Beautiful Backyard Designs: Why put awnings!

Finally the architectural design of the house has carried over to the outdoor space design of the backyard areas. The living space of the house now continues to the patio usable space next to the house. Depending on where you are located, seasonal or year around outdoor space has become part of the overall designed space to compliment and coordinate with the interior rooms.

The interior design of comfort and detail has carried over to the outdoor designs of furniture and space in a natural setting.Outdoor design is being greatly influenced by the indoor design standards raising the overall design concept of the home. Outdoor space is defined, shaped and limited by environmental structures like landscape areas, fences, patios, gazebos, arbors, trellises and furnishings. The outdoor usable patio area when enclosed by a weather proof roof is further defined as a open room rather than an open space and also extends the usability ofthe patio during inclement weather. A roof like structure can be less expensive than building a porch by attaching a retractable awning canopy over the patio area with little maintenance. The patio location should allow easy access to and from the indoor kitchen areas so the flow of people between is natural and direct without walking through another room or space.


The flow of traffic will depend on the exact attachment and coverage ofthe patio retractable awning and the proximity between the patio and house.  Indoor features like sliding doors, French doors and kitchen location will determine the access and location of the patio & retractable awning and its attachment to the house. The awning comes in several standard sizes and numerous patterns and colors. The water resistant canopy offers protection from the rain and UV rays to the users and furniture for many seasons. Most standard canopy opening and closing functions are done by a manual crank with a handle that fold away out of site. There areretractable awning operational options for larger or custom made awnings that include an electric open/close control with or without a remote and weather sensor awning opening when rain is detected. These options are costly but maybe offset by their ease of operation. Awning accessories include valances, complete side screening and or drop curtains for more insect and weather protection.

The beautiful patioretractable awning offers many benefits to the home occupants including protection from inclement and rainy weather, extends use of the patio /deck area, blocks health damaging Ultra Violet rays, controls amount of sunlight, shields undesirable views and reflected glare, reduces fading and discoloration of drapes, carpet and paintings and can reduce sun exposed interior heat gain by 70% to cut your cooling bills to name a few. Besides the functionality of theretractable awning they also have improved the quality and options of color, patterns and size (both width and extended length) of the canopy material resulting in an attractive addition to your outdoor living.

Backyard Designs - A Video Guide

Here's a video that can give you some Backyard Design Ideas:

Backyard Landscape Designs - Around Hot Tubs

Why does the Backyard Landscape Designs one does to surround a hot tub differ so greatly from ordinary landscape planning? Perhaps it’s because you have a raised hot tub. Sure, you can just put down a layer of mulch, but it will be painfully obvious just how little you spent and how little effort you put into your so-called landscaping.

To achieve an attractive appearance, the landscaping of a hot tub area doesn’t require a complex design. You can just buy a few handsome planter boxes or flowerpots to place around the outside of the tub and fill them with lovely bushes and blossoms. Next, choose a couple of larger planters and put one on each side of the stairs. Finally, set two slender miniature trees in those pots. That will create an appealing frame for your hot tub.

The first step in designing your dream oasis is to determine the best location for your spa. Consider the view, ease of access and privacy. Locating your hot tub close to your house makes using it much easier in cold weather. Also include a pathway with lighting for night use and a surround of some sort for privacy.
You probably want privacy in your hot tub landscape design. A stand of bamboo or hedges, a wall or fence, or even a gazebo can do the job nicely. If protection from rain or hot sun will be an issue, consider an enclosure with a roof. To avoid extra cleaning, do not place large plants or trees too near the spa. And consider how the seasons will affect your view and privacy when choosing plants.
When it comes to the area around your hot tub, it’s important to have landscaping ideas for privacy. One way to landscape around your hot tub, with privacy in mind, is a screened in gazebo. A gazebo will help to make the hot tub the focal point of your backyard, while allowing you to comfortably use your hot tub in rainy weather. To make it look nice, you can add a couple of simple planter boxes around the outside of the gazebo. If you’re not a gardener, you could choose to plant some low maintenance silk flowers instead.
Ideas for landscaping around hot tubs are plentiful, so I can’t list them all, but one of my favorites is an Asian-inspired backyard hot tub. Building a pergola creates a pattern of shade and sun and develops the Asian look. Another idea is to build permanent cedar planters around the tub. Beautiful plants and trees can be put in these planters, as long as they fit your local climate. This trick gives a sense of permanency and makes it look as if your hot tub is built-in.
The perfect hot tub would be one that is built into the ground next to an in-ground swimming pool. To enhance the beauty of the hot tub, it would be ideal to have tropical plants surrounding the area to create a little jungle. You don’t even need to plant them in the ground. Just use nice flowerpots and place them around the area in two clusters of three to create a well-balanced look. By using different sizes of pots and plants in each cluster, you can create a terraced look. Popular plants for this type of setting are hibiscus, palm bushes, and ivy that can flow around the pots to create a lush landscaping.
There are so many ideas for landscaping around hot tubs that this only touches on the many possibilities. However whenever landscaping around a hot tub you must remember to still allow for the drain of the hot tub to be open. You wouldn’t want to flood all your lovely landscaping while refilling the hot tub. Remember that you can be as creative as you want. Make it your own backyard oasis.
Backyard Landscape Designs

Backyard Designs - Examples of Water Fountains

Here are some examples of some good Water Fountains, please enjoy:

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Backyard Designs - Build A Cabin or a Fort

Each year, parents fight the battle to get their children to play outdoors. Unfortunately, many of those children easily experience boredom. If you are the parent of one of those children, you may have searched high and low for the ultimate backyard experience. In your search, it is likely you came across tree houses or forts. These structures offer most children an unlimited amount of fun. This type of activity feeds a child's imagination. In fact, you may find that your child doesn't want to leave their newly constructed tree house or fort.

While tree forts or houses are fun to play in, there is something even more exciting than playing in them. The process of making and designing a tree house or fort is a memory you and your child will likely never forget. Therefore, if your child does not already have a tree house or fort, you may want to consider making one. To get the most out of this experience, you will want to make it together.

To build a tree house or fort, you may need to have a tree. While a tree is a vital part of a tree house or a tree fort, it is not necessarily required. If you only have small, unstable trees in your backyard or none at all, you can still build your child a fun play fort or house. Instead of building the structure in a tree, you will just have to build it on the ground.

You should get started by familiarizing yourself with the many options available. Check out any existing structures you or the kids know about and even take some photos to examine later. Allow time to look at popular designs so you can get ideas on sizes and the materials necessary. You may even find detailed plans that will educate you about the building process.

By far the best way to get familiar with tree house or fort designs is to do some research on the internet. You can easily find websites with everything from design and building tips to complete details building plans. You should start a file so you can print and save any information and spend time with your kids developing your design.

In addition to using the internet, to familiarize yourself with tree house or fort designs, you may also want to visit your local bookstore or library. There are numerous books and resource guides available. These resource guides, like the ones found online, should provide you with pictures and detailed directions. If your local book store or library does not have any tree house or fort books, you may want to search for books online.

When your design is complete you need to create a list of the building supplies you will need. You may want to consider using fine thread deck screws instead of nails in many cases. These have the advantage of going in easy without the pounding you have to do with nails. Once in, they have a much stronger hold than nails and can even be removed easily. Large building supply stores are located in just about every town these days and you should be able to find every thing you need in one stop.

After you have gotten your materials together, don't give in to the urge to build the fort quickly. Instead take the time to involve your children in the process. Even if the kids are too small to do any of the actual building of the structure, there are other ways you can help them to feel involved. One way is to let them help by retrieving tools or materials while you are building. You also could have them read the directions from the plans as you are working. No matter how large or small their part is, by letting them be part of the building process you will be creating lifelong cherished memories.

Backyard Designs - Water Fountains

We all want to add some glamour and tranquility to our house interiors. Well, the basic idea is to enhance the style quotient of our living area. This really helps us in attracting many guests. Water fountains are simply the best home improvement products available in the market. You must have seen a large number of water fountains installed in commercial buildings such as offices, schools and hotels. They install these fountains in  order to add some beauty to their building. Nowadays, the trend is increasing to employ such fountains in your home.

These water fountains are installed in the backyard area of the house. They are known as outdoor water fountains. They are really beautiful when it comes to their look. According to me, they are nice options for attracting a lot of admirers. Several companies manufacture different types of outdoor water features. You can consider purchasing a suitable one from the market. You need to make a decision depending upon the resources you have.

If you have a large area then you can go for a large fountain containing heavy traces of water. For a small area, go for a customized and portable fountain. Look for several designs and styles in this regard. Nowadays, bright colored fountains are found everywhere. One can easily make them part of his/her living area. Home is a place where we can simply relax our senses. Nothing is as good as a pleasant water fountain when it comes to reliving our stress.

If you want you can enjoy hours of chat and drinks with your family members just by sitting beside a fountain. This is mind boggling feeling. Once you relax in such an environment you would be able to forget all your worries in double quick time. The main reason behind the installation of such water features in office buildings is that it helps in reducing stress and worries of the employees. It offers similar kinds of benefits at your home.

Once you buy a fountain for your garden you can consider several decoration options. You can easily decorate your fountain with several ornamental rocks and pebbles. Most of the individuals do so in order to show off their creativity skills. Even you can indulge in a bit of innovation by doing this. You need to take good care of your safety. If you have small kids at home then you need not fill in a large amount of water in the fountain.



Ask for some extra offers and features along with a water feature. Make sure that the color and texture of your fountain matches up to the interiors of your home. Otherwise it could ruin the complete look of your house. If you have already made up your mind to purchase such a product then get ready to spend some hefty amount of money. Some of us love doing meditation and yoga early in the morning. Well, the place next to your water fountain is best for doing it.

The pleasant sound that a water fountain makes is simply out of this world. It helps us in meditation. So, do not think too much just bring home a water fountain for your garden area.

Backyard Landscape Designs - Some interesting ideas

We offer the following ideas for creating a landscape for Backyard Landscape Designs. The inspiration comes from natural designs from different parts of the world. Our ides also include the kind of plants to use and to maintain them.

Tropical Backyard: The tropical backyard is a composition of bright colors and various shapes which are caused by the bright tropical sunlight. If you want the tropical look for your landscape, you need brightly colored flowers of different shape. There should be plants with large leaves, branches with thorns, thick roots and creeping stems which are the signature of the tropical look. These plants, because of their origin, will need plenty of water. You will need to give the plants calm water that is either dripping, flowing or bubbling. You will have to be careful of bugs that may be harboring in the bright colored flowers. There are bugs that are not people friendly and you want to avoid them. A tropical back yard will also attract moths and butterflies.



Bamboo Backyard: Bamboo is a hardy plant that stays green forever. It is the favorite plant grown in temperate countries because bamboo does not change colors or lose its leaves during the autumn and winter. Bamboo is grass that is overgrown and will grow to be several feet high. If you plan a bamboo backyard, be sure to get a panda shaped rock to act as a reminder of these gentle creatures. When your bamboo has grown too big, you will not waste any of it by cutting it down. The cuttings can be easily sculpted to make small decorations or you can make chop sticks of them.

Bonsai Garden: Potted trees that are of miniature form are called Bonsai plants. The Bonsai plants originated in Japan. There are regular trees that have been genetically forced to become miniature in form when their roots were not allowed to expand. This forces them to become miniature in size and manageable. It is difficult to cultivate Bonsai plants but several of them in your backyard landscape can look beautiful. When you have mastered the art of Bonsai and planted them in your backyard landscape, walking among them will make you feel like a giant. Since the Bonsai are the same as their full sized relatives you may find some miniature fruit growing on the trees. You should learn about the maintenance of Bonsai and their need for regular watering. Their need for water is dependant upon where they originated. If they originated in the tropics, then they will need to be watered for frequently than those that originated in more temperate climates.

Cacti Backyard: The cactus is a plant that requires the least amount of water of all plants although they do need water. The cactus comes in many different shapes and sizes and some flower. They require a great deal of sunshine and a greenhouse to protect them in the wintertime. The cactus stores water inside it and the water will freeze in the winter and kill the plant.

These are only a few ideas for your small backyard landscape. You should not limit yourself and use the ideas that you have in your own mind. No matter what you have in mind for your small backyard landscape, its creation should be fun. And that's it for now, please keep checking in every now and then if you would like to get some great Backyard Landscape Designs.