Yard of the Week: New Deck, Patio and Play Area in Texas

Photos by Ryan Davis of CG&S Design-Build

Yard at a Glance
Who lives here: A couple and their daughter and son
Lot size: About two-thirds of an acre, the bulk of which is the backyard
Location: Austin, Texas
Designers: Stewart Davis (architect) and Madison Mullins (interior designer) of CG&S Design-Build
Landscape contractor: Pearson Landscape Services

Before: The backyard sloped not only from front to back but also from left to right. At the bottom of the yard are two of Austin’s best natural assets, Barton Creek and the Barton Creek Greenbelt, a 12-mile trail that runs along it.

The goals for the project were to create a flat area for play, an outdoor kitchen and stronger connections between indoors and out. CG&S completed the architecture, interior design and contracting for this project. Pearson Landscape Services completed the landscape construction and installation, including the grading, patio, retaining walls and plantings.

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After: Austin also offers an abundance of beautiful mature trees. The tree seen off the patio is a live oak (Quercus virginiana) protected by strict tree ordinances. Some of the new construction was planned within a half-critical root zone. This meant working very closely with an arborist and uncovering the roots with an air spade to ensure construction would not damage the tree. While architect Stewart Davis says this was a process that took months and required tweaks to the plan, he also says saving the tree was well worth the effort.

Davis replaced existing wood decking with more durable composite planks, as well as wooden railings with black metal. “Wood doesn’t hold up against the Texas sun. And black metal railings are visually lighter, more modern and keep the views of the yard more open,” he says.

He also reconfigured the deck and staircase off the game room on the right and had the yard graded so the team could create a flat play area and outdoor kitchen. During this phase, CG&S Design-Build’s in-house interior designer, Madison Mullins, transformed a playroom into a fun game room for the whole family.

Before: Here’s where the project began, in a hodgepodge of a playroom. It had a small door out to the deck to the left of the stone wall seen in the previous photo.

After: Now that the kids are entering middle school age, a more sophisticated yet family-friendly den better suits everyone’s lifestyle. Mullins completed the interior design of the room.

A new series of large doors connects to a new deck. “One of our intents was to better connect indoors and out,” Davis says. “Reframing this wall to make room for larger doors created much more transparency between the two.”

Before: There had been a small deck off the game room. An adjacent staircase led down to another small deck below. From there, a staircase led down to the yard.

The live oak the team worked so hard to design around proves its worth in this shot. “It creates a wonderful canopy over the entire area, and it makes this deck feel like a treehouse,” Davis says. “Austin is essentially an urban forest,” he adds. The deck provides views of the tree canopy beyond the yard.

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The new stairs take you to a new patio and play area. It includes an outdoor kitchen that provides a closer connection to the pool area.

“I completed conceptual drawings for this area and handed them off to Pearson Landscape Services. They fleshed them out,” Davis says. Pearson Landscape Services completed the grading and retaining walls to create this flat area and the patio surface. The retaining walls are local limestone, and the patio’s surface is local limestone flagstones.

This photo also shows how the back side of the grilling station serves as a bar when there isn’t too much heat from the grill.

“The husband is the grill meister, and before, he had been relegated to a far-away side yard. He was like the forgotten guy out there,” Davis says. “He wanted a grill space and outdoor kitchen that would be easier to access and serve as a hang-out zone for everyone else so that he could be part of the group.”

Note how Davis integrated the new staircase design into the outdoor kitchen, using it to define the space and as a spot to mount a TV. “I had to talk him into that flat-screen. I knew if it were my yard, I’d want to be able to watch the football game when grilling. And I knew I’d want a fridge nearby to grab a drink,” he says.

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These materials also had to be able to take the heat from the multiple grills. On the left, some serious grilling takes place on a wood-fired Argentine grill. The grate over burning wood may be simple, but it also takes a lot of skill to use. “The only way to control the heat is to control the fire. There’s a lot of skill involved,” Davis says.

To the right is a gas grill, which has a dedicated gas line running to it. “There’s also a crawfish boil-type of extra burner to the right,” Davis says. The drawers provide space for grilling tools. Another outdoor grilling design detail he implemented was an open toe kick so the homeowner can work as close to the grill as necessary.