David Lauer Photography

Modern/Contemporary "Crestwood Oasis" cabinets in "Belmont" slab door style, made of Teak wood with natural finish. Lynx appliances and grill.

Lowell Custom Homes, Lake Geneva, WI. Outdoor kitchen with patio from screened in porch. This private lakeside retreat in Lake Geneva, Wisconsin Exterior Shingle Style architecture with a mix of wood shingle and stone exterior elements and white trim.Balcony from screened in porch with hidden outdoor kitchen, turret, expansive windows

Limestone Grill Surround and Peninsula with Rock Faced Bluestone Counter Top, Cedar Pergola and DCS 48" Grill. Dan Wells Elan Landscape Development Inc.

Western Red Cedar pergola covering concrete patio with flagstone banding. Modern landscape with flagstone slab walkway and drip irrigation.

Two different ceiling treatments define these two outdoor rooms. The seating area has a wooden trey ceiling, and the dining and grilling area has exposed beams. Daniel Newcomb Photography

This outdoor living space is has motorized Phantom Screens recessed into the openings to create a bug free environment at the tough of a button.

D.Taylor

With the goal of enhancing the connection between interior and exterior, backyard and side yard, and natural and man-made features, Partridge Fine Landscapes Ltd. drew on nature for inspiration. We worked around one of Oakville’s largest oak trees introducing curved braces and sculpted ends to an organic patio enhanced with wild bed lines tamed by a flagstone mowing strip. The result is a subtle layering of elements where each element effortlessly blends into the next. Linear structures bordered by manicured lawn and carefully planned perennials delineate the start of a dynamic and unbridled space. Pathways casually direct your steps to and from the pool area while the gentle murmur of the waterfall enhances the pervading peace of this outdoor sanctuary.

A Cape Cod style home with a backyard patio inspired by the East Coast. A casually elegant Hamptons style deck lends to family BBQs and relaxing in the afternoons. Turquoise accents and a range of blue fabrics pop against white and cream backgrounds. Bronze lanterns atop teak tables are perfect for a little light in the evenings. This coastal style backyard is located in Sierra Madre, California. Photography by Erika Bierman, Awnings and Curtains by La Belle Maison, Landscape and Pool by Garden View Landscape, Nursery and Pools.

Outdoor curtains keep bugs out while allowing the fresh breeze to filter in!

symmetry ARCHITECTS [architecture] | tatum BROWN homes [builder] | danny PIASSICK [photography]

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.