Hi there, Kristin here!
A big benefit of living in Colorado are all the sunshine filled days we enjoy! So it’s understandable that many of my clients want to take better advantage of their outdoor time and outdoor spaces.
One of my clients struggled with the same dilemma you probably face. They both work long hours and when they get home at night they want to make dinnertime as simple as possible. They’d like to use the remaining hours in the day for relaxation rather than more work!
And when they entertain, they don’t want it to be a labor-intensive process. They’d prefer to spend time with their guests outdoors, rather than holed away in the house slaving over a hot stove. He loved grilling and smoking meats or fish. She wanted their outdoor living area to be attractive, practical and functional.
Sound familiar? So here’s what we did:
First, I developed a design that gave them a lot of outdoor living area – a lot of backyard patio where they could arrange seating and dining tables.
Next, we had to gently adapt the land to work around their grading issues. The backyard had a steep slope, so we installed retaining walls to expand the useable space and changed the grades to provide level living areas.
We also discovered one spot in the yard where the soil was different than the rest. You wouldn’t have guessed at first glance this was going to be an issue, but we noticed puddling was occurring in that same spot. Perhaps it was due to the type of drainage from earlier construction, but it had to be changed to avoid any drainage problems in the future.
We also wanted the smoker and grill to be as close to the kitchen and sliding glass door as possible, but far enough away so it wouldn’t be a fire hazard.
The homeowners wanted the area to feel private without totally blocking out surrounding scenery and mountain views. So, we included flowers and shrubs with year round blooms to soften the hardscape (retaining walls, stairs and walkways) and positioned trees to provide shade.
It was a great project to be part of! They were very happy with the results and now use their patio whenever it’s not covered in snow! They have their breakfasts and dinners outdoors as a way to get away from the world and thoroughly enjoy the nature and beauty that surrounds them!
I hope you’ve learned something new and helpful from taking a peek into someone else’s backyard! Next, we’ll discuss how to work with small spaces.
Until then, I hope you take full advantage of your outdoor living spaces during these beautiful summer months!
Kristin
Colorado Landscape Designer 