Creating Your Backyard Oasis

Posted by Sue Tully on August 2, 2019

ArchitecturalDigest.com

Do you dreaming of adding a pool? An outdoor kitchen? All of the above?

We have rounded up some of our favourite backyard retreats for inspiration!

Are you dreaming of that backyard oasis that everyone gathers in and leaves no reason to want to be anywhere else?? These backyard retreats can seem like they are a lifetime in the making for some, and others are able to dive right in (get it? lol). No matter which camp you are in there is little doubt that you have logged hours on pinterest and leafed through, what seems like, hundreds of magazines looking at pictures and envisioning what your dream backyard would look like. Did it leave you feeling overwhelmed with too many decisions to make? I thought so,

So, today I am sharing my round-up of some of my favourite backyard retreats. My goal in backyard design is for it to feel calm and inviting, much like the feeling of a spa when you first walk in. At the end of a long day I want to walk out to my backyard and feel relaxed. I want my senses to feel calmed with I want to feel like I have nothing to do but pour a glass of wine and pull out my favourite book. Yes, serenity now.

It is essential to create a balance in the spaces we have for play and the spaces we have to sit and unwind. Creating enough room for adequate seating is sooo important. Don’t oversize your pool and find that you don't have enough room to dine and lounge. And my advise is to actually measure out your furniture and how you would set it up, like actually do this outside in the dirt! You need more space to comfortably move around than you think!

The final touches to any landscaping project is the hardscaping (concrete, bricks and stone) and the spoftscaping (anything that grows; trees, plants, grasses). Visually it looks well put together when you have a balanced variety of elements including mixing materials and the height of materials. Introduce well placed boulders in your garden, stone around the pool as coping and the pool deck, trees for vertical height and both vegetation that keeps its leaves as well as flowering plants to have colour and interest year-round.

Don’t over complicate your space, simple is usually better! We want to enjoy the space we create and not be overwhelmed with the upkeep!

Create something that is appropriate for your family and you will have it to enjoy for many years to come.