7 Lush Backyard Spaces to Inspire Your Next Outdoor Renovation

By Zoë Sessums

As the final days of summer approach, it’s easy to want to spend all your time outside in a lush backyard. Dining, entertaining, lounging, gardening—it’s all appealing. Although not everyone has the luxury of a grand backyard, tiny outdoor spaces can be every bit as enjoyable as their sprawling counterparts. So we’ve rounded up a handful of enviable yards with everything from a simple wood deck to creative stone landscaping to inspire your next outdoor renovation project. Whether you take a note from the easy-to-manage astroturf or the chic rattan seating, these lush backyards are sure to get you excited about the outdoors.

The dreamy and lush backyard space is surrounded by bamboo.

Homan Rajai and Elena Dendiberia were faced with a series of challenges when they set out to design the home of a new client. She was turning 30, living in her first “adult home,” and the pandemic had just begun. “We were challenged by organizing each phase of the project’s installation to comfortably coexist with our client’s daily routine, as she was already living and working in the house with the minimum amount of furniture,” Elena says. She and Homan are the creative directors of design firm Studio Ahead. And although the project took about a year, it proved to be a successful and collaborative process.

One of the greatest updates was the lush backyard, where Homan and Elena created a custom modular sofa with a round table in fiberglass from Zachary A. Designs. “[The homeowner] can reconfigure the furniture so that it can easily accommodate eating with friends, or she can move the long upholstered bench in front of the sofa and lay out comfortably with the sun overhead,” Homan says. —Zoë Sessums

One unique feature of the home is the multiple access points to the outdoors. There are custom-built Dutch doors in the front entry, French doors in the family room connected to the fully landscaped side yard, and aluminum wood-clad patio doors on the primary suite and one of the guest bedrooms.

Artificial turf and new grasses were added to the lush backyard, as well as custom pathways. The pathway continues to the front of the decking and the “she shed,” and it can be used as a space for alfresco dining.

When Shanty Wijaya of Allprace Properties decided to take on her latest project—a modern farmhouse in L.A.’s historic Jefferson Park neighborhood—she wanted to create a calming atmosphere with an intrinsic outdoor-indoor living situation inspired by the California-cool neighborhood it was built in. Shanty says that landscaping was one of the most difficult tasks of the transformation. “When we designed and landscaped the project, it was winter and most of the plants were still dormant. It was difficult to find tall, mature plants that had a full appearance, which is the look we were going for. We wanted to make sure that the homeowner could enjoy an outdoor, private oasis, and we were able to get the desired look for the landscaping, which I am very proud of.” —Kristen Bateman

The curved staircase was actually the most difficult and expensive part of the whole project. Makes sense when each stone weighs about 300 pounds.

Crate and Barrel outdoor seating is nestled in the couple’s ever-growing garden. We can easily call this a lush backyard.

After purchasing a property in Austin, including a worn-down home and an outdoor area that appeared to be “basically a forest,” Camille Styles and her husband were greeted by deteriorating terracing left over from the original infrastructure they assume was built sometime in the 1940s or ’50s. “It reminded us of stone terracing that we’d seen when we were in Italy,” says the author and wellness influencer. Little did they know that this happy surprise would influence an entire renovation nearly 12 years later.

Once the decision was made to renovate the entire bottom half of the outdoor space, it was full speed ahead. Camille’s husband took on most of the “grunt work,” and they hired a friend, landscape architect Cameron Campbell. Taking inspiration from their trips around Europe, the couple hoped to create a space that combined minimalist modern with the preexisting natural and organic elements surrounding the home. —Gabriela Ulloa

A new patio and fresh coat of paint (Benjamin Moore’s Wrought Iron) totally transformed the lush backyard.

By Ludovica Stevan

By Sara Barragán del Rey

By Morgan Goldberg

When architect Prentis Hale got his hands on a 1921 bungalow in West Seattle, he immediately recognized a bunch of flaws in the small home. For starters, the Shed principal saw the front steps were unnecessarily steep, and the back deck didn’t optimize its clear views of Mount Rainier. The interior was equally dysfunctional, with strange remnants of old renovations and closed-off rooms unsuitable for a modern lifestyle. But with just minor structural updates and an infusion of natural materials, the house received a major upgrade.

A large sliding door connects the kitchen to the yard, where a new L-shaped patio tiers down to a stretch of grass. The spacious platform supplies the homeowners with an outdoor spot to relax, entertain, and gaze at the wondrous peak in the distance. Both outside and in, the property’s best assets are now maximized—and all it took was a few extra feet. —Morgan Goldberg

John Sharp designed the backyard as a retreat with comfortable furniture and plenty of entertainment capabilities. Plus, it’s the perfect escape for all this time spent at home.

This space was transformed very quickly from a drab area to a lush backyard.

By Ludovica Stevan

By Sara Barragán del Rey

By Morgan Goldberg

With his days spent in the world of food, the owner of a creative culinary agency wanted to update his backyard to be a special space for gathering and sharing meals and memories. So he reached out to his friend John Sharp, a spacial conceptualizer and environmental designer.

The homeowners’ quaint West Hollywood backyard was prime for a new vision. “In smaller spaces, people can tend to shy away from larger plants and furniture, but layering and adding larger pieces creates dimension and has an expansive effect,” John says. He incorporated a rare and funky ’70s bar from Wertz Brothers within modern outdoor furniture and custom pillows to tie the different style eras together. —Zoë Sessums

Throughout the backyard, Camilla and Josh added outdoor lighting to accentuate its natural beauty and rare oak trees at night. They picked oversized planters from Olive Ateliers to layer in even more vegetation.

Both the chicken coop and vegetable garden were designed by Camilla to emulate the clean lines and materials of the home.

By Ludovica Stevan

By Sara Barragán del Rey

By Morgan Goldberg

Before the pandemic, Camilla Ruth Marcus, chef and owner of zero-waste culinary company west~bourne, and her husband, Josh, had never owned a home before—much less renovated one. But in the spring of 2021, they left New York City for Camilla’s native California with a toddler in tow, another baby on the way, and real estate moves on their near horizon.

A serendipitous call ended in the purchase of a lush acre that envelops their ranch-style home in West LA. Camilla had loved the storied Kenter Canyon community, where the light-filled home was located, since she was a child. Plus, its wild garden provided the farmable land they were looking for. “To be able to grow our own food and provide our kids with an exploratory childhood in nature is what made us fall in love [with it] instantly.”

Nature is the star of the home and it’s easy to see why in the stunning backyard, where a self-designed chicken coop, vegetable garden, and firepit, surrounded by Stahl + Band Reform chairs, can all be seen. “My husband’s favorite saying is ‘the thing speaks for itself’,” says Camilla with a smile. “That became my design philosophy for the house. We wanted to keep the original intent: simplicity on the inside that can really highlight the lushness of the outside.” —Claire Brodka

Though Nicole and Charles couldn’t maintain many original features, they did name their house “The Lucille and Otis” to honor the previous owners.

Refugia Design created the slanted decks in addition to the verdant landscaping.

By Ludovica Stevan

By Sara Barragán del Rey

By Morgan Goldberg

After over a decade of regular trips to Asbury Park, New Jersey, Nicole and Charles Paloux decided to put down roots in the coastal town. Years of crashing with friends had already earned them a warm welcome into the local community, so it was finally time to cement their rightful place within it. All they needed was a prime lakefront property to make their own.

The couple’s dream vacation home, a 1916 bungalow on the water, was put on the market in July 2018 while they were visiting family in France. Although they couldn’t go to see the property in person, Nicole and Charles knew it was the one, so they worked quickly to secure it from halfway across the world. “These houses on the lake are a very hot commodity,” explains Nicole, founder of the PR firm Red Balloon Communications. They bought the place site unseen and soon got to work. For the exterior, the couple hired Refugia Design to sow their land with low-maintenance native plants that offer a lush, jungle-like vibe.

“We have head-to-toe landscaping, but it requires no irrigation or chemical treatments whatsoever and the No Mow grass does not have to be cut,” says Nicole. “We wanted to respect and preserve our environment and be kind to all of the wildlife around us. We have so many more butterflies and bees in our yard now.” —Morgan Goldberg