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Outdoor Back Yard Design Photos and Ideas

A healthy budget for landscaping allowed Leah to achieve a natural, wild look with plants. “I wanted to look out and see just lush plants growing wild,” she says. The collage of native vegetation was also used to soften the transitions between surface materials and backyard zones.
Surrounded by oak trees and lush grasslands, Field Cabin features a steeply pitched roof and an expansive glass door and decking on the front facade.
The courtyard brings natural light into the lower level of the home, which has a den/media room, guest suite/workout area, and storage and mechanical.
A clear railing creates uninhibited views of the surroundings.
The side walls have been treated as vertical extension of the horizontal surface of the garden, and are used for growing climbers such as jasmine, grapes, honeysuckle, raspberries, beans, peas, and even a climbing fig. Colorful bird’s houses and bug hotels are also mounted on the walls.
Living in between the woods
On the outskirts of Grândola—a small Alentejan town in the Setúbal district of Portugal—a dramatic architectural form sits in the vast, arid landscape amidst cork trees and herds of cows. The whitewashed guesthouse is known as Casa da Volta, which translates as "Home of the Return,
Rear garden
The private outdoor space showcases the renovation's south-facing windows, which were installed to connect the indoors with the yard.
An energy-efficient TPO membrane covers the living room’s zigzag roof.
Twenty-foot-wide doors from Solar Innovations offer easy access to the deck. “Solar Innovations was the only manufacturer at that time that had a pocket multi-slider with a good ADA threshold,” says architect Erick Mikiten. “They almost look like steel, but are thermally broken aluminum.”
Sphinx, the family Carolina dog, scouts the perimeter of the Concrete Collaborative pavers in the backyard. The pavers were installed on a slight angle to channel water to the surrounding gravel, lawn, and planting beds. This substantially lowers the landscape's water demand. Perforated PVC pipes and a pump move excess rainfall (which would otherwise go to storm drains) into an underground basin where it can later drain off. Redwood fencing reflects the material palette of the interior and creates visual continuity around the backyard.
The expansive grassy lawns features several ponds, fountains, native greenery, and even a tea house.
Alloi's design solution for the exterior envelope included exterior rigid insulation to reduce solar heat gain, and recycled newspaper blown-in cellulose insulation at interior and exterior walls, creating an energy efficient and peacefully quiet home.
Eisler Landscapes provided plants for the yard.
Perforated steel screens provide shading and privacy to the interior living spaces. The garden extends from the inner courtyard to the rear yard with open, connected spaces.
Another side of the home opens up onto a large lawn.
When Zuzana Kovar and Nicholas Skepper set to work updating an aging Queenslander cottage for a young family in Brisbane, the first challenge was the home’s orientation. “We wanted to connect the interior of the house with its garden—a vital space for the family and their children, and one that the cottage previously turned its back on,” says Kovar. Now, an updated layout sets the kitchen, dining, and living room adjacent to the verdant garden, and sight lines through the house connect the indoor and outdoor areas.
“The pool house was something I always wanted to build,” Robert says. The bar is the main attraction. And next to it, a lime tree is within reach to make fresh gin and tonics.
Fabian plays with Morten in the yard, which features a spacious lawn and a greenhouse.
The fire pit area displays a 48-inch concrete fire bowl, woven chairs, and upcycled tree stumps for kid-friendly-seating.
The multiple double-glazed apertures of the addition situates the kitchen in close connection to the backyard garden.
Guy (holding Pickles the cat) and Mark transformed the backyard, adding a pool and planting sycamore trees and native grasses. A custom dining table by Angel City Lumber is paired with vintage chairs from Amsterdam Modern.
A section of the facade—a cross between a shoji screen and a barn door—slides open. Planter boxes contain edible varieties that fuel Mary’s culinary explorations.
Oriented to absorb the afternoon sun, floor-to-ceiling doors comprise two-thirds of the home’s west-facing walls, which open to an elevated deck overlooking Island Bay. Combined with extra-thick building insulation, this passive element provides sufficient heating for the home, even during winter months—a true feat given the region’s cold seasonal winds.
A second green roof is planted with sedum and plays host to one of the family’s favorite spots: a hammock. Bentheim suggested adding a trellis overhead to soften and balance the appearance of the facade.
The backyard sports a sequence of raised flower and vegetable beds and two green roofs—one atop the workshop and other atop the back entrance.
The deck, fashioned from ipe, was built around one of the property’s many granite outcroppings. An earthen roof was planted with the same varieties of sedum that were added to the front of the cottage.
Homeowner Jay Longtin served as the general contractor and performed the majority of the remodel work, aside from the outdoor floors, concrete, and pool, which were done by Architectural Blue.
The homes were designed to maximize the indoor/outdoor experience. “On long weekends, we sit in the garden, invite friends, and make a barbecue. It’s like we’ve gone on holiday without leaving home,” says resident Luca Pagnan.
Wood Marsh Architecture brings a sculptural aesthetic to a holiday escape in Melbourne, Australia. It opens up with an internal courtyard and orients to the rear, where an outdoor pool area overlooks the broader landscape. A sweeping deck follows the site’s natural slope to a pool area screened by a curved low masonry wall that nods to the building’s prevailing form.
Melbourne firm Splinter Society’s main goal for the Bungalow 8 renovation and expansion was to create "a more modern, free-flowing series of connected living spaces,
Avid gardener Graham and his partner, Steve, approached Amos Goldreich Architecture to expand their Victorian mid-terrace house in the Stroud Green Conservation Area of Haringey, North London. “The design revolves around the garden Graham has lovingly labored over for decades,” says the founder of the eponymous firm. The rear extension includes a bright and spacious kitchen with a terrazzo island and beams clad in oak. Glazed sliding doors and a bay window connect the interior to the yard.
The rundown barn sat on twenty-five acres of countryside in Devon.
High above Christina Lake in British Columbia, Bohlin Cywinski Jackson designed an idyllic retreat for Lori Hudson, her husband, and their two boys.
Just inside the living room’s sliding glass door is a Parentesi lamp by Achille Castiglioni, an object Marc has admired since childhood. Below, the pool deck displays a pair of Eos side chairs, lounge chairs, and a square dining table by Matthew Hilton.
In one of several distinct outdoor spaces, a pink terrazzo tub creates an oasis under the palms.
“The roof overhang extends the living space,” says Boyer, so the deck becomes a spot to entertain visiting friends and family. The couple have been working to restore the surrounding land, as well.
The Smiths’ new cabin, designed by Risa Boyer Architecture and completed in 2020, sits in the same spot as their previous home, on five acres on Mount Veeder, in Northern California. Somehow, the red chicken coop, which is constructed of wood, survived the fire with the chickens still alive inside.
One of the second-level bedrooms looks down to the ground-level courtyard.
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