The kitchen may be the heart of the home, and the living room is hands-down the best place to lounge, but there’s something special about these backyard ideas that’ll make you want to spend quality time outdoors. And whether you have a sprawling backyard and swimming pool or a tiny city terrace, backyard comforts can transcend square footage. Opt for a row of chaise lounges by the pool or a group of Adirondack chairs in an open grass field for group hangs. In any setup, a comfortable outdoor area is the ultimate luxury. Some of the best backyard ideas can make a small patio or side yard look and feel just as impressive as acres of lawn. It’s all about maximizing the space you have with a combination of clever storage and functional furniture.
1. Fake Your Own Jungle
This apartment terrace looks more like a jungle thanks to strategically placed houseplants and flooring made from faux putting green. This backyard idea proves that you don’t need to be on the ground level to enjoy the great outdoors.
2. Prioritize the View
Rather than install benches, cabinets, or other, taller design elements, Susannah Charbin opted to complement the marshy environment and chose low furniture for this backyard idea. This way, the view remains open from all angles, even from inside the house.
3. Go Big at Home
A chimney that extends high above the willow-and-steel pergola calls attention to the dramatic 10-foot-tall โwindowsโ and vineyard views in this lounge by Sheldon Harte.
4. Leave Room for Guests
If you like to entertain, be sure that your outdoor dining space can seat just as many as inside without the need for folding card chairs or multipurpose stools. Take a note from Tom Scheerer in this backyard idea and opt for benches to squeeze in as many loved ones as possible.
5. Extend the Dining Room
In this D.C. home, pizza nights are a summer must-have, so designer Tina Ramchandani ensured space for one in the backyard. Paneled walls also provide privacy while easing the transition between indoors and out.
6. Add a Wash Station
If tracking in mud, dust, and other outdoor gunk into your home is a problem, provide family and guests with an easy outdoor hand washing station with space to leave their shoes.
7. Take Inspiration From Summer Camp
A fire pit is a fail-safe element for a cozy summer evening. These chic lawn chairs keep you safely away from the smoke while still allowing you to lay back and relax.
8. Keep It Simple
Sometimes, all you need is a pool and sun lounger. This backyard idea foregoes all the patio pavers and walking paths in favor of simple grass. This private sanctuary is all these homeowners need.
9. Embrace Wild Greenery
In the backyard of this Jeremiah Brentโdesigned home, trellises were added to help encourage vine growth over this cozy seating area. The owners could have had it trimmed back, but now it adds much-needed protection from the California sun.
10. Add Architectural Interest
While this backyard’s pergola doesn’t offer much in the way of shade, its primary purpose is to help frame the seating area amongst the greenery. Lighting is recessed into the pergola to extend the party after the sun goes down.
11. Coordinate With Your Home’s Exterior
Complementing your home’s exterior colors with your outdoor furniture is a next-level backyard idea. These woven lounge chairs feature throw pillows and towels that pull colors from the rest of the home’s landscaping.
12. Grow an Abundance of Roses
Rather than sorting through seed packets and planning a complicated layout, choose one flower that makes you happy and run with it. This garden by Edmund Hollander features an abundance of English roses, the homeowner’s favorite floral.
13. Feature a Fountain
To add an air of formality, install a regal fountain. It not only adds a distinguished feel, but it also offers a refreshing respite during those hot summer months.
14. Lay Down Some Lavender
Balance geometric pavers with a lush row of lavender on either side, as in this backyard idea. This can also be a natural way to help remind guests and family members to stay off other parts of the lawn that need some rest.
15. Frolic in the Fields
Embrace the cottagecore trend and plant a full field of wildflowers rather than boring sod or a confined garden. Wendy Owen wanted her Sonoma, California property to feel like a laid-back, rustic French village.
16. Pave the Way
No area of your yard is off-limits, even the driveway. Instead of solid pavement, lay two rows of turfstone pavers that allow grass to grow through. At the center, Bay Area designer Dan Carlson combined succulents and herbs for a colorful, low-to-the-ground garden.
17. Play Ball
Encourage more family game time by installing a full-size bocce-ball court. The surrounding border in this Backyard Ideas is the perfect amount of space for a row of pavers and a few structured bushes.
18. Take a Seat
Utilize every corner of your yard, even the dark corners. This towering tree provides a naturally romantic cover for a loveseat.
19. Create Privacy
For those with neighbors in close quarters or set on a narrow lot, add privacy to your backyard patio with breezy linen curtains. They also look super chic when blowing in the wind just ask designer Hadas Dembo.
20. Take It Up a Tier
For city apartments or those with little green space, maximize your outdoor square footage by working vertically as designer Tamsin Johnson did in this backyard idea. A few cozy seating spaces can be as comfortable and stylish as a sprawling Backyard Ideas.
21. Face the View
If you’re lucky enough to have a sweeping view, keep your Backyard Ideas simple and make the scenery your focal point. This North Carolina home by architect James Carter and designer Jane Hawkins Hoke features Adirondack chairs that make for an ideal morning-coffee perch.
22. Set the Alfresco Table
Instead of a hard-to-maintain lawn, opt for gravel accented with lush pots of greenery and topiaries scattered around the perimeter. And if you’re hosting, spruce things up by focusing on the tablescape. Here, Gen Sohr anchored the table with two wicker end chairs and special throws and cushions to make it cozier.
23. Put a Trampoline on the Green
You will forever be known as the coolest house on the block if you have a built-in trampoline in the backyard. Even if it takes up the whole lawn, it’s worth it.
24. Channel Your Favorite Place
Classic patio tiles and preppy lawn furniture in this Backyard Ideas are paired with a brutalist outdoor fireplace. โWhen we built the courtyard between our kitchen and den, we were inspired by a sunken garden we’d seen in Yucatรกn,โ says Ramin Shamshiri. โWe planted plantings on top of the wall so they would cascade down.โ
25. Add a Hideout
Landscape designer Jay Griffithโs standalone cabana is a grown-up version of a treehouse hideaway, and it’s much easier to add than a built-in landscaping structure. The floor cushions enhance the sense of intimacy while the curtains provide extra privacy.
26. Build a Gazebo
This beautiful backyard idea designed by April Powers has a glassed-in swimming pool to make it usable for exercising year-round, and the cozy gazebo is perfect for alfresco hangs, thanks to the colorful performance fabric, curtains, and coffee table.
27. Find Creative Ways to Add Greenery
Designer Alison Victoria wanted to treat her eyes to more greenery in her small city backyard, so she got clever: The trick to maintaining a low-maintenance garden wall is opting for faux plants! She removed the glass from an antique pier mirror formerly in the entryway of an old home, then nailed faux fir panels directly into the fence.
28. Evoke a Vacationing Mindset
Caroline Rafferty decked out a small wicker bar prep zone right by the pool cabana. With cheerful bubblegum pink and cute stripes, this backyard idea puts you in a vacationing state of mind. It also has a ceiling fan and hidden remote-controlled hurricane shutters for the off-season.
29. Connect It to the Dining Room
Extend a dining room to the outdoors with large accordion windows and a tiled table (easy to clean and weatherproof) on both sides. Get inspired by Kingston Lafferty’s innovative design in this blue indoor/outdoor room.
30. Build a Skate Ramp
Designed by Cuff Home in Los Angeles, this backyard is both a beautiful garden and a fun park, thanks to the skateboard ramp.
31. Go Wild With Your Topiaries
If this enchanting backyard idea doesn’t inspire you to go wild and whimsical with your topiary designs, we don’t know what will. Geometric silhouettes give the traditional garden trend a fresh new look.
32. Make Water Features Dramatic
A dramatic water feature and tropical, lush greenery make this backyard feel like it’s bursting with possibility. Ivy climbs up the exterior of the home, too.
33. Get Ready for Outdoor Games
An outdoor-grade pool table on the patio means the party can come outside! Just opposite the custom pool table by Linda Hayslett is a cooking area and banquette for dining and drinks alfresco.
34. Create a Guest House Escape
In this upstate New York backyard idea, designer Beverly Kerzner went above and beyond to commune with nature by clearing vines, non-native plants, and debris a half-acre away from the forested part of her property (a 30-minute walk from the main house!). Next, she built a platform and filled it with all the glamping goods: a well-decorated yurt, an outdoor wood-burning stove, and lounge furniture on the exposed deck. A few steps away, there’s even an outdoor bathroom.
35. Build an Outhouse
Leave it to Commune Design to convince us that we need a stylish outhouse in our own backyards. With pretty florals, nature-inspired materials, a pop of color, and polished artwork, it seems like a nice place to meditate, too.
36. Shrink Your Pool
This small backyard in designer Fitz Pullin’s home in Jacksonville, Florida was destined for majestic greatness despite its modest size, thanks to the dramatic tree and climbing vines.
37. Use Hedges to Create Separate Zones
This backyard idea from a home by Aamir Khandwala has it all: a lush lawn, a swimming pool and adjacent lounge area, and an outdoor dining room under a pergola. Low hedges are a great visual signifier, allowing you to keep each activity zone separate.
38. Set Up a Work Studio
Build a separate workshop in the backyard if space allows. Reath Design opted for a floor-to-ceiling glass window design, which doesn’t disrupt the visual flow of the landscape. It’ll also help inspire anyone working inside!
39. Lay Fun Pool Tiles
Designer Madeline Stuart gave the backyard of this SoCal home by architects Wallace Neff and John Byers plenty of personality, from the eclectic tiles lining the pool to the blooming bougainvillea to the whimsical umbrella.
40. Add Grass Strips
The best backyard flooring materials near a pool are nonslip tiles and water-resistant decking. But that doesn’t mean you can’t also reap the beautifying benefits of greenery. Breegan Jane added strips of grass separating the loungers and the swimming pool patio for a pop of green.
41. Build a Small Greenhouse
Leanne Ford built this A-frame garden shed to function as an outdoor playhouse for her child and plans to turn it into a greenhouse once they outgrow its current purpose.
42. Upgrade With a Grill and Wet Bar
Designer Maria Augusta Luoro of Guta Louro Designs brought her neglected childhood home back to its former glory and then some. Locally sourced materials in the backyard allow it to blend right in with the lush Sรฃo Paolo countryside. A covered grill and wet bar allow for alfresco dining without the fuss of all the plumbing upgrades required for a full kitchen.
43. Create Tranquility With a Fountain
There’s nothing like a modern fountain to set the scene in a courtyard. It gives this backyard idea by Jean Liu a calming atmosphere and also helps fill the other side of the pathway.
44. Embrace Your Natural Surroundings
In this backyard idea, a manmade pond complements a solar geothermal house in Wassaic, New York. Landscape designers carved the pool out of a craggy mountain ledge and surrounded it with native plants.
