Patio - traditional patio idea in Philadelphia with a fire pit and a pergola

We love this rustic-modern Houston patio addition with an outdoor kitchen and double pergola! It not only made the most of a long, narrow space while satisfying strict homeowners association rules, but did so affordably in a warm, timeless style. “The client really enjoys outdoor living, but had a specific budget they wanted to meet,” explains Outdoor Homescapes owner Wayne Franks. “They also live on a golf course and had to meet particular HOA requirements.” The HOA requirements restricted how far back the new 450-square-foot patio and pergola could extend back into the yard. The HOA also wanted to make sure the patio’s colors and materials matched the existing home and others around it. “We chose colors and materials that offered texture and character, but that would go with just about anything around it,” says Wayne. “We found what we were looking for in the Fantastico travertine and Austin limestone – two materials clients love and just can’t go wrong with.” The Austin limestone facing the 8-foot-square, L-shaped kitchen island is dry-stacked in a castle pattern for a naturalistic, rustic look. Yet its light, neutral color keeps the style fresh and modern. Adding to the modern look are the stainless steel appliances: an RCS 30-inch stainless steel grill, double burner and outdoor fridge. Even though the finishes on the sink and light fixtures (Hunter pendant lamps and Hampton Bay light/fan combos) have a different finish – oil-rubbed-bronze – this actually follows the recent trend of mixing different metals, materials and finishes. “The look’s not so matchy-matchy anymore,” explains Wayne. “Mixing it up makes it look more authentic and personalized.” That’s why backsplashes like the one in this project – done in glass and metal mosaic – are also becoming more popular than traditional ceramic tile. Another recent trend can be seen here, too – an amping up of color variation and texture. “In addition to the split-face texture of the rock, you can definitely see the bold color variation in the travertine,” says Wayne. The flooring is a Fantastico travertine, laid out in a Versailles pattern. “The Fantastico tile is killer,” says Wayne. “The warm reds go great with red brick, which we have a lot of around here.” The countertop with the rounded, raised bar at the end is English walnut travertine. The red bar stools also add a pop of exciting color that contrasts nicely with the greenery around the patio. The double pergola, continues Wayne, is No. 2 pine stained a Minwax honey-gold. One side of the pergola – the side over the seating area – is covered with Lexan, a clear material that keeps out rain, heat and UV rays. The pergola also juts further into the yard on that side. “It’s called a scallop, and it just lends some visual interest,” explains Wayne. “It prevents the pergola from just looking like one big rectangular hunk of wood.” Wayne particularly likes how everything blended so well with the brick – which was a big concern – yet didn’t come off as too neutral or boring. “The Fantastico travertine and red chairs do an excellent job of pulling the red from the brick and working with the warmth of that color to make a super-inviting space,” says Wayne. “We’re really pleased with how it all ties together so well.”

It started with vision. Then arrived fresh sight, seeing what was absent, seeing what was possible. Followed quickly by desire and creativity and know-how and communication and collaboration. When the Ramsowers first called Exterior Worlds, all they had in mind was an outdoor fountain. About working with the Ramsowers, Jeff Halper, owner of Exterior Worlds says, “The Ramsowers had great vision. While they didn’t know exactly what they wanted, they did push us to create something special for them. I get inspired by my clients who are engaged and focused on design like they were. When you get that kind of inspiration and dialogue, you end up with a project like this one.” For Exterior Worlds, our design process addressed two main features of the original space—the blank surface of the yard surrounded by looming architecture and plain fencing. With the yard, we dug out the center of it to create a one-foot drop in elevation in which to build a sunken pool. At one end, we installed a spa, lining it with a contrasting darker blue glass tile. Pedestals topped with urns anchor the pool and provide a place for spot color. Jets of water emerge from these pedestals. This moving water becomes a shield to block out urban noises and makes the scene lively. (And the children think it’s great fun to play in them.) On the side of the pool, another fountain, an illuminated basin built of limestone, brick and stainless steel, feeds the pool through three slots. The pool is counterbalanced by a large plot of grass. What is inventive about this grassy area is its sub-structure. Before putting down the grass, we installed a French drain using grid pavers that pulls water away, an action that keeps the soil from compacting and the grass from suffocating. The entire sunken area is finished off with a border of ground cover that transitions the eye to the limestone walkway and the retaining wall, where we used the same reclaimed bricks found in architectural features of the house. In the outer border along the fence line, we planted small trees that give the space scale and also hide some unsightly utility infrastructure. Boxwood and limestone gravel were embroidered into a parterre design to underscore the formal shape of the pool. Additionally, we planted a rose garden around the illuminated basin and a color garden for seasonal color at the far end of the yard across from the covered terrace. To address the issue of the house’s prominence, we added a pergola to the main wing of the house. The pergola is made of solid aluminum, chosen for its durability, and painted black. The Ramsowers had used reclaimed ornamental iron around their front yard and so we replicated its pattern in the pergola’s design. “In making this design choice and also by using the reclaimed brick in the pool area, we wanted to honor the architecture of the house,” says Halper. We continued the ornamental pattern by building an aluminum arbor and pool security fence along the covered terrace. The arbor’s supports gently curve out and away from the house. It, plus the pergola, extends the structural aspect of the house into the landscape. At the same time, it softens the hard edges of the house and unifies it with the yard. The softening effect is further enhanced by the wisteria vine that will eventually cover both the arbor and the pergola. From a practical standpoint, the pergola and arbor provide shade, especially when the vine becomes mature, a definite plus for the west-facing main house. This newly-created space is an updated vision for a traditional garden that combines classic lines with the modern sensibility of innovative materials. The family is able to sit in the house or on the covered terrace and look out over the landscaping. To enjoy its pleasing form and practical function. To appreciate its cool, soothing palette, the blues of the water flowing into the greens of the garden with a judicious use of color. And accept its invitation to step out, step down, jump in, enjoy.

This pergola got a facelift with an American Louvered Roof. It opens and closes. When closed it protects the space from rain and sun. When open it allows warming sunshine onto deck. The Easley SC homeowners love their new covered space over their hot tub.

lynnlandscapedesign.com - Vine covered, pergola garden room with Begonias in pots. photo: Donna Lynn
This is an example of a traditional landscaping in Santa Barbara.

This shade arbor, located in The Woodlands, TX north of Houston, spans the entire length of the back yard. It combines a number of elements with custom structures that were constructed to emulate specific aspects of a Zen garden. The homeowner wanted a low-maintenance garden whose beauty could withstand the tough seasonal weather that strikes the area at various times of the year. He also desired a mood-altering aesthetic that would relax the senses and calm the mind. Most importantly, he wanted this meditative environment completely shielded from the outside world so he could find serenity in total privacy. The most unique design element in this entire project is the roof of the shade arbor itself. It features a “negative space” leaf pattern that was designed in a software suite and cut out of the metal with a water jet cutter. Each form in the pattern is loosely suggestive of either a leaf, or a cluster of leaves. These small, negative spaces cut from the metal are the source of the structure’ powerful visual and emotional impact. During the day, sunlight shines down and highlights columns, furniture, plantings, and gravel with a blend of dappling and shade that make you feel like you are sitting under the branches of a tree. At night, the effects are even more brilliant. Skillfully concealed lights mounted on the trusses reflect off the steel in places, while in other places they penetrate the negative spaces, cascading brilliant patterns of ambient light down on vegetation, hardscape, and water alike. The shade arbor shelters two gravel patios that are almost identical in space. The patio closest to the living room features a mini outdoor dining room, replete with tables and chairs. The patio is ornamented with a blend of ornamental grass, a small human figurine sculpture, and mid-level impact ground cover. Gravel was chosen as the preferred hardscape material because of its Zen-like connotations. It is also remarkably soft to walk on, helping to set the mood for a relaxed afternoon in the dappled shade of gently filtered sunlight. The second patio, spaced 15 feet away from the first, resides adjacent to the home at the opposite end of the shade arbor. Like its twin, it is also ornamented with ground cover borders, ornamental grasses, and a large urn identical to the first. Seating here is even more private and contemplative. Instead of a table and chairs, there is a large decorative concrete bench cut in the shape of a giant four-leaf clover. Spanning the distance between these two patios, a bluestone walkway connects the two spaces. Along the way, its borders are punctuated in places by low-level ornamental grasses, a large flowering bush, another sculpture in the form of human faces, and foxtail ferns that spring up from a spread of river rock that punctuates the ends of the walkway. The meditative quality of the shade arbor is reinforced by two special features. The first of these is a disappearing fountain that flows from the top of a large vertical stone embedded like a monolith in the other edges of the river rock. The drains and pumps to this fountain are carefully concealed underneath the covering of smooth stones, and the sound of the water is only barely perceptible, as if it is trying to force you to let go of your thoughts to hear it. A large piece of core-10 steel, which is deliberately intended to rust quickly, rises up like an arced wall from behind the fountain stone. The dark color of the metal helps the casual viewer catch just a glimpse of light reflecting off the slow trickle of water that runs down the side of the stone into the river rock bed. To complete the quiet moment that the shade arbor is intended to invoke, a thick wall of cypress trees rises up on all sides of the yard, completely shutting out the disturbances of the world with a comforting wall of living greenery that comforts the thoughts and emotions.

The large rough cedar pergola provides a wonderful place for the homeowners to entertain guests. The decorative concrete patio used an integral color and release, was scored and then sealed with a glossy finish. There was plenty of seating designed into the patio space and custom cushions create a more comfortable seat along the fireplace. Jason Wallace Photography

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The homeowners desired an outdoor space that felt more rustic than their refined interior spaces, but still related architecturally to their house. Cement plaster support arbor columns provide enough of visual tie to the existing house exterior. Oversized wood beams and rafter members provide a unique outdoor atmosphere. Structural bolts and hardware were minimized for a cleaner appearance. Structural connections and supports were engineered to meet California's stringent earthquake standards. Ali Atri Photography

Classic end detail and round tapered columns add a traditional feel to this patio area making this fiberglass shade structure a must. This traditional fiberglass pergola kit was envisioned to protect pool goers and their families from the sun during hot and humid Virginia weather. This pergola design was enhanced with extra shade by adding a fixed polycarbonate canopy in blue that offered UV protection from the sun while also protecting swimmers from rain on those hot and rainy days at the pool. This is a double beam custom fiberglass pergola kit in classic white. Located in Woodbridge, VA this community pool will keep you cool in or out of the water.

Homeowner had been considering construction of a pergola for quite some time, but was reluctant to do so due to lack of rain protection. Although there are several pergola kit retrofit products that meet most of their goals, none of them were a good fit by matching all. The desire was for a retractable patio awning that aesthetically matched a pergola, but was retractable, and provided protection from both UV and inclement weather on their south facing patio. Part of the goal was to provide a flexible outdoor entertaining area, but also to integrate a front drop shade to help reduce the summer's afternoon sun from entering the space; as well as the bay window and sliding doors. The "Gennius", a waterproof retractable awning by Durasol Awnings was selected by the homeowner for aesthetics and function, with a solar screen drop shade integrated between the upright support posts. As young parents, it was of utmost importance to find a durable fabric for the drop shade that not only blocked an adequate amount of sun, but retained as much view of the pool for safety when deployed. Mermet brand Natte was chosen for the drop shade. Both the retracting fabric roof and the integrated drop shade are operated by radio controlled motors and hand-held remote control. The homeowner now has complete control of the area, with on-demand protection to suit their tastes. To see this awning and others in action, please visit www.youtube.com/user/DurasolAwnings Photo credits: Window Works, Livingston NJ

Huge trendy master white tile and marble tile marble floor bathroom photo in Chicago with an undermount sink, raised-panel cabinets, gray cabinets, marble countertops, an undermount tub and gray walls

Landscaping done by Annapolis Landscaping ( www.annapolislandscaping.com) Patio done by Beautylandscaping (www.beautylandscaping.com) Hot tub installed by Chesapeakespas ( www.chesapeakespas.com)

Our adjustable louvered pergolas can help you make the most out of your space. Worried about the rain? Simply pivot the louvers into the closed position so you can continue to lounge outside.

Homeowner had been considering construction of a pergola for quite some time, but was reluctant to do so due to lack of rain protection. Although there are several pergola kit retrofit products that meet most of their goals, none of them were a good fit by matching all. The desire was for a retractable patio awning that aesthetically matched a pergola, but was retractable, and provided protection from both UV and inclement weather on their south facing patio. Part of the goal was to provide a flexible outdoor entertaining area, but also to integrate a front drop shade to help reduce the summer's afternoon sun from entering the space; as well as the bay window and sliding doors. The "Gennius", a waterproof retractable awning by Durasol Awnings was selected by the homeowner for aesthetics and function, with a solar screen drop shade integrated between the upright support posts. As young parents, it was of utmost importance to find a durable fabric for the drop shade that not only blocked an adequate amount of sun, but retained as much view of the pool for safety when deployed. Mermet brand Natte was chosen for the drop shade. Both the retracting fabric roof and the integrated drop shade are operated by radio controlled motors and hand-held remote control. The homeowner now has complete control of the area, with on-demand protection to suit their tastes. To see this awning and others in action, please visit www.youtube.com/user/DurasolAwnings Photo credits: Window Works, Livingston NJ

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Example of a large tuscan backyard concrete paver patio design in San Francisco with a gazebo

French Inspired Pool and Landscape. Designed and Photographed by Marco Romani, RLA - Landscape Architect. Arrow
Example of a classic backyard stone and rectangular pool fountain design in Chicago

Arcadia Louvered Roofs give you more enjoyment of your deck with protection from hot sun, rain and snow.
Deck - small contemporary backyard deck idea in Other with a pergola