needs a ton of cleaning--- we have a cover for the grill and we just wiped the counter down before the party.

Our waterfalls/pond is one of our favorite things on our yard! The sound and look is wonderful. I think there are water-friendly ways to do it. Ours has not had any evaporation really. It's huge and has been running for 3 weeks and we have not had to fill it.

We put in both a fire pit and a fire place outdoors. We've used the fire pit once. I like the fireplace better. I find we are more likely to sit around beside the fireplace than the fire pit because you can see it better... although we've made smores around the fire pit and liked it. Fire pit was a lot cheaper though!

And of course screened covered area w/ fans. I couldn't live w/o this any more.

And a porch swing. I LOVE my swing and so does my dog!

Thanks to kswl's inspiration, we also added an outdoor movie screen and we're loving that! If you have a place, I'd recommend it :)

"And of course screened covered area w/ fans. I couldn't live w/o this any more." That's probably my favorite spot at our house, too!

In our (former house) outdoor kitchen it was the areas with water---sink, ice maker and fridge---that were problematic. Grills and counter space = good!

We also have water features, a large pond out in the yard and a pond-less waterfall next to the patio. I love them but wouldn't necessarily include a water feature if using one sacrificed a spacious feel.

I love the path through a small natural area across the back of the yard. In each of our homes, DH has carved a path through any shrubby, wooded, or tall grass section, no matter how small the yard. I love it because it gives a sense of "going somewhere". In one house, it was only a section where he let the grass grow taller and mowed a trail lol! In an AZ home we stayed in, it was an edged path through the gravel with desert plants. Oh, that complex had also put in a labyrinth defined by rocks in a shared space, really cool.

But, you can tell by my username I love a path!

I think a water feature could be fairly small. I will have to research how much water is used if it is recirculated. How much maintenance is something like this? Wonder if it would be better in the front or in the back. The master bedroom is in the back of the house so the backyard is next to where we sleep.

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So funny an outdoor movie screen is mentioned. Our next door neighbor really wants one. We have a white garage door and she has asked if she could use it. That's fine with us, but it requires moving the baseball net and basket ball hoop--our driveways are adjacent and heavily used by 8-12 year old kids for play. I'm not sure about doing a more dedicated one partly because I'm not sure about creating that much noise in our yard when our neighbors are so close. And the movie showings would have to be at night to be able to see the movie, right?

I think a screened in porch would be wonderful, but I don't think there's a logical way to make that happen for our house and yard. And they are virtually unheard of here. We don't have many bugs so I'm not sure if that's why?

Sounds like some shade over a dining area is very desirable though. I guess a pergola is faster than a tree for that? And more attractive/covers a bigger area than an umbrella?

Anyone have thoughts on outdoor lighting?

Thank you all so much for all the helpful feedback!

I need to get out a tape measure, but I'm guessing our backyard is 30 x 40. That's a very, very rough guess. I'll try to get out there and measure later today. I need to eventually so I can start drawing on graph paper. I think we will use much of that space for a patio. Not sure there's any path potential in the back. But there will be some kind of walk way/path in the front, not only to the front door but also to the side of the house.

I’m in southern Louisiana with 60 plus inches of annual rainfall and high humidity 6 months of the year. A screened porch with ceiling fans is almost mandatory if you want to spend any time outdoors. Unfortunately, we only seem to utilize it in the spring and fall/winter. Summers are just too miserable.

I’m a gardener, so growing things is what I love. Have a kitchen garden and lots of flower beds. Not crazy about grass, but the clippings are good for the compost bin.

We have a simple fountain in a sugar kettle. It’s situated in a bed off the screened porch. Love the sound! Evaporation rate is extremely low, even during periods without rain.

CindyMac, what a beautiful garden!

Thinking that if you're in Northern CA, you'd likely get a lot of use from a fire pit - nights get chilly there, don't they?

When I was in Santa Monica, I was so impressed by all the xeriscaped yards full of succulents, grasses, etc. These are postage stamp-sized yards on million dollar properties & most are just gorgeous w/o irrigation.

Try an image search for CA xeriscaped yard & you will see what I mean....

Nights do get chilly here. A fire pit would have to be natural gas or liquid propane I think. Wood burning anything is prohibited on bad air days and I think we are too lazy to want to clean up from the wood, plus I find the smoke pretty irritating. A neighbor priced having a natural gas line run and that would have been 3k. Anyone have a liquid propane one? Do you find you really use it?

I'm definitely heavily researching plant choices. We have a French revival house that is very cute, very cottage looking. So I think we won't go the succulent route, but I'm turning up some good cottage-looking, drought-tolerant options for plant material. (Lady banks rose, pineapple guava and/or pomegranate trees, lavenders, etc). I think we may irrigate food plants to some extent.

I'm wondering if I could somehow combine a pergola and an outdoor movie screen location. The kids would probably love an outdoor movie set up. Quick googling showed someone using a white tarp. Maybe something like that could be quickly put up and taken down on a permanent pergola structure? Sounds like the movie projector is the biggest cost? How's the noise factor for neighbors?

I was going to suggest a fire pit, then I read you asking about them, then I realized it probably isn't a good suggestion. They are really popular where we live. A couple of weeks ago, we bought the bricking and metal liner to build one but are waiting for the fall and cooler weather to put it together. I would check with your city to see what the codes and restrictions are. Where we live in Michigan, laws are pretty lax, and our yard is pretty big (.5 acre) still there is a 10 foot variance from any structure and it can't be any larger than 4 ft high or 3 ft wide; With the fires and drought in California however, I wonder if a pit would even be allowed. I'm originally from SoCal, (Orange County actually) and can't imagine a pit being permissible there.

That said, my favorite thing besides our views and trees would be the bird feeders we've put out. Not as grand as a pergola or fireplace, but they are budget friendly. We sit outside with our drinks and dog watching the birds and wild life all the time. It's park like.

Lukkiirish, fire pits are allowed here, with restrictions on wood burning on bad air quality days. Our particular location is not a high fire risk. But I do wonder how much we would use one and if the space and money would be worth it. I'm also a little concerned about having a gas one out where kids can get to it. Our yard has a ton of neighborhood kids in and out all the time (though they don't usually spend much time in the backyard itself).

My daughter drew a birdhouse for me yesterday to illustrate the birdhouse she thinks we should make. So I guess you two are on the same page! My parents have gotten a lot of enjoyment from their bird feeders. I'll have to give that some more thought.

Dh really likes the idea of a movie screen in the back. So any details on those would be much appreciated. And any thoughts on whether it's too much noise for a small backyard? I'm thinking maybe we could get the blackout fabric and somehow connect it to a pergola when we want to use it? Maybe grommets in the fabric and carbingers to some kind of hooks in the pergola?

I am also a gardener in the south and love my perennials for color and attracting butterflies, bees, and birds. We also love our covered porch, pond, and couldn't be without a vegetable garden. It's just the 2 of us and visiting kids and grandkids, so we haven't invested in an outdoor movie screen as they all have those at home. We do have a cheap fire pit, and getting one with a hidden propane tank has been a thought. There are some nice looking ones I have seen.

Would recommend looking into bluebird nest boxes. The eastern bluebird is fun to monitor, and I would think the western bluebird might be the same. They will nest more than once in a season and don't mind you checking the boxes for activity. We have 4 scattered around the property.

Here are a couple of photos. The daylilies, asters, and echinacea are in full bloom now.

Wonderful ideas and beautiful spaces! Thank you.

Please don't put in a fire pit. It is so unneighborly. Someone has one here, and though it may be several blocks away, I've opened the windows to air out the house in the evening only to have to close them because of the smell of smoke. I don't have a/c and I have to be able to open up at night. Our city is considering a ban on all outdoor burning and wood stoves because we exceed air quality standards at times.

Mayflowers, I feel the same about fireplaces. A pleasant winter walk quickly changes when you find yourself in the vicinity of houses with fireplaces polluting the outside air.

may_flowers and CindyMac, is it wood-burning that's the problem or do natural gas and/or liquid propane fueled fires also bother you?

wood burning

I don't know where you are in NoCal; we are on the Monterey Peninsula, so...

Five-six years ago we hired a professional landscaper-gardener - we are senior citizens; my really bad back and DH's issues with his knees and shoulders have made doing our own garden work impossible - and exchanged our scraggly, dismal front yard for a Mediterranean garden, and everything about it is my favorite thing!

1. It is completely drought-tolerant, with drip irrigation, plants that require very little water, significant hardscape, and best of all, no lawn. It is 100% organic. This may not be to everyone's taste, but I think it's a good choice for drought-stricken California.

2. It has wide, curving paths (even though the garden is small) that are rather cobblestone-y and very cottage-y; I planned them carefully and walked out their design over and over with our stonemason. Attractive hardscape can lend a lot of atmosphere to a garden! And curving lines are natural and also good feng shui! We use a lot of mulch, but the plants are now so thick that it's barely visible, and there's pea gravel on the path around the side of the house.

3. Almost all the plants are South African or Australian, with a few native California/Western. Among them: purple hopbush trees, westringia, coreopsis, yarrow, A Lot of lavender, French and Spanish, manzanita, breath-of-heaven (love this plant, it's a low, green-yellow very full bush, with soft long stems and tiny blue flowers), Jerusalem sage, azaleas, various other sages, a few mounded succulents that bloom with tall fuscia flowers, grasses (some with plumes), ceonothus,leucadendron (continuous flowering), bougainvillea, catmint, and colchicum (naked ladies, but Do Not google *naked ladies*!).

4. I had a color scheme in mind - told the landscaper I wanted yellow, lavender, purple, bright pink, and little bit of blue. He came through!

5. We kept our five original trees - three prolific lemons, a plum and a beautiful birch-alder.

6. I placed a little beige-pink concrete bench along the walk to the front door, very handy, and a matching one on the porch opposite the door.

7. Perhaps keep in mind that France has a gorgeous Mediterranean coast line, so these kinds of gardens are not unusual there, even with varied types of architecture.

Of the pictures shown on this thread, our garden looks most like the second one the OP posted, I really should look into how to post pictures.

One other suggestion. Stand inside the rooms that will look out on your garden/patio areas, and think about what you'd like to see outside when you are inside. I brought our landscaper and his wife inside and showed them the views and explained that I was more indoors than out and wanted a beautiful view. Some height with some yellow over there, some pink over here, etc. They got it! When he planted one small tree I stood inside at the window and motioned a bit left, a bit right, etc., until it was perfectly placed.

Good luck!

Plants, trees, vegetable garden are my favourite right now. In our previous house we had 3 purple martin complexes. We would sit outside for hours watching them.

I love the smell of burning wood on a cool night - from neighbour's fireplace chimneys - but I think wood burning would be a moot point in CA so propane would be a nice alternative.

My number one love is easy access to the backyard. I think it's worth investing in this if your lot is somehow difficult (e.g. sloped). Mature plants is a second love. My neighbour has a 60 foot tall maple and I love that our deck is positioned close enough to hear the leaves rustle and watch birds fly in and out. Third is our hammock and fourth is a glider. I agree about the outdoor kitchen - my inlaws have one in Florida, well sheltered under a roof inside a lanai, and it is always dirty and kinda damp. Would not put one in myself. A convenient hose bib is another story! In Florida I most appreciate, well, the lanai itself and comfy furniture. If there were a propane fireplace I'd use it, too!

I love the smell of burning wood on a cool night

Me too, me too! A wood burning fire just smells cozy to me! Everyone in my neighborhood has fireplaces and fire pits and when we take walks, we love to guess who is having fires... (We're also all on minimum 3 acre lots and most have more acreage... but I still loved the smell of fires in suburban neighborhoods I've lived in too).

I love the smell of burning wood on a cool night

Me too, me too! A wood burning fire just smells cozy to me!

Unless you have allergies/asthma or any other lung condition. It may smell cozy to you, but it's air pollution.

I am so bone lazy that, even though I like the smell of a wood fire I like pointing a remote control at the fireplace and hearing that whooooosh as the fire lights. Take that, Hermione! Long live gas!

When I think of a succulent garden, this is what I think of.

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Lovely, but not quite right for our house, IMO. Fortunately there are many cottage type plants that are also drought tolerant. Like lady banks rose (the largest rose plant in the world is a lady banks rose in Tombstone, AZ)

And of course many Mediterranean plants like lavender. I'm giving careful consideration to placement, though my main focus is to create a bit of privacy without totally blocking off the front of the house--we have a lovely, huge picture window that is only about twenty feet from the sidewalk. I always feel a bit on display with the drapes open. So I'm looking at a wall with vines, a small tree and some shrubs for the front. UC Davis' arboretum has an all stars plant list and I have Sunset magazines and a CA specific gardening book for resources.

I like the distant smell of a wood burning fire, but it don't like the smoke up close. If we do a fire pit, it will definitely be gas.

I appreciate all the feedback on outdoor kitchens. I had not even thought of keeping it clean and that would drive me crazy. Skipping that.

Our lot is very flat which is good! I think comfortable furniture will be important, good point.

Thank you!

Being several thousand miles away from CA, I'm not sure how much I have that would help you, but I will suggest a few of things that we did that we are happy with.

1) we have a deck that's a story up off the back of the house with a view to the yard below. Rather than put in pickets, we used glass railing and we love it...it's so nice to have an unobstructed view below.

2) we used native stone in all our landscaping. Much of the stone actually came out of our foundation stone, and what we bought was local so it matched. I think a home looks so much more appropriate when the landscaping fits more naturally in the surrounding environment. I'm not a fan of seeing AZ red rock in New England any more than I'd be a fan of New England fieldstone in NM.

3) One kitchen is enough for me to clean, but an outdoor kitchen would also be a pain to stock...you still have to bring all the cans and such outside anyway, so you don't really save time...it's just a matter of when you have to truck the stuff outside.

4) We have a portable fire pit for wood and rarely use it...but then again, we're making fires all winter long, so by the time summer rolls around for us, believe me, the charm is gone.

only issue with outdoor wood fires on small lots can be the smoke... we have an outdoor fireplace and the smoke unfortunately easily wafts into a neighbor's open windows... which, depending on the neighbors, could be an issue! gas firepits/places wouldn't be an issue...

I like outdoor rugs in areas where the patio/decking gets a lot of sun-- adds to the comfort when your feet are bare!

I agree so much about summer outdoor wood fires in a neighborhood. There is nothing wonderful about not being able to open the windows in your own home because your neighbors think only of themselves and believe they are entitled to fill the air with pollutants that can make it hard for others to breathe. The idea is romantic, the reality is that it's very selfish.

Firepits have always represented family get togethers and good times to me. I was tickled when my SIL asked if he could build one for us as a gift. But I do know what you mean Oly. We have a neighbor who burns leaves and yard waste in the middle of the day and it doesn't seem like they adhere to the wind restrictions either. We've closed up our windows many times as a result, it doesn't bid well either when the woman who lives there is loud, rude and obnoxious.

Permits for firepits in our township are free. The fire department uses them as a way for each homeowner to be advised in person about the rules and regulations. Each time before use, we have to call a township number that tracks winds and if winds exceed their limits, no one is allowed to light up, we're also restricted from burning leaves and what they call yard compost.

I guess this is a bigger issue in cities, perhaps- or a regional thing...

In our neighborhood, there's only 7 families and we're all on large lots. Five of the families have outdoor fireplaces/ fire pits, and everyone has indoor fireplaces and everyone uses them (often the fire pits are used in get togethers among the neighbors). I can't imagine anyone here being bothered by anyone else having a fire and we're not really particularly near to another neighborhoods b/c the neighborhood is on 200 acres of woods/trails.

Not too far away in the more rural areas in PA, many, many, many people still heat their homes w/ wood stoves in the winter (my inlaws burn wood for the bulk of their heat still). I haven't seen/head of anyone having a hard time w/ that..

Well, if there are too many woodstoves even in winter, it can affect air quality, so those with breathing disorders will be affected. But it can be a bit better in winter because the particulates don't as easily go through walls and closed windows. It's the summer, when heat requires the opening of windows (or it's desired) that outdoor smoke is a problem for some and just an annoyance for others. But usually people don't "get" this until they or their loved ones are affected.

There is something very nostalgic about a wood fire. But, we lived in a townhouse once and when the neighbors had a wood burning fire going in their fire pit, we had to close all our windows as their smoke would blow directly into our unit. It was kind of bad especially because there was no air conditioning in that house so then we had no ventilation in our bedroom at all. So, yes, I think it does vary by circumstances how much impact it has. Wood burning fireplaces, etc do have a very real negative effect on people with breathing difficulties. In our area wood burning is prohibited on bad air quality days.

If we do a fire pit, it will not be wood burning. I'm thinking about how much I will worry about kids doing something stupid (both now messing around with it during the day and down the road with teenagers who might be left outside in the evening to watch movies ;-) ). I guess it isn't really any different from a gas grill, which we already have out there. And I'm thinking about how much space we would need to dedicate to it and whether it is worth it for us. I also googled patio heaters, thinking that might be safer/smaller but nothing jumped out at me.

Thanks again for all the feedback!