The landscaping of your garden should be an extension of what is happening inside your home. Often, regardless of your interior style, your garden ends up looking more colorful, casual and fun. The possibilities are limited only by the terrain, your design skills and your DIY know-how.

You can always hire a landscaper or architect to help your outdoor space realize its potential. A qualified professional can guide you through the process of determining a style, deciding who will use the yard, creating activity areas, choosing materials and plants, and recommending builders and contractors for everything from swimming pools to outdoor structures to irrigation installation.

01.Privacy and Comfort

This cozy but spacious seating area offers a lot of privacy thanks to privacy fences and well-placed perennial grasses that also help absorb noise. The sturdy and practical table and benches provide a casual dining area, and the seating area with sofa is a perfect place for an afternoon nap or an evening meeting.

02.No Patio, No Problem

There is no need to go to the trouble of installing a patio or other flooring. In good weather, with a flat lawn, just arrange comfortable chairs (wicker with cushions gives a romantic and cozy feeling), add ambient lighting, large candle holders and you have a perfectly charming seating area with an impromptu charm. There are a lot of waterproof wicker options, and if the rain browbeat, just store the cushions and blankets inside.

03.Easy Landscaping

Landscaping doesn’t have to be complicated or difficult. This simple design allows an interesting border to the lawn with simple wooden poles laid as borders. Gray fences, gravel, light fixtures and planters accentuate the gray tones of the tree bark, and easy plants like clumping grasses and evergreen shrubs arouse interest all season long.

04.Retaining Walls Around Patios

If your yard has steep levels or hills, you may want to consider a retaining wall. This one has two levels around the seating area, the lower one offering space for seasonal plantings and a built-in fireplace. The look is associated with a spectacular round metal pergola that supports the beautiful white wisteria vine (a plant that needs a solid structure away from home, as its growth can become invasive over time). This pergola adds an airy and open feel to the solid retaining wall, balancing the angular walls with circular lines.

05.Walking Paths

This concrete path leaves plenty of room to walk or place a chair to linger on the nearby view. Planting perennials that bloom from spring to autumn makes this walkway a welcoming destination for three seasons.

06.Coffee Company

So much can be done with a few well-chosen pieces of furniture. This charming alcove is the perfect place for breakfast or afternoon tea. The all-season carpet transforms the stone patio below, creating the impression of a small outdoor room, and the filigree metal table and chairs are accentuated by other metal decorations and various objects (clay pots, baskets) made of natural materials in an attractive neutral palette, which complements the unpainted wooden fence. The eclectic look is whimsical but chic.

07.Define the Space with the Structure

With a large garden area, structural elements are essential to define the space and give it a shape. This courtyard is flanked by mature trees on its edge, and therefore a variety of smaller levels and contrasting shapes create a pleasant and functional design. The garden shed with fenced area is the focal point (and the fence is useful for stray toddlers or pets when you are working!). The flagstone path offers graceful curves and the white stone takes up the color theme of the white fence posts and the white painted trim on the shed. Finally, the curved shapes of the flower beds also define the connection of the walkway to the larger property.

08.Garden theme

Sometimes you can tell where a gardener lives! This backyard is all about celebrating gardening, with many potted plants, vines with colorful flowers growing on fences and sheds, and comfortable green chairs strategically placed to rest and enjoy the view of your achievements after a busy morning of gardening.

09.Outdoor Fences

Fences can be necessary and useful structures, but they don’t always have to be opaque or thick for privacy. This open-air fence allows for many lines of sight throughout the garden, including a view of the raised beds through the fence. The curved arbor above the door could contain climbing roses or other vines. The solid structure of the fence, incorporated into the flagstone path, solidifies the location as a central focal point near the shed, and yet the entire area looks airy and inviting.

10.Cobblestones: Go big!

Installing a patio with paving stones can be a lot of work and requires decisions about space preparation, leveling, gravel or sand, etc. These large paving stones simplify the logistics a little, and the ground cover that develops between them softens the look and breaks the large expanses of white of this design. There are also many options for soil cover, including grasses, creeping sedum and creeping thyme.

11.Sunken Patio

This seating area is centered around a fireplace, but the round structure could just as easily be a table or a water feature. The real star here is the sturdy rock face built of natural granite blocks and the stairs leading to the flagstone patio, creating a sunken room effect, with many lush plantings at ground level and walls to add a dose of nature and privacy.

12.Easy Desert Borders

This desert backyard is a series of garden beds and walkways. Gravel is used for a neat and attractive appearance and for moisture retention in dry periods. Gravel works on the walkway and in the flower beds as an alternative to wood mulch. If the ground covers spill over the edge of the border into the path, hey, the more the merrier! Native plantings and many succulents offer a lush, colorful but easy-going approach to having a large-scale but simple garden plan.

13.Stone steps Lead the way

The stairs and stone walls provide a spectacular entry point to the sprawling lawn and a shaded destination under the mature trees. (This four-legged friend agrees, a shady spot with fresh grass on a hot day is a welcome treat!) The large stone planters are naturally aged by moss and weathering, and the abundant flowers contain a lot of low-maintenance hosta. Large pavers are an easy way to create a patio or walkway below the raised level and leaving grass in between creates a casual but intentional look.

14.Durable Design

Almost all the design elements of this beautiful off-grid desert property are intended to be sustainable and environmentally friendly. From native plants to moisture-retaining gravel, rain barrels and the clever use of found objects, this attractive landscape shows respect for the planet and a resourceful sensitivity.

15.Cool Swimming Pool

Swimming pools are great for cooling off on hot days, but what about cooling down when you’re not in the water? A shaded pavilion and terraced gardens along the stairs make this pool a comfortable and beautiful place to beat the heat. The warm and cold color palette of the perennials is eye-catching and invokes both the sun and the water.