Outdoor Seating/Entertainment Help!

4 years ago

last modified: 4 years ago

Hello,

My wife and I moved into our house last year. The backyard had previously been a mostly wooded area with a small deck (slightly worn/beaten up) suitable for a grill and a couple of seats. When we moved in, we removed some of the trees, expanded the lawn and added a fence in hopes of being able to make our backyard a better entertaining space (and fenced in for our pup!). What we are struggling to figure out now is, with the small deck and no patio, what are our best options for having places for guests to sit?:

1. Set up furniture directly on the grass (aluminum? Adirondack?). This would be the cheapest option but also a bit of a pain to have to move each time the lawn is mowed and would probably ruin the grass in the area

2. Replace the deck with a slightly bigger deck

3. Replace the deck with a slightly smaller deck or same size that goes down to a patio.

4. Tear down the deck and put in a patio only. Only hesitation here is the height difference between the door and the ground would probably require spending more on the granite steps than the actual patio itself.

I've included some pictures below of the deck and the backyard area. Looking forward to hearing any and all suggestions! Please excuse the pile of shutters and patchy grass - work in progress!!

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Comments (6)

fnmroberts
4 years ago
Photos haven’t been posting here for the past day but maybe a link will work.

For ideas, here is a video of our patio and back lawn. Take note of the small egress deck which transends from house to patio, We have a variety of seating areas that accommodate different size groups.

https://youtu.be/yh0ZL-PwsMQ
Sean Sullivan
Original Author
4 years ago
That's a gorgeous backyard area. We have a lot of work to get to that point! Very basic for us as of now as we just did the land clearing last summer/fall
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cecily 7A
4 years ago
How many guests (approximately) do you need to seat and what activities will they be engaging in? Do you want one larger gathering space or two medium sized gathering spaces (firepit areas are currently popular).
Sean Sullivan
Original Author
4 years ago
Well right now we just have a deck area and then the rest of the lawn is grass. I don't have anything particular in mind, but open to suggestions. If we were to have 8-10 people over (or more) many people would probably stand, but it would be nice to have seating available for more than 3-4
krnuttle
4 years ago
last modified: 4 years ago
I have no idea what you back yard looks like, so this may not work for you. Our house is two story with porches across the back and front of the house. The back yard slopes with the high side on the west end of the house and is a fall of about 1' per 10'

We had originally thought about widening the porch, but put in a patio. The porch is about 4' higher than the patio with wooden steps down. The west end, high side of the slope, has a stone wall that is of a height for seating. The patio is about 16' X 20 stretching in front of the porch. Permanent fixtures are 4 swiveling, rocking patio chairs, and a round matching table that fits in the curve of the one corner of the patio. There is also a fire pit. The wall ends about half way across the outer side of the patio. On the high side of the patio there are steps that lead to a stepping stone path that leads around the house to the front of the house

The area between the porch and patio wall is a shade garden with woods poppies, hostas, etc. Roses, gardenias, and nandena are planted on the west end and outer wall. The steps and path are through the roses and gardenias. The other part of the outer side and the east end are open to the yard. Just off of the east corner we have a large butterfly garden that has flowers most of the year.

For us this gives us nearly year around use of the area. We can sit in the shade on the porch even in most rains. The patio gives us an expandable area for entertaining. With the plantings we have something in bloom or in color all year round.
fnmroberts
4 years ago
@Sean Sullivan - Is yours a new build? If yes, let the construction backfill totally settle before any patio. Develop a plan. We entertain from 2 to over 30 thus the space to accommodate various number. Once had a hot tub on the patio so consider the possibility.

I grew up with a picnic table on the lawn, had to move it every time to mow. Our patio was built in 1998 and the gardens later. Sounds like you already have shade. Good luck