Before and After: 3 Warm and Welcoming Outdoor Retreats
Subtle lighting, cozy fire features and inviting outdoor seating areas define these sophisticated backyard makeovers
Crisp mornings and cool, dark evenings mean it’s time for many folks to move inside for the season. But the following three outdoor makeovers, with their soft lighting, cozy fire features and inviting seating areas, suggest there’s maybe a little more time to spend outside. While it might be too late to tackle an outdoor renovation this year, bundle up and let these three warm, welcoming spaces inspire future projects.
Before Photo
After: Porco refaced the three retaining walls at one end of the narrow space with a composite material that resembles teakwood. She replaced the wood on the stairs and upper-level path with the same material.
Terraced planters filled with boxwoods (Buxus sp.) and rhododendrons offer year-round greenery, with hydrangeas adding seasonal color. A glass railing along the stairs and walkway gives the space an open and uncluttered feel.
Porco cleaned up the existing wall along the left side and painted it a deep espresso color to play off the lighter color of the composite material. She replaced the opposite wall’s surface, matching it with the espresso-colored wall and raising it to provide more privacy.
Terraced planters filled with boxwoods (Buxus sp.) and rhododendrons offer year-round greenery, with hydrangeas adding seasonal color. A glass railing along the stairs and walkway gives the space an open and uncluttered feel.
Porco cleaned up the existing wall along the left side and painted it a deep espresso color to play off the lighter color of the composite material. She replaced the opposite wall’s surface, matching it with the espresso-colored wall and raising it to provide more privacy.
A built-in L-shaped bench extends along two sides of the main patio, providing plenty of seating in the dining area and near a new propane-powered fire pit.
LED rope lighting underneath the bench adds a cozy glow that coordinates well with the integrated stair and wall lights. The designer also added compact heaters above the bench, which keep the patio usable from May to October. A small outdoor kitchen completes the space.
Read more about this patio transformation
LED rope lighting underneath the bench adds a cozy glow that coordinates well with the integrated stair and wall lights. The designer also added compact heaters above the bench, which keep the patio usable from May to October. A small outdoor kitchen completes the space.
Read more about this patio transformation
Before Photo
“After” photos by Samantha Robison
2. Elegant and Serene
Yard at a Glance
Who lives here: A couple with kids away at college, and cats
Location: San Mateo, California
Size: 1,950 square feet (181 square meters)
Landscape designer: Tierra Madre Fine Gardens
Landscape contractor: Green Again Landscaping & Concrete
Before: With their children off at college, these homeowners looked to landscape designer Hallie Schmidt to turn their tired lawn into an elegant, plant-filled space. Schmidt created a lush English-inspired garden using photos from the RHS Chelsea Flower Show that one of the homeowners shared.
2. Elegant and Serene
Yard at a Glance
Who lives here: A couple with kids away at college, and cats
Location: San Mateo, California
Size: 1,950 square feet (181 square meters)
Landscape designer: Tierra Madre Fine Gardens
Landscape contractor: Green Again Landscaping & Concrete
Before: With their children off at college, these homeowners looked to landscape designer Hallie Schmidt to turn their tired lawn into an elegant, plant-filled space. Schmidt created a lush English-inspired garden using photos from the RHS Chelsea Flower Show that one of the homeowners shared.
After: Mixed gravel-and-granite cobble paths run through the yard, adding a touch of European style and connecting the various outdoor rooms, including the new covered dining area.
A custom powder-coated-steel pergola, set one step up from the rest of the yard, is the landscape’s focal point. A metal mesh screen overhead provides shade without blocking all the light. A low-voltage chandelier over the dining table illuminates the space at night, along with strategically placed landscape lighting.
A nearby fountain adds a relaxing background murmur.
What to Know About Adding a Pergola
A custom powder-coated-steel pergola, set one step up from the rest of the yard, is the landscape’s focal point. A metal mesh screen overhead provides shade without blocking all the light. A low-voltage chandelier over the dining table illuminates the space at night, along with strategically placed landscape lighting.
A nearby fountain adds a relaxing background murmur.
What to Know About Adding a Pergola
Schmidt filled the yard with a mix of billowy drought-tolerant grasses, pruned evergreen hedges and outdoor art pieces for year-round interest. Bulbs make an appearance in spring, as seen here, and deciduous trees in the space change color with the seasons. The design also features wildlife-attracting salvia, a low-water plant that flowers from late spring into summer.
Schmidt turned the existing deck, which has full sun exposure and little shade throughout the day, into a fire pit lounge for evening use. She repurposed an uncomfortable wood bench as shelving, placing planters on top to form a screen around the new outdoor sofa.
She also planted a maple next to one corner of the deck. It will eventually grow to shade the exposed space during the warmest months.
Shop for fire pits on Houzz
Read more about this landscape transformation
She also planted a maple next to one corner of the deck. It will eventually grow to shade the exposed space during the warmest months.
Shop for fire pits on Houzz
Read more about this landscape transformation
“After” photos by Becky Rees Creative; staging by Catherine Heleniak
3. Modern Rustic With Japanese Influences
Patio at a Glance
Who lives here: Two doctors who like to relax outside
Location: Richmond, Virginia
Size: 590 square feet (55 square meters)
Designer and builder: Outdoor Dreams
Before: Two busy doctors loved relaxing outside at their Richmond, Virginia, home but were frustrated by their small patio and patchy lawn. They turned to landscape designer Greg Koehler, whom they found on Houzz, with a wish list that included a wood-burning fireplace, an outdoor kitchen, a lounge area and a beautiful view.
3. Modern Rustic With Japanese Influences
Patio at a Glance
Who lives here: Two doctors who like to relax outside
Location: Richmond, Virginia
Size: 590 square feet (55 square meters)
Designer and builder: Outdoor Dreams
Before: Two busy doctors loved relaxing outside at their Richmond, Virginia, home but were frustrated by their small patio and patchy lawn. They turned to landscape designer Greg Koehler, whom they found on Houzz, with a wish list that included a wood-burning fireplace, an outdoor kitchen, a lounge area and a beautiful view.
After: The new rustic lounge space can be enjoyed outdoors and also admired from the living room windows. A fireplace inspired by a design the homeowners found on Houzz anchors the space.
Koehler used the same ledgestone seen on the home’s facade for the fireplace and seating walls for continuity. He capped the hearth, chimney and wood boxes with Pennsylvania bluestone treads that have a thermal finish. A new outdoor kitchen and bar area sits just to the left.
Drystack Ledgestone in Suede color (discontinued): Cultured Stone
Browse outdoor lounge furniture
Koehler used the same ledgestone seen on the home’s facade for the fireplace and seating walls for continuity. He capped the hearth, chimney and wood boxes with Pennsylvania bluestone treads that have a thermal finish. A new outdoor kitchen and bar area sits just to the left.
Drystack Ledgestone in Suede color (discontinued): Cultured Stone
Browse outdoor lounge furniture
Koehler embraced the Japanese-inspired sensibility of the original yard. He kept an existing koi pond, just to the right of the golden Japanese maple. Koehler also casually arranged boulders at the end of the new walls. The result is a subtle transition from the more formal patio area to the less structured landscape surrounding it.
Patio slabs: Oakville Blue Ice, Oakville Stone
Patio slabs: Oakville Blue Ice, Oakville Stone
The massive stone with an integrated gas fire pit seen here was not in the original plan, but the homeowners fell in love with it and wanted to incorporate it. The stone, which weighs around 1,500 pounds, also functions as a coffee table. “It’s great to have both wood-burning and gas options,” Koehler says of the fire pit.
Koehler also installed a complete landscape lighting scheme, including on the fireplace hearth, under the wall caps, below the kitchen counters and around the patio and main walkway.
Fire pit: Fireboulder
Read more about this landscape transformation
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Koehler also installed a complete landscape lighting scheme, including on the fireplace hearth, under the wall caps, below the kitchen counters and around the patio and main walkway.
Fire pit: Fireboulder
Read more about this landscape transformation
More on Houzz
Read more landscape design stories
Browse thousands of patio photos
Hire a landscape contractor
Shop for your outdoor spaces
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1. Modern Minimalism
Patio at a Glance
Who lives here: A single man
Location: Toronto
Size: 283 square feet (26 square meters)
Landscape design-build firm: Pro-Land Landscape Construction
Before: The owner of a Toronto townhouse turned to landscape designer Nicole Porco to rework this uninviting sunken patio into a warm and welcoming outdoor living space. She transformed the yard, creating a spot for relaxing and entertaining that also matches the home’s clean-lined modern style.
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