New Year’s Sale: Get 20% off Dwell with promo code YEAR20
SubscribeSign In
All Photos/outdoor

Outdoor Design Photos and Ideas

“Typically people don't have pools on a small city lot like this, so we really had to work with what we had,” says Monika. The couple’s child, Sullivan, peaks through the pool’s window.
A vast terrace overlooks a nearby park, while the ground floor patio (connected to Vanbesien’s office) opens up to a garden.
The couple followed permaculture principles for their garden, complete with a robust compost system. You’ll also find an orchard, native prairie grasses, and a winter pond on the land.
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
The Douglas fir deck that extends from the front facade of one of the cabins features a sunken tub that lets users feel as if they're floating above the clouds while bathing.
Edgeland House, built on a cliff-top lot in Austin by architect Thomas Bercy for lawyer and writer Chris Brown, is topped by a living roof to help it blend into the landscape. The concrete, steel, and glass house is divided into two distinct public and private halves. <span style="font-family: Theinhardt, -apple-system, BlinkMacSystemFont, &quot;Segoe UI&quot;, Roboto, Oxygen-Sans, Ubuntu, Cantarell, &quot;Helvetica Neue&quot;, sans-serif;">Tucked beneath a grassy roof covered by nearly 200 species of plants and grasses, the structure is virtually invisible from the nearby street. In fact, the 1,400-square-foot house is so well hidden in the earth that it doesn’t seem to register on the radar of local wildlife either. Birds, butterflies, bees, dragonflies, hawks, snakes, lizards, and frogs all treat the house like just another grassy knoll.</span>
The U-shaped floorplan wraps around a sunny central courtyard.
The house is divided into three sections connected by a series of outdoor galleries. “When I walk from one room to another, I have to go outdoors and feel the weather and nature—rain, cold, and sun,” says Sævik. Instead of emphasizing the expansive panorama of oak, pine, and aspen trees, the house frames select views—a move inspired by Japanese design.
For cross ventilation, the residents can open and close the large sliding doors around the porch, which the architect describes as “the heart of the home.” Likewise, windows are positioned to provide breezes when necessary.
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,
Designed by award-winning Sant Architects, this four-bedroom vacation rental near Topanga elevates the concept of a mountain retreat to new heights—from its raw, concrete facade and hillside pool, to the Bauhaus-inspired interiors that feature expansive glass walls that overlook the Pacific Ocean. The clean, architectural lines are expressed using iron beams, concrete slabs, timber-panelled walls, and glass, and the sprawling, open-plan living area features a slide-away fireplace and enormous windows that seamlessly transition the property from cosy winter retreat to breezy summer getaway.
A large open skylight floods the heart of the home with natural light, even in winter months, and creates an interesting play between interior and exterior space in the main living area.
Rear garden
The private outdoor space showcases the renovation's south-facing windows, which were installed to connect the indoors with the yard.
The standard approach on the balcony would be to use a glass balustrade—however this would open the view up to the road, passersby, and an adjacent car park. “This means that the living room is truly private, even though it is in a prominent spot,” explains architect Jeffery Bokey-Grant.
Situated on a gentle slope, the tiny home features a gable roof, a rectangular silhouette, and an expansive wood deck that extends from the front facade.
In the middle courtyard, the Jacks landscaped a small grass mound for Sadie, five, to play on. The house is topped with corrugated steel. “It’s essentially the cheapest material you can get for roofing in New Zealand,” says Beer.
An energy-efficient TPO membrane covers the living room’s zigzag roof.
Bob and Goya walk atop the guesthouse, which nestles into a hill.
Bob sits in the entry courtyard with his dog, Goya.
The secluded location of the house at the edge of a retired shale bank allows the luxury of an open outdoor shower. Corrugated steel siding provides a durable, zero-maintenance exterior finish and captures the changing sun and woodland shadows.
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.”
The literal and figurative centerpiece of the house is the atrium, through which light filters into the rest of the house year-round.
"In this project, we got so much benefit out of this 'secret garden' for the master suite along with all of these environmental benefits that the residents were excited to embrace. It's one of the pieces we are happiest about," says architect Jonathan Feldman.
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.
The larch slats above the brick reference a history of agriculture buildings in the area.
A white gravel allée leads to Onur and Alix Kece’s weekend retreat an hour outside Paris. The couple, a pair of creatives, oversaw the renovation of the long-neglected 1892 structure themselves, with Onur designing the living spaces and built-ins and Alix responsible for everything else. “We were looking for something that was in bad shape, a place we could completely tear apart and renovate from scratch,” says Onur.
Another side of the home opens up onto a large lawn.
“Watching the sunrise and moonrise from the living room is gobsmacking,” says James.
The view from the uppermost level of the yard looks down to the slide and the sloped lawn, sandbox, and, beyond the gate, bioretention unit and mulch.
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.
In the backyard, Umerani and Fashandi decided to limit the lawn to minimize water consumption.
Fabian plays with Morten in the yard, which features a spacious lawn and a greenhouse.
123456...112